Lackluster

The US Men's National Team squeaked by Guatemala last night 1-0 in their first game of the 2007 Gold Cup, and if I had one word to summarize their performance it would be 'lackluster'. Here's my take on player performance ratings (1 being lowest, 10 highest):

Tim Howard (GK) - 5: Hard to give him more or less. Not much to do, but took care of business when necessary.
Frankie Hejduk (DF) - 7: When people talk about the US's conditioning and speed they are talking about Frankie. He was everywhere. Making overlapping runs to support the offense, but always getting back on defense. And Guatemalan forwards never got behind him.
Oguchi Onyewu (DF) - 0: The secret's out on 'Gooch'. His physical presence is no longer intimidating and opposing forwards know he'll foul them given an opportunity. Two clumsy, unnecessary challenges saw him pick up two yellows and get ejected.
Carlos Bocanegra (DF) - 6: A steadying influence in the back who constantly had to make up for Onyewu and Bornstein's poor positioning.
Jonathan Bornstein (DF) - 3: Let's hope this kid isn't the future left-back of choice for Bob Bradley. His poor positional play allowed defenders to consistently get in behind him, leaving Bocanegra to have to clean up his mess.
Michael Bradley (MD) - 4: Good work controlling the flow through the midfield, but needs to be better at coming to the ball as his hesitancy led to consistent turnovers.
Benny Feilhaber (MD) - 6: Paired well with Bradly in the middle. I appreciated his more aggressive, offensive minded approach throughout the game.
Landon Donovan (MD) - 1: Bradley has taken away the captain's band from Boy Wonder, now he needs to bench him. Simply, Donovan has lost what made him so fantastic at the 2002 World Cup. He no longer challenges defenders on the wing, almost exclusively opting to pull the ball back and reset and his crosses consistently die at the head or feet of the first opposing defender. Why is he still taking all set plays? At least he has a future as an X-Games prop as his every first touch pops up in the air near his head like his foot is some sort of skateboarding ramp allowing defenders the easy opportunity to take the ball away.
DaMarcus Beasley (MD) - 4: His speed is an asset and he made several good runs on the left flank, but his touch and dribbling skills look like that of a player on a U-14 club team, not the national squad.
Taylor Twellman (FW) - 5: A great run and cross setup the only US goal, but he missed an absolute sitter that would've put the game beyond doubt in first half injury time by heading a pinpoint cross over the goal from 5 meters.
Clint Dempsey (FW) - 5: Scored the only US goal, but - how do I say this? - he plays too slowly. Too much dancing and standing on top of the ball and not enough pressing and shooting for a forward.
Eddie Johnson (61st for Dempsey) - 2: He's tall and he's fast and he's a strong finisher (at least in the MLS), unfortunately he spent 30 minutes in this game with his back to the goal and losing incoming passes with a terrible first touch.
Steve Ralston (71st for Twellman) - NR: Ralston didn't do enough to merit a rating.
Jay DeMerit (81st for Feilhaber) - 5: Replaced Feilhaber to bolster the defense after Onyewu got tossed. Stabilized the defense in a strong partnership with Bocanegra. These two will likely pair up for the remainder of the opening round with Onyewu forced to sit.

Bob Bradley needs to shake up this squad. I think guys need to know that no one on the team is guaranteed a spot in the starting 11. Whether it's golden boy Donovan or his own kid, players need to know that if they don't show the goods on the pitch, they'll spend the next game on the bench. There seems to be a sense of entitlement within some of these guys, which is leading to complacency in their play. They all need to learn that if they want a spot in the team everyone has to earn it...