It wasn’t the best of efforts from the Red Bulls on Saturday afternoon in Vancouver but given the circumstances, a 1-1 tie with the Whitecaps wasn’t a bad result. Missing players due to international callups, a less than ideal Starting XI churned out a result.
The player ratings are on a 1-10 scale with ‘1’ being the lowest rating, an abysmally poor performance marred by individual errors and meltdowns. A ‘5’ rating is an average performance that is neither poor nor stellar. A player receiving a ‘10’ would be a world class performance.
A look at the player ratings from the match:
GK – Greg Sutton: Nearly saved the penalty kick effort from Vancouver in the first half, part of a solid showing where he made several saves and controlled the area well. Distribution continues to be solid. Rating: 6
D – Carlos Mendes: Sloppy challenge to get the penalty kick call, Mendes is clearly not a right back but forced to play there due to injuries and national team call-ups. Other than that sloppy foul, he was alright in his play, if somewhat predictable. Rating: 5
D – Stephen Keel: Smart effort from a player who showed his tactical acumen throughout the match. Good positioning, Keel played safe, smart balls and won all his major challenges. Rating: 6.5
D – Tim Ream: The second-year Ream showed quiet leadership centrally with his movement and positioning. Nothing superb, just solid defending with a makeshift midfield in front of him. Rating: 6
D – Roy Miller: After a couple of down performances, Miller stayed at home as left back and had a defensively motivated game. Good in the tackle, safe in his distribution, he played within himself. Rating: 6
M – Jan Gunnar Solli: He called his assist an accident but it was a smart, driven ball into space – just what he was supposed to do. His effort on the right flank was defensive in nature but he played his role well. Would like to see him here again. Rating: 6.5
M – Teemu Tainio: Another subpar effort on the ball from the Finnish midfielder, who nonetheless won his challenges and marshaled the shape of the midfield. Needs to step up now with much of the attack now leaving for the Gold Cup. Rating: 5.5
M – Juan Agudelo: The forward played left mid and did a reasonable job, though he looked out of place. Resembled himself the most when he had space down the wing and moved forward with a full head of steam. Rating: 5.5
M – Joel Lindpere: Played with his back towards goal far too much for a central midfielder but held the ball well and spread the field with his passes. Terrific defensive work rate. Rating: 6
F – Dwayne De Rosario: Active in the final third, the Canadian looked more comfortable as a forward than he does when placed as a central midfielder. Went close on a second half free kick. Rating: 6
F – Luke Rodgers: Active first half where he played physical soccer and made smart runs into space and was rewarded by Solli with a deft pass and a nifty goal. Looked gassed by the second half and rightly so after a feisty effort. Rating: 7
Substitutions
M – Matt Kassel: MLS debut under less than ideal circumstances, the flank midfielder was forced to play right back due to a Mendes injury. Won some challenges and played smart soccer. Nearly had a goal on a shot from distance. Rating: 6
M – Austin da Luz: Another MLS debut, da Luz worked a rather quiet shift. Trouble with holding position, da Luz did do a lot of running down the flanks to track back. Rating: 5
F – Corey Hertzog: Late substitution does not warrant a rating.
Kristian R. Dyer looks forward to you disagreeing with his ratings. He can be followed at twitter.com/KristianRDyer
