Player Ratings: USMNT Dominates Mexico & Canada, Wins Nations League
Performances were generally excellent, unencumbered by Berhalter's rigid system
ALTHOUGH MANY OF US have moved on to following our C-team in the Gold Cup, let’s take a minute to revisit the beautiful dominance our first string displayed in the FIFA Nations League earlier this month.
We claimed a second consecutive title in convincing fashion. It was one of the USMNT’s best moments in a long, long time. The 3-0 triumph over Mexico was our most dominant over our chief rival in memory—perhaps in the history of soccer in this country. The equally convincing 2-0 demolition of Canada—a team in its own ascendancy that defeated the US in qualifying last year—brought rare back-to-back displays of superiority.
The boys attacked relentlessly with creativity through the middle and speed on the flanks. Attractive passing combinations led to quick interplay between attacking players. In defense, the team locked down our opponents’ most dangerous attackers to the point of anonymity.
It was exhilarating. It was fun to watch. It was this team's best showing in a long time.
When Player Performances Reflect on the Coach
Because these dominant displays happened with the inexperienced BJ Callaghan at the helm in what we now know was but an interregnum between Berhalter administrations, I think it’s important to award most of the credit for these performances to the players. This is how I went about handing out the player ratings below.
But Callaghan deserves some credit too. Sir BJ did little wrong and made several key right decisions en route to the trophy. We’ll grade his performances as well.
When one or two players play well or play poorly, that reflects on those individual players. However, when all the players on a team have a poor match, or all the players have a great match, that generally reflects on the coaching.
Many times during Berhalter’s first reign, all the players on the field underperformed.
In this instance, under Callaghan, virtually every player had a good or great match. This reflects well on the coaching.
Therefore, before we get into the individual performance ratings, let’s be clear: the biggest takeaway from this triumphant period is that without Berhalter’s rigid system, and with the nation’s best players slotted into their favorite positions, the players played extremely well and expressed themselves freely on the field. This international window was our best in at least five years and provided the best glimpse yet into our current generation’s potential.
I don’t believe it was a coincidence that this happened without Gregg Berhalter at the helm. In a piece last week, I suggested the USSF is knowingly harming the program by bringing Berhalter back.
Now, let’s look at individual performances.
Player Ratings
USMNT VS MEXICO (June 15, 2023)
Matt Turner - 4.5 - This was really the only poor performance on the US side. Turner didn’t have to make any difficult saves, so his best ability (shot stopping) wasn’t on display. His weakest skill—handling the ball with his feet—unfortunately was on display as we played out of the back, and he was tentative and poor on the ball several times. He gave the Mexicans their best opportunity on goal at one point with an errant pass. He needs to improve here.
Miles Robinson - 6.5 - Robinson was in great form here and rarely looked threatened, something that has historically been extremely rare for our center backs whenever we play Mexico. In Tim Ream’s absence, Robinson shone and convinced us he deserves to be (along with Cameron Carter-Vickers) our first backup to starters Tim Ream and Chris Richards.
Chris Richards - 7 - It was great to have Richards back with the national team after an injury held him out of Qatar. Though still young, he was dominant and towering in the back and bossed the Mexican attackers off the field. Most important, he showed no rust after mostly riding the pine for Crystal Palace this year.
Jedi - 6.5 - The other Robinson had a great match in his preferred left back position. Jedi ran the flanks but also staying home quite a bit to keep the defense strong. Berhalter always wants the fullbacks to bomb high up the field, but Jedi seemed to play with his own instincts here and was seemingly always in the right place. His crossing could still improve, but otherwise this was a solid performance.
Dest - 7.5 - An absolutely dominant performance on the right flank for Sergiño. He toyed with the Mexican midfielders. His driving run to feed Pepi for the third goal was a thing of beauty. Then, at his momeny of glory, as the game was winding down in what would surely have been his best match in a US shirt, he foolishly shoved a hand into Arteaga’s face and was shown a red card. I was ready to give Dest a 9 or 10, but with that one foolish move, he revealed that his greatest weakness (mental focus) remains a problem.
Yunus Musah - 7 - Really strong performance in midfield for Musah in the absence of Tyler Adams. He was strong in a dual pivot with Weston and showed countless moments of brilliance, navigating out of trouble and linking up with Weston, Reyna, and Pulisic.
Weston - 6 - Like Dest above, Weston was playing a great match, and had a beautiful “hockey assist” on the second goal, juking a defender and sending Weah down the flank with a sweetly weighted pass that enabled Weah to drive a cross in for Pulisic to finish. Then Weston got his red card. His was slightly more understandable as he was defending himself, but replays show him losing his head and playing into the hands of the Mexicans who at that point had little hope in the match outside of fomenting a riot.
Reyna - 7.5 - Finally Reyna got the start in a midfield position in a competitive match for the US. He didn’t disappoint. While this wasn’t the dominant performance he put in several days later against Canada, Gio was all over the place in this one and probably should have had an assist if Balogun had made the right run on one of his crosses.
Pulisic - 9 - An epic and glorious performance from our captain. CP10 never disappoints against Mexico, and he destroyed the right side of their defense all night. Their defenders might still be seeing his blazing runs in their nightmares. His two goals were both sweetly taken, and only an unfortunate shank off his right foot kept him from a deserved hat trick. When he cut in on Memo Ochoa’s goal and left the goalkeeper in the dust, he simply failed to finish into a net minded only by two field players. The only other mishap I saw on the evening was when he collided into Ricardo Pepi. Sometimes Pulisic tries to do too much, and in this case he was running the central channel (when the ball was on the right) instead of staying where he belongs, out on the left, to open up space for the central attacker.
Balogun - 5.5 - While not a poor showing, Flo was quiet and a bit anonymous in this, his first match in a US shirt. He can be forgiven of course for being not up to the occasion. He had surely heard that US-Mexico games are intense, but it is one thing to hear rumors and quite another to experience the pressure, smell the tossed cups of beer, and feel the constant kicking of this rivalry. I would argue that only Brazil-Argentina is a more bitter, more intense rivalry in the international soccer scene. Balogun missed several runs his teammates expected him to make. There were bright moments, too, and his strong defensive move in the second half lured Cesar Montes into kicking him and getting a red card.
Weah - 8 - A scintillating performance that lit up the right side of the Mexican defense. While not quite as penetrating in his runs as Pulisic on the left, Weah did what he does best—straightforward punishing runs down the line. His cross for the second goal was inch-perfect.
SUBSTITUTES
Pepi - 8 - A classy goal capped a great substitute appearance from the young Gronigen man. Suddenly we have not just one but two great center forwards! How did this happen? Pepi’s goal was important for two reasons — it applied pressure to Balogun to perform to keep his spot; and it demonstrated the patience and poise Pepi has developed in Holland. Go watch that goal a few times; it’s the patient, extra touch he takes when the goalkeeper is expecting a shot that makes all the difference. Sometimes as a center forward you have to hit an incoming cross first-time; other times, when you’re in on goal, it’s having the composure to take a third or fourth touch that matters.
Luca De La Torre - 7 - Played well, holding down the midfield, after the team went down to 10 men and then 9 men. Demonstrated the class to dribble around the tired Mexican midfielders and cement our dominance in the later stages.
Scally - 6.5 - Fresh legs and solid defense after Dest was sent off for rashly reacting to Arteaga’s violence. His performance here also presaged the dominant defense he showed against Alphonso Davies several nights later.
Walker N/R - Too short an appearance to rate.
Aaronson N/R - Too short an appearance to rate.
Callaghan - 8.5 - I was expecting very, very little of Callaghan in this window. I figured at best it would be two matches where he wouldn’t attempt to coach at all and just let the players play. He did better than that. He absolutely nailed the starting lineup. And then the tactics were great as well, far more like the flowing style his interim-assistant-predecessor Anthony Hudson employed. To boot, he made great substitutions at the right time: Pepi, De La Torre, and Scally. All came in and made the team better. The only knock on Callaghan is that he apparently didn’t have the wisdom to appropriately prepare the team for the Mexican side’s “shithousery” (to use a British term), and we got pulled into scuffles and fights far too easily. Had we just allowed Mexico to self-destruct without handing them the lifelines of red cards, it would have been an even more comfortable win, and we would have been at full strength in the final. Still, this was a profoundly good coaching performance.
USMNT VS CANADA (June 19, 2023)
Turner - 6.5 - Much more solid in this game. Didn’t try to show off his on-the-ball foot skills this time, and was solid every time called upon, which wasn’t often.
Walker - 6.5 - Good performance from Zimmerman, but he was absolutely overshadowed by partner Richards (see below), reminding viewers that Qatar veteran Walker is now a second- or third-string central defender on this team. When Tim Ream, Miles, and Cameron Carter-Vickers return from injury, Zimmerman might not make the roster. This is the luxury of our depth at this point.
Chris Richards - 9.5 - Dominant, transcendant perfromance from the Crystal Palace man. Rock solid in defense, great passing and connection with the midfield, and supreme awareness of the game around him. Scored the first goal and nearly a second with classy headers. Above all, it was great to see him in the team finally after an injury kept him out of Qatar.
Scally - 8 - Excellent shift by the young backup to Sergiño Dest. Assigned to cover the powerful Candian winger Alphonso Davies (probably the best player in all of Concacaf), and he did it. We didn’t see Scally up the field attacking much, but that was fine and by design. He locked Davies out for much of the match, and when he did get beaten for speed by mercurial Bayern Munich attacker, he recovered.
Jedi - 8.5 - I might be running out of superlatives here. Jedi had another great game, on both sides of the ball, and stepped into central defense a few times (Another tactical wrinkle that Callaghan introduced that worked marvelously).
Musah - 7.5 - Callaghan’s solution for dealing with the loss of Tyler Adams to injury and Weston McKennie to a red card was to task Yunus Musah with the entire defensive midfielder responsibilities. This was no double-pivot. Weston was out. Aaronson was helping out with Davies. Reyna was focused on attack. Musah stepped up to the tall task admirably, stopping Canada from attacking down the middle, protecting the backline, and smoothly shuttling the ball up through the midfield to connect defense to offense. It was a great performance, demonstrating we have more options when Tyler is out than we’d thought. Musah might get a move from Valencia to the Premier League this summer, and if he does, he’ll richly deserve it.
Reyna - 8 - The powerful, creative, languid, visionary attacker we’ve all hoped for arrived. It took more years than it should have, but he’s finally here. Callaghan allowed Reyna to run our attack from a central midfield spot, and we were all richly rewarded. Gio also took over set pieces and didn’t disapoint there either. A lovely looping corner kick onto the forehead of Chris Richards created the first goal. And then after a lovely give-and-go with Weah near midfield, Gio drove at the defense, spotted a run by Balogun, and placed an inch-perfect pass into Flo’s stride for the second goal. The pass had to be perfect, not too hard, not too soft. And it was. That piece of magic was the goal of the year for so many reasons. Reyna to Balogun. The potential realized. The banished man and the newcomer. Guile, power, and beauty. Chef’s kiss. The only reason Gio isn’t getting a perfect 10 is that he slowed down at the end of the first half and went off at halftime with a knock.
Aaronson - 6 - Brendan was on a downward trajectory during Leeds’ long, futile season, and his task in this match from BJ Callaghan was apparently terse: help Scally shut down Alphonso Davies. And he did a great job marking the most dangerous player out of the game. Not much offense here, but a solid performance, and just what was needed.
Pulisic - 6.5 - After his dominance in Mexico, CP10 was a bit quieter in this one. A few nice combinations, but he wasn’t up to his normal brilliance here. It was a testament to the power of our attacking front four that we could suffer an off-day from our most dangerous player and still tear up an opposing defense. Balogun and Reyna proved in this game that we now have three top-class attacking difference-makers.
Weah - 7 - Weah again tormented the defense with his speed. He’s unique in our roster in the way he goes straight forward beating defenders with speed.
Balogun - 7.5 - The true arrival of Folarin Balogun on the USMNT scene came in the 34th minute. Flo saw Gio Reyna driving down the field. Balogun pointed behind his defender so Reyna could see exactly where he wanted the ball. Flo darted into the space he indicated, Reyna delivered the ball on a platter, and Flo took it first time, lashing it powerfully past Milan Borjan. The ball hit the back of the net for a 2-0 lead, and finallly, there it was: the sweetest moment of the year for the USMNT. Everything we never saw under Berhalter. A creative central midfiielder with an incisive, precise, delicate pass. And a powerful center forward capping the move with class.
Callaghan - 9.5 - Another superb coaching performance. What can I say? This was an even better-coached match than the Mexico game. Sir BJ placed Musah alone at the 6; it worked. He deployed Scally on the right to guard Davies; it worked. He devoted an entire midfielder — Brendan Aaronson — to help defend Davies; it worked. He instructed Jedi to stay home rather than rampage upfield—and even tuck in as a third central defener at times; it worked. He kept Reyna in central midfield and pushed him even higher into the attack; it worked. He stuck with Balogun in center forward when other coaches (ahem, Berhalter) might have switched to Pepi after Balogun’s weak-ish showing against Mexico; it worked. The only quibble I have with BJ’s excellent coaching performance was going defensive a little early. It’s fine to try to lock down a win in the last 10 minutes or so, which means the 85th minute now that stoppage time is routinely 5+ minutes. But we began surrendering the ball and the initiative at around the 75th minute, and we ended up giving Canada a lot more opportunities on goal than we needed to. To be fair, we had a two-goal lead, and it was the 75th minute of a cup final. In comparison, Berhalter often packs it in with a one-goal lead in the 60th minute (ahem, Iran and Wales) and in so doing drives every fan from Sarasota to Seattle up a wall. This is but a minor quibble with Callaghan approach’s.
The Elephant in the Room
This was one of the best international windows in USMNT history, and surely the best in the last five years. Very rarely under Berhalter did this team play two good matches in succession against any foe, let alone against opponents at the level of our biggest rivals in a compettive FIFA tournament.
The delight is made all the sweeter by the recognition it might not come again any time soon. At the precise moment when all of this was first unfolding, right on the stroke of halftime in the match against Mexico—as we took a 1-0 lead into the break for the first time in two decades against our southern rivals—USSF dropped their news bombshell on the world.
Why did they choose that moment?
Probably because it was the one moment they thought fans’ disappointment and anger would be manageable. They figured fans would think, We’re defeating Mexico, we’re going to beat Canada and win this title. Our players are looking great. Who cares if the federation is playing us for fools?
Of course not all fans will forgive the federation quickly for this opaque and puzzling (non)hiring process. Some will move on, and some will not from what seems to me to have been make believe. I think the USSF has revealed it has other fish to fry and it is willing to weaken the team for its own ends.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope we soon have another international window as successful as this one—perhaps in the Copa America next year, or at the World Cup we host in 2026.
I hope we get to see this fabulous generation of American players reach their full potential.
For now, let’s savor what happened in June 2023.