2010 FIFA World Cup: USA-England Player Ratings

The 1-1 draw between the US and England is a good result for the former and a bad one for the latter. With the draw, England failed to make a stamp as the favorite of the group, and the Americans put themselves in a position not only to advance, but also to win the group.

A struggling, injury-prone American defense held off the English attack, thanks to great keeping from Tim Howard and discipline for most of the game. The American attack came on in the second half.

England was outplayed in the second half, but if not for a keeping blunder from Robert Green, they could have escaped with a 1-0 win.

Here are the player ratings for the game.

United States

Starters

Tim Howard: 9 

Tim was great as always. He did well to keep the English off of him throughout the entire game. Howard might have done better to stop the Gerrard goal, but he can’t be blamed for the defensive miscue.

He calmly parried away several English shots on goal, including a save on Glen Johnson’s run after Dempsey’s goal. The most important save was when he held on to a Heskey attempt in the 51st minute that should have been in the back of the net, and again he parried away SWP’s 75th minute effort. He's my man of the match.

Steve Cherundolo: 8  

Dolo gave Milner and Cole a lot of trouble early, getting forward without being exposed at the back. His best play was breaking up a near-goal on an Aaron Lennon run early.

The substitution of the speedy Shaun-Wright Phillips gave him trouble, earning a 38th minute yellow card, but he seemed to adjust well in the second half to keep SWP at bay. His crosses were dangerous, and he made several crucial tackles on England attacks.

Oguchi Onyewu: 6 

Gooch was responsible for the Heskey goal, when he looked slow and out of position. He should have conceded another to Heskey, who failed to put a one-on-one away. As the game went on, he got better and did well late to break up an 84th minute attack from the English. His second half performance was a vast improvement from the first

Jay DeMerit: 7.5

Heskey did out-muscle him to win the ball for the Gerrard goal. Aside from terrible handball on the yellow card in 46th minute, he was rock-solid. His headers sent several English crosses out of harm's way, and he kept the area in front of goal clean.

Carlos Bocanegra: 7 

Captain America struggled some with Lennon’s speed, but his positioning kept several potential scoring crosses from getting in. Boca seemed to always be in the right spot, and Coach Bradley's strategy to push the English attack to the wings was justified by his and Cherundolo's strong play.

Landon Donovan: 7

Landon was dangerous on set pieces as always and was able to find space in the middle. Although he was unable to get behind Ashley Cole, his creativity in the middle was a spark for the Americans.

While he will need to score to advance the US past the group stages, tonight he did well to help the US keep enough possession to not get overrun by the English.

Michael Bradley: 6

There is not much to speak of from the coach’s son during the game. He covered a lot of ground and was solid defensively, but his passing was too inconsistent, and he didn’t offer much to the game offensively other than a couple of semi-dangerous route one passes.

His short passing was not very good, and as Rooney dropped deeper into the midfield, Bradley struggled with his quickness. The US will need better out of the young midfielder going forward, but perhaps my expectations are too high from such a young player. 

Ricardo Clark: 5.5 

Rico was very disruptive from the start, but he has to do better to mark Gerrard on the goal. Gooch left him exposed, but Gerrard simply beat him to the ball, and Clark didn’t do his job.

Other than that, Clark was very good. He did make the midfield for the English work the rest of the game, however, and his work rate was second to none on the field. His passing is still poor, and I think he needs to sit against Slovenia.

Clint Dempsey: 7

Clint scored the goal, which was not much due to his skill, but he looked good with the ball at his feet and created the opportunity.

Failed to track back effectively in the early part of the second half, which made the English dangerous down their right side, but as he and Donovan interchanged from left to right and vice-versa, he settled in and defended well toward the end of the game.

Robbie Findley: 5.5

His speed seemed to give the England back line trouble, but his lack of awareness led to several turnovers during American build-ups. Carragher’s introduction allowed Findley to out-run the older center back, but he failed to have any real impact other than a couple of interesting runs.

Jozy Altidore: 7

Jozy failed to get touches early and missed a great opportunity on a set piece from Landon Donovan 20 minutes in. The second half saw a different Altidore, however, as he beat Carragher down the left with great skill and put a shot off Green’s hand and into the post at 64 minutes.

Jozy got better as the game went on and looks to be the striker that Bradley needs him to be.

Subs

Edson Buddle (77): 6

Edson disrupted an English pass, but other than that, he didn't have enough time to make an impact.

Stuart Holden (86): 6  

Not a large enough body of work to give him an accurate grade, but he did make a dangerous run to put a cross in late.

England

Starters

Robert Green: 2

Green gave the Americans a much-need point on the Dempsey goal with one of the worst keeping blunders in recent history, so his score is clearly the lowest. He comes in just behind Howard for the US's man of the match.

He did, however, make a great save on Jozy’s strike in the 65th, so I'll refrain from giving him a worse score.

Glen Johnson: 8 

The Liverpool man was brilliant going forward, almost putting the English back ahead after the Dempsey goal. He also made some great runs down the flank against Dempsey, who failed to track back early, and against Bocanegra, who struggled with the speed down the English right side.

His only major mistake came off a 63rd minute England corner, on which he should have scored, but he put his left-footed shot off target

John Terry: 7

Terry was solid and sturdy in the back for England. He held off Jozy well on the floor, but his aerial prowess was not as present as usual.

Ledley King: 6

His name was called very little, which is more due to the lack of attack from the US in the first half. King contained the speed of Findley well and didn’t have much else to do. He was subbed off at halftime, which doesn't bode well for the rest of his Cup run.

Ashley Cole: 7

The Chelsea left back covered well early, but he rarely was able to get forward as the English need him to do. He did keep Donovan in front of him for the most part and was solid defensively.

Aaron Lennon: 7

The Tottenham winger made some good runs forward, but his final balls in left a lot to be desired. He started the second half well with a great run past Bocanegra, but one of his better crosses of the night found no one.

His best moment came just after when he set Heskey up beautifully—with no finish to reward a great pass.

Steven Gerrard: 9 

The English captain was brilliant throughout the game. The goal was well-taken, but Gerrard was all over the field throughout.

The second half saw his only poor moment, a reckless tackle on Dempsey, earning a yellow card. The Liverpool man threatened all game, sending in dangerous crosses and popping up all over the pitch.

He was the best outfield player in the game.

Frank Lampard: 5.5

Playing deeper than usual, Lampard did well to break up some American build up, but he looked uncomfortable not being able to play in his natural rampaging role.

Frank sprayed a few passes off target, but he did put a good left-footed shot on target around the 60 minute mark. As the game went on, he looked to get forward more in the second half and created some opportunities, but no holding midfielder behind him limited his chances.

James Milner: 3

Fabio may have pulled trigger too soon on Milner. He seemed unfit and couldn’t deal with the speed of Donovan and Cherundolo on his side. His 26th minute yellow card for a bad tackle on Cherundolo was a result of a lack of quickness, and Shaun Wright-Phillips was subbed on for him in the 30th minute.

Emile Heskey: 7

A somewhat controversial starter, Heskey did well on the Gerrard goal to hold off DeMerit and sent a lovely pass for the captain. Early on, he won most balls in the air against the US centerbacks, but blew a scoring opportunity in a 50th minute one-on-one with Howard, putting it directly into the keeper’s arms.

Wayne Rooney: 6.5

Rooney was relatively inactive, but his presence opened up the space for the Gerrard goal. He began dropping deeper to get the ball, and as England pressed late for a goal, he nearly headed home the winner on a Gerrard cross, which just came in slightly high.

His brightest moment was a shot in the 74th minute from long range that nearly gave Capello’s side the lead. Just after he laid one off to SWP who failed to put it away, but the US defense tracked him well.

Subs

Shaun Wright-Phillips (30): 6

His speed helped the English get a few looks, and though his touch could use some work, he helped open up the offense.

Jamie Carragher (45): 5

The veteran defender had trouble with Altidore’s strength, giving away free kicks to the young American, and he earned a yellow on a bad tackle on Findley. He did well later to hold off a Findley run, however, which could have put the Americans up.

Peter Crouch (79): 5  

Crouchy did poor on his first header in the 80th minute, and he was a threat on several aerial balls, but didn’t see enough time to make much impact.