The US national team experienced a case of déjà vu against visiting Honduras, leaking late to settle for a disjointed 1-1 friendly draw Tuesday night in Boca Raton, Fla.
Much like the Ecuador share on Friday night, the home team scored early, this time on a Jozy Altidore doozy. And like the previous match, the team then proceeded to laze about with no discernible plan before eventually allowing the equalizer with less than five minutes remaining.
Nick Rimando (5.5) - The Real Salt Lake netminder fought well against high balls into his area and managed a couple of stops down low. However, he also got away with a terrible first-half pass and looked a bit indecisive on the equalizer.
Timothy Chandler (4.5) - The Eintracht Frankfurt right back got off to a decent start defensively and then looked much more pliable over the last hour. Unlike Friday, Chandler had almost no impact going forward in this one.
Jermaine Jones (6) - For most of his USMNT debut at center back, the "Dread-ator" pleasantly surprised with solid positioning and some daring break-ups of Honduras rushes. Near time, though, his set-piece difficulties were punished when badly beaten by Maynor Figueroa for the game-tying goal. All in all, it was a somewhat encouraging experiment.
Matt Besler (5) - It was certainly not the Sporting KC defender's best night in red, white and blue. Besler had a few uncharacteristic errors, including an unsafe pass and a bad turnover in the US end. Considering all the Honduras crosses and restarts, two clearances in the area over 90 minutes is a rather low match total for the World Cup standout.
Gregory Garza (6) - Again, there was some bad to go with plenty of enticing good for the Tijuana left back. Garza clearly does not feel intimidated by this level, but his game still needs some fine-tuning. But, hey, let's not forget he is an actual left back with all of three caps to date and that player development is not microwave popcorn.
Mikkel Diskerud (7) - Oddly asked to play at the bottom of the midfield diamond, Diskerud tried his best to look the part and his defensive effort started the sequence leading to the US goal. As against Ecuador, there were a couple of late mistakes, but Mix completed 52 of 58 passes and reminded everyone of his breathtaking calm on the ball in the final third. Heck, Klinsmann probably even applauded his late yellow-card tackle for its foreboding initiative, at least until the ensuing restart ended up tying the contest.
Graham Zusi (4.5) - It was a pretty anonymous night for Zusi, who only managed to complete five forward passes in 64 minutes and left Chandler without support a few times. To be fair, he did have a gorgeous lob for Altidore waved off by what looked to be an overzealous offside flag.
Alejandro Bedoya (6.5) - This guy is such a workhouse, you could throw a yoke on him and he'd probably plow a carrot patch. Bedoya raided the box for a dangerous low cross, often acted as pressure valve out of the US end and repeatedly pitched in with important defensive plays. However, it is time to expect a more consistent attacking presence.
Michael Bradley (6) - Though he still often looks pretty uncomfortable when asked to operate behind the forward line, Bradley offered up another one of his patented inch-perfect lob leads to set up Altidore's goal. Other than that, he only completed three passes in or into the final third and nearly dropped off the map defensively past the half-hour mark. What is Klinsmann missing here?
Clint Dempsey (6.5) - Considering that the team seemed to forget he was out there midway through the first half, leaving him with but 20 non-defensive touches in 64 minutes, Deuce had a decent night. Dempsey's back heel freed Bradley to send Altidore into the area on his opening strike.
Jozy Altidore (7) - The Nats also largely ignored him for the final hour of play and there were a couple of clumsy hold-up incidents, but all is forgiven when Altidore scores the kind of goal Gus Poyet dreams about. It was also the 28th game-opening strike out of his 58 for club and country since June of 2011.
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann (4) - Just to clarify, we think experiments are quality stuff and some interesting info was gathered against Honduras, but running a few significant tests at once proves chaotic. The US had almost 60 percent of the ball, but no real structure when in possession, meaning the team also discovered a new way to leave some ready and willing offensive stars begging for touches. And as game as they may have been and as widely talented as they are, the coach should have had no trouble understanding how to properly utilize Bradley and Diskerud to the best of their abilities well before now.
Subs:
Bobby Wood (5.5) - Not many touches and not much overall impact, but the 1860 attacker did involve himself in one dangerous attacking move.
Tim Ream (6) - Much like the other night, Ream looked shaky just after entering the game before settling in nicely.
DeAndre Yedlin (5.5) - The (for now) Seattle Sounders ace was mostly invisible during his 26-minute shift.
Alfredo Morales (5.5) - The mobile defensive midfield sub helpfully jumped into attack on one occasion and notched a tackle in 14 minutes, but he still needs to spend more energy on the simple task of minding the gate in front of defense.
Joe Corona (5.5) - It was another outing of little consequence for Corona, who seems to fare best in a US shirt when handed a wide attacking role.
Miguel Ibarra (-) A mere cameo on his debut.
