As a fan, that game against Ghana had it all.  Players fighting through injuries.  A new player scoring the winning goal.  Clint Dempsey scoring a goal 39 seconds into the match.

One of the neat things to look at with these fan ratings is that the US team was rated similarly to how Minnesota United FC is typically rated.  Mostly 6-8’s.  I think we can all agree that the Loons, no matter how good we might think they are, is not playing at the same level as the US National Team.  

I think ultimately, when we rank the players, we are ranking them against the competition the team is playing, not against some objective ranking.

Player of the Match

By the slimmest of margins, the fans chose Clint Dempsey over Tim Howard.  Even though he scored in the first minute, after he got kicked in the nose, Dempsey was pretty much a non-factor.  He was nervous going into 50-50 balls, and did little to help with the offense.  It made sense, when you saw his nose after the game, as it was clearly broken.  Dempsey seems to have been overrated due to that goal and the rest of his performance was ignored.  

Defender of the Match

The back line held strong for almost the entire game, and the entire line was rated pretty similarly.  Geoff Cameron was the Defender of the Match by a nose.

Sub of the Match

Graham Zusi with the assist and Brooks with the goal earned them high honors for their work, but Brooks had the slight advantage in average and so wins Sub of the Match. 

If you want all the nitty gritty details, check below the cut! (If you’re reading this from the home page, that is).