Note: Due to the timing of matches this article represents the Man of the Match honors for the USMNT’s first match of this window, played Saturday night against Paraguay. Look for the Man of the Match for Tuesday’s match against Uruguay to hit some time tomorrow.
The USMNT started things off on the right foot this time. After falling behind in both matches in the October window the US wasn’t ready to let that happen again and quickly jumped on Paraguay in the fourth minute. Max Arfsten’s initial corner
was blocked but it came straight back out to Afsten who’s second ball was headed home by Giovanni Reyna, who was making a rare start whether for club or country but looked every bit the class the fanbase has been hoping can come from the mercurial figure.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in this match and there was a fair bit of blame to go around on the Paraguay equalizer that came just minutes later. Based on the player ratings our community lays that blame at the feet of Joe Scally and Miles Robinson though goalkeeper Matt Freese isn’t totally without scrutiny either.
The score would stay level until midway through the second half when Folarin Balogun would get his name on the scoresheet as Giovanni Reyna added an assist to go with his goal. Not surprisingly Reyna’s two goal contributions lead to him being name the SSFC Man of the Match in voting that wasn’t particularly close.
Below are the full scores with the starters listed first and in order of their rankings, followed by the substitutes.
Giovanni Reyna – 8.1
Folarin Balogun – 7.5
Max Arfsten – 6.9
Tanner Tessmann – 6.6
Sergino Dest – 6.4
Brenden Aaronson – 6.0
Tim Ream – 5.9
Matt Freese – 5.8
Cristian Roldan – 5.7
Miles Robinson – 5.0
Joe Scally – 4.9
Sub – Diego Luna – 6.1
Sub – Alex Freeman – 6.0
Sub – Timothy Tillman – 5.5
Sub – Sebastian Berhalter – 5.0
Sub – Aidan Morris – 4.8
Sub – Ricardo Pepi – 4.5
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Coach – Mauricio Pochettino – 7.4
Match Official – 3.7
Do these ratings seem about right to you or what would you have changed? Let us know in the comments section below.
