Image is life sized.Player ratings are completely subjective and pretty much a waste of everyone's time. Here are mine for the USMNT's performance in the Confederations Cup.
Coach Bradley: C-
It's funny we finished 2nd in the tourney and I still think a C- is being generous. His reliance on capping out of form players that have helped him in the past, while overlooking obvious new talent, will leave him in the same place it left Bruce Arena. Coaching in the MLS.
Landon Donovan: A-
Was a dominant force on the field and this time it wasn't in a tournament against Barbados and Mexico it was against Spain and Brazil. He gets a minus because for all the hustle and skill he showed in the first two games he still didn't get enough shots on goal.
Clint Dempsy: B
First two games an F, last 3 games an A. More than anyone on the Nats, this guy needs to learn how to be consistent. Also he always looks like he has the flu. Work on that too.
Jozy Altidore: C+
He's as lazy and out of shape as he is skillful. There's no way you should have to sub a 19 year old out at the 60th minute every time he starts.
Carlos Bocanegra: B-
Looked solid on defense as the left back but If he's the future at that spot he's going to need to work on his offense. Of course he's still light years ahead of any of our other options at that spot.
Jay Demeritt: B+
Is ready to play at this level. He got beat on a header vs. Brazil, but after that had things on serious lock down. Easy to see why he's the captain at Watford. His style of play was contagious
Jonathan Spector: B+
Cherunda-who? Two pinpoint crosses to Dempsy has earned Spector a starting spot with the A squad. He needed help defending against the Brazilians, but who doesn't?
Demarcus Beasley: F-
Looked horrible, had no business being on the field. Not as much his fault as it was Bob Bradley's for starting him.
Jonathan Bornstein: C-
Bornstein is a fine second choice left back. Keep him on the sub sheet but pray you never have to start him.
Michael Bradley: B
Unlike Clark and Kljestan, Bradley got hosed with his red card. Internationally he's developed a reputation as a sloppy tackler. Not a good rep for your holding mid to have.
Ricardo Clark: C+
Ricardo Clark once again showed us that he's always ready to kick some back. Looked serviceable when he wasn't getting straight reds.
Sacha Kljestan: D+
Has any one's stock dropped faster than Sacha's? The Red card was bad enough, but in the last game against Brazil he couldn't defend anyone and he couldn't make a simple pass. The fact that Bob Bradley even put him out there as a "holding mid" makes me question his sanity.
Benny Fielhaber: B-
This guy is 24 years old, why can't he play a full game? Is he sharing a trainer with Altidore?
Oguchi Onyewu: B
At least with Gooch you always know what you're going to get. His big and strong, plays solid man defense and is fearless in the air. He also can't pass over the midfield to save his life, and has trouble marking speedy short guys.
Conner Casey: D+
Casey looked better defending corner kicks than he did playing forward. How this guy gets call ups over Kenny Cooper is a mystery.
Charlie Davies: B-
Talk about upside. Davies is fast and loves to hustle. He's also not afraid to run right at defenders. That Bicycle kick he took against Spain took a lot of testicular fortitude. Of course his touch on the ball could use some serious work. Someone get him out of Sweden so he can spend some time in a world class system.
Tim Howard: B
Had the game of his life vs Spain but he also had a couple forgettable performances vs Brasil and Italy. The book on him is to shoot from distance. He needs to prove the book wrong.
Brad Guzan: B+
Kept a clean sheet, which is really all you can ask from a goalie. Still, he looked shaky on corners and crosses and needs to improve his communication with the back line.
Freddy Adu, Jose Torres: Incomplete
What on earth did these two do to Bob Bradley? When you're losing time in the midfield to Jonathan Bornstein there's a problem.
Overall team grade: B-
I know I know, how can you come in second to Brazil and still only get a B-? It's not that I'm one of those people that thinks the Confederations cup doesn't mean anything and that the win vs Spain wasn't that big of a deal. Just the opposite, I think to this team the Confederations cup was super imprtant and in the first two games we played worse than we did in Germany 2006. It took a miracle to get out of group play and no matter how good Brazil is, it's hard for me to swallow giving up a two goal lead in the second half of a tournament final.
Still if you're an optimist, you can't help but feel good going into the second half of World Cup qualifying and looking way ahead to South Africa 2010. Maybe in another year Jozy will be able to last 80 minutes!
enjoy the top ten goals of the tournament decided by some anonymous youtuber
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