On the tenth day of the tenth month of 2014, the number 10 for the US made his last appearance in a US jersey.
USMNT: Landon Donovan’s Last Match
This game spoke to the kind of talent that Landon Donovan has displayed throughout his career. For the entire 40 plus minutes that he was on the field, he was simply a pest for Ecuadorian defenders. Donovan was constantly on the break, and led the dominating play that the US enjoyed for much of the first half.
Not only was the early goal the US scored very much deserved, but there could have been many more considering how much time the US attackers spent sending short passes and crosses into the box on a regular basis.
This was a particularly beautiful sequence of passing. Greg Garza leaked the ball forward to Donovan, who then took on his man and sent a cross over everyone. Jozy Altidore trapped the errant cross, tapped it to DeAndre Yedlin, who found a streaking Mix Diskerud for the bending near post goal.
Once Donovan left the action, the US played mostly on their heels. After a wonderful block on Joao Plata, suddenly Enner Valencia got the ball with roughly a mall parking lot amount of space in front of Tim Ream, and sent a knuckler passed Brad Guzan.
If you look closely to the video you can see Valencia’s shot completely fooled Guzan into jumping in the wrong direction, giving him no chance to make any attempt at a save.
Player Ratings (10)
1-Brad Guzan (8): Played as well as one could play in goal, aside from misjudging a knuckling shot from Valencia from distance. Guzan did well to erase quite a bit of mistakes, but holding onto the clean sheet would have helped him climb from under Tim Howard’s immense shadow.
21-Timmy Chandler (6.5): Aside from a few good runs into the box, and some timely defensive work, this was a fairly pedestrian performance for Chandler. Guzan’s save in the 27’ on Ibarra, saved what could have been a nightmare play for Chandler as well as the rest of the back line.
4-Michael Orozco & 6-John Brooks (7.5): Orozco and Brooks partnered well in the back tonight. They held a high line that caught Enner Valencia off-sides a few times, but also got beaten badly at times.
14-Greg Garza (6.5): Garza picked out Landon Donovan that led to the only US goal of the night. Aside from that, he was largely inactive.
2-DeAndre Yedlin (8) Yedlin looked dangerous throughout the first half. Threading Mix Diskerud for the goal, as well as a beautiful pass to Jozy Altidore that he nearly finished. As the subs came in, his production tapered.
11-Alejandro Bedoya (8) Bedoya combined well with the other midfielders in the attack and passed well throughout. He completely disappeared once Donovan left the field.
8-Mix Diskerud (7.5) Diskerud was dangerous from the beginning and combined well with… well… the entire midfield. He wasn’t quite box to box, but because the US was mostly on the attack, he never really had to be.
7-Joe Gyau (8.5) Gyau looked simply dynamic before his injury. He took on defenders as often as he could, and gave fits to the Ecuadorian defense.
10-Landon Donovan (8) Donovan popped up in dangerous spots throughout the first half. There was an obvious and gaping void in the US attack once he left the game.
17-Jozy Altidore (8.5) His large frame and physical nature gave Ecuador’s backline a night they can’t wait to forget. (My Man of the Match)
Subs:
3-Omar Gonzalez (6.5) Gonzalez had a couple of clearances, but outside of that largely stayed out of the action.
5-Tim Ream (8) Ream was generally in the right place at the right time in relief, except for the Valencia goal.
23-Bobby Wood (7) Wood never quite matched the impact that Gyau brought prior to his injury. He made a few dangerous runs, but missed an opportunity for a stoppage time goal with his mistimed pass to Chris Wondolowski.
19-Alfredo Morales (6) Morales struggled to make an impression on the game, and spent most of his appearance on defense.
15-Joe Corona (7.5) Hard to match Donovan’s skill and attacking prowess, but Corona did make some pretty dangerous runs in the box.
18-Chris Wondolowski (6) Wondolowski had very little positive impact on the game; defenders were happy to see the bruising Altidore leave and the lighter Wondolowski enter.
Jurgen Klinsmann (8): Pretty solid game plan. For much of the game, the attacking style of play the US utilized dictated the pace of the game and had Ecuador on their heels. Once he subbed off Altidore, it was a different match entirely.
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