USA vs. Mexico Match Diary and Player Ratings

We meet Mexico in another final, this time in a tournament I've heard of before

I’m giving away the ending, but you already know how it ended, right?

It’s Mexico’s A-minus team versus our…what is this? A B-team? A C-team? Let’s do some math; here’s what I think is basically Berhalter’s current depth chart (if everyone was healthy):

Striker: Sargent, Siebatcheu, Zardes

Left winger: Pulisic, Morris, Aaronson, Hoppe

Right winger: Reyna, Weah, Arriola

Central midfield: McKennie, Lletget

Central midfield: Musah, Williamson

Defensive Midfield: Adams, Acosta

Left Back: Dest, Robinson, Bello

Center back: Brooks, Ream, Zimmerman

Center back: Miazga, Long, Sands

Right back: Cannon

Goalkeeper: Steffen, Horvath, Turner

So, if we give “1” to a first-choice Gold Cup player (Cannon), “2” to a second-choice player, and so on, that averages out to 2.64. I’d call this a B-minus/C-plus team.

And that means that we’re playing with house money (and this game is in Vegas, so that counts as wordplay if you’re scoring at home). If we win, we have the clear psychological edge going into World Cup qualifying. If Mexico wins…hey, it was our B-minus/C-plus team. Based on what I’ve seen from this team, I think we’ll at least be competitive. This should be fun.

Tonight’s lineup has one big surprise:

Hoppe | Zardes | Arriola

Lletget | Acosta | Williamson

Bello | Robinson | Sands | Cannon

Turner

Huh -- George Bello! We’ve barely seen him. National team legend Sam Vines is relegated to the bench. Other than that, the changes are ones most people could have guessed: Zardes for Dike, and Williamson for Busio. Dike didn’t look healthy, and Busio looked out of his depth in the later rounds. I’m a bit surprised that Williamson gets the nod instead of Roldan; maybe Berhalter wanted to prioritize defense.

Here’s kickoff from Las Vegas, where the winner gets the Gold Cup trophy, Tom Jones tickets, and $5,000 in free chips…

10’ - Header off a corner, save from Turner! Turner got away with a loose touch in the first minute; hopefully that save gets him back in the game.

12’ - Williamson’s down -- the ball hit him square in the head. I’d hate to lose Williamson, but this looks like a concussion situation. This shouldn’t be Williamson’s decision; this should be the doctor’s decision.

14’ - Either the doctor thinks Williamson is okay or the doctor is really not a Christian Roldan fan, because Williamson is back out there.

15’ - Mexican fans getting the “ole”s going. “Ole”s in the 15th minute are like asking “how many kids do you want?” on a first date: You’re way, way too early.

25’ - Arriola off the post! Lletget pounces on a heavy touch, and Arriola can’t finish a clear look at goal! Holden and Strong immediately mention the first thing that popped into my mind: The chance Jozy missed in the 2019 final. You usually don’t get a ton of good looks against Mexico.

30’ - Another save from Turner! Which is good, because 80% of the Mexican team -- including Funes Mori, who got the ball -- was offside.

37’ - Turner saves another shot from Funes Mori! I think it’ll take some quality to beat Turner tonight.

41’ - Mexico are forced into a sub (Salcedo for Moreno), and here’s something I haven’t seen: Salcedo takes out an earring before he comes on. I’ve always thought it’s weird that soccer players basically sit on the bench in street clothes, and then they get called in and it’s a mad dash to get changed. And all this at least a half century after the NBA and male strippers perfected tear-off pants technology. Having to take off jewelry is a new, ridiculous wrinkle.

45’ + 4’ - Arriola gets behind the defense but drags his shot wide! It’s like watching US-Mexico in the 2000s: We’re a pure counter-attacking team.

HALF TIME: 0-0. We’re playing an honest game; everyone is working hard, doing their job. But I worry that it’ll become a half-field game if we don’t get better at clearing our lines.

49’ - Chance for Mexico but the shot goes wide! That was a great look at goal. We need to clean it up at the back -- we’re overplaying and giving it away in dangerous spots.

56’ - Ready for a scorching-hot take? Bring Vines in for Hoppe. Push Bello into midfield, drop Arriola to an old-fashioned wide midfielder role, and play 4-5-1. Mexico are starting to dominate the midfield; I’d like to pack some more players in there and commit to the counter-attack.

64’ - Here comes the line change: Moore, Vines, and Roldan for Cannon, Bello, and Lletget. I like the three-subs-in-the-60th-minute move, especially in a knockout match; it changes the dynamic (or at least should), and if you go to extra time, you’ve split the workload 50/50.

68’ - I feel like this match diary hasn’t been very funny, but you know how it goes:

71’ - Suddenly we’re on the front foot -- it’s taken some good last-ditch defending from Mexico to keep us out. They don’t look confident playing the ball around the back.

72’ - Herrera with a flying kung-fu kick to Williamson’s head! How is that not a red? It was basically this:

73’ - HOW DID THAT STAY OUT? Off a free kick, Zardes plays it with his nipple, Arriola rushes in, and Talavera saves it with his back! Credit to Talavera -- he threw himself at that ball like it was a live grenade.

86’ - More subs: Gioacchini and Busio for Arriola and Williamson. I’m pretty happy with this; extra time is likely, so you have your fresh players out there for as long as possible. And you still have one sub in your pocket for extra time.

90’ - For the second USA-Mexico game in a row, there’s a fan on the field. Running onto the field continues to be the weirdest reason to go to jail I can think of except for tampering with a smoke detector in an airplane. I just don’t understand the motive.

EXTRA TIME! I feel like by taking this to extra time, we’ve already won.

91’ - I know the phrase “melting pot” is falling out of favor, but what can I call this?

This is good.

94’ - Absolute dagger: I just learned that Matt Turner took acting and improv classes. Man…he’d been having such a good tournament, and I was really getting behind him, but learning something like that makes it hard to see him the same way. First OJ, now Matt Turner.

107’ - Zardes turns the corner but the shot from a tight angle is saved! I feel like we’re the fitter team -- Gyassi turned that guy like he had two wooden legs.

111’ - Time to start thinking about penalty kicks -- do we have any specialists on the bench? Probably Dike, and maybe Yueill. If Berhalter wants to use either of them, I hope he brings them in soon; I hated the way Southgate brought in Rashford and Sancho with no time left in the Euro final. Your first touch of the game should not be a penalty kick.

115’ - More about penalty kicks: I think the best possible way to do it is the way Vlatko Andonovski just did it in the women’s match against the Netherlands. He brought on Rapinoe, Morgan, Press, and Lavelle around the 60th minute. So, they were in the game, but not dead tired when they stepped up to the spot. And all four took cool-as-ice penalties.

116’ - BUT FUCK PENALTIES!!! HOLY GOLD-PLATED SHIT, IT’S MILES ROBINSON!!! Shades of John Brooks against Ghana: an instant signature moment for a young center back. And I have to post this from my last match diary:

FULL TIME!!! 1-0 USA, AND WE WIN THE GOLD CUP!!! Goddamn, this is sweet; I love this. We owned this rivalry in the 2000s; they owned it in the 2010s. I think the 2020s are going to belong to us.

A DC United player and some other guy hoist the Gold Cup.

Player ratings (first) and tournament ratings (second):

Berhalter: 8, 8. I haven’t been Berhalter’s biggest fan (is one way to put it), but I have to hand it to him: He pushed a ton of the right buttons in this tournament. And the team showed up and played hard, especially in the final. Honestly, this tournament couldn’t have gone much better.

Me: 10, 10. Clearly, Berhalter reads this blog and took my suggestion to have Acosta take the free kicks. So, I basically won the Gold Cup.

Turner: 0, 0. If not for the improv classes, I’d give him an 8 and a 9, but look: I can’t just overlook something like that.

Bello: 4, 5. Mexico really singled him out, and he showed a lot of fight but was second-best a few times.

Robinson: 9, 8. He was playing well even before the goal, an absolute rock in the back. I think he and Sands are suddenly putting pressure on guys like Miazga and Aaron Long (not to mention Mark McKenzie and Chris Richards).

Sands: 8, 8. I had barely seen him before this tournament, but he really opened my eyes. Looked like a good two-way defender -- another candidate to start with the full team.

Cannon 6, 5: I thought he was solid; I thought Mexico basically decided that Bello was the weak link and mostly left Cannon alone. His tournament score is low because he was playing his way into form

Acosta: 8, 7. The Fox Sports guys have a serious man-crush on Kellyn Acosta, and I basically get it: He was all over the field. My issue is his passing; I just wish it was a bit sharper. Is what I am typing as I sit on my couch covered in Oreo crumbs.

Williamson: 6.5, 6. He was a terrier in midfield and started a couple of counter attacks. I can’t believe DC United traded him for a water jug full of pennies.

Lletget: 5.5, 6.5. Started brightly but faded. If the World Cup roster was picked today, he’d be on it; he’s shown enough versatility and quality to play a major role on this team.

Hoppe: 4, 6.5. Lots of energy tonight, not a ton of product. But he had a good tournament and played his way into the picture.

Arriola: 5, 5. A lot of his best work was on the defensive side. It’s incredibly weird to come into a tournament, immediately get hurt, and then have to play your way into form in the later rounds, so we shouldn’t be surprised that he wasn’t at his best.

Zardes: 5, 5. Worked hard, as always. The striker position remains a bit up in the air.

Moore: 6, 7. Before this tournament, I judged him completely by how his team treated him. I saw that he was not really breaking through in the top tier and thought “Eric Lichaj, Part 2” (not that that’s bad). But he played well; maybe he’s ready to move up a level.

Vines: 6, 6.5. Another young player who seems like a real possibility going forward. It’s good to have system redundancy; if, say, Antonee Robinson doesn’t develop, maybe Sam Vines will.

Roldan: 6, 6. Why should “solid” be an insult? He was solid. There are players who would kill to be called “solid”. I’d put money on him to be on the World Cup roster.

Busio: 6, 6. Was up-and-down (in that order) in this tournament, but he’s obviously got a ton of talent. They keep saying he might be moving to Italy; I assume a guy named “Gianluca” has an EU passport.

Gioacchini: 4, 6. If he establishes himself with this team, I’ll eventually have to learn how to spell his name. I looked it up once four games ago and have been cutting-and-pasting it since then.

Tournament ratings for other players:

Dike: 5. Started really well, ended really poorly. Did that shoulder affect his performance? I’m guessing that it did.

Pines: 3. Rough tournament for Pines, but hey: I see him all the time for DC United, he’s got a ton of potential, he just needs to develop. It’s unlikely that he’ll stop being gigantic, so he’ll always have that going for him.

Yueill: 4. I thought he was one of the only players to play well in Olympic qualifying, but he didn’t have a big impact on this tournament.

Lewis: 3. Another young player who didn’t really impress but who remains really young.

Zimmerman: 6. Was good until he got hurt. In terms of team development, maybe it’s good that we didn’t have him, because we got a good look at the younger guys.

Kessler, Guzan, Johnson: 10. You don’t need distractions from guys who don’t play, and I didn’t hear anything about any DUIs, Twitter incidents, training ground fights, or tampering with airplane smoke detectors from these three, so…job done. 10.