The US national team took a while to warm up against guests Guatemala, but eventually found their goalscoring touch just before halftime of a pleasing 6-0 rout.
Plenty was to be learned in the final tune-up before the CONCACAF Gold Cup begins, such as the fact that Landon Donovan is clearly not done at the international level. Meanwhile, subs Alejandro Bedoya, Mikkel Diskerud and Stuart Holden each made compelling arguments for the start against Belize in the tourney opener.
As a periodic reminder, grades are handed out on a scale with "6" as average. All grades are relative to time played, meaning a 90-minute "7" is more impressive than a 15-minutes (7).
GK Nick Rimando (5) – On a night where he had next to nothing to do in goal, a pair of incidents with poor command and communication chasing balls outside his area stand out.
RB Michael Parkhurst (5.5) – The right back also had a light load. Parkhurst did quickly cover for two gaffes in the area.
CB Oguchi Onyewu (6) – Gooch was rarely tested, but solid when needed. He was seen near a pair of worrying moments at the back, but neither was his fault.
CB Clarence Goodson (6.5) – An early mistake rushing toward the ball off his line could have easily been punished, but Goodson played cleanly after that. At the other end, his third quality try at goal resulted in a nifty roof job for the USMNT's fifth.
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LB DaMarcus Beasley (6.5) – Until a late sprinkle of nutmeg in the box dropped his grade slightly, Da Bease had all engines revving into attack.
CM Kyle Beckerman (5) – It wasn't a bad half of work, but the midfielder lags behind so many of his USMNT competitors in the overall passing game. And while it's true he does not often find himself in the position, Beckerman squandered two tempting chances to score from in close.
CM Jose Francisco Torres (6) – Until a delicious serve into the Guatemala box notched the first US assist, the Tigres ace was particularly underwhelming with the ball.
CAM Joe Corona (5.5) – Like his Mexican league rival Torres, the diminutive Corona struggled to make a big impact while stationed in the middle. After being moved out wide, his build-up play was a bit more effective.
RW Landon Donovan (8) – So I guess that settles the debate over whether he still belongs, huh?
LW Edgar Castillo (6) – His end product was nil, likely because he continually deferred to Beasley when it came time for someone to tear down the wing. Nevertheless, most of the US attack came down the left over Castillo's hour and he deserves some credit for that.
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FWD Herculez Gomez (7) – The fresh Tijuana strike catch was rather quiet until he applied the simple finish on the US opener. That sparked Gomez a fair bit, and his cross led to Donovan's penalty.
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann (7) – He didn't have the starting midfield right and it showed, but that was rectified. Switching to a 4-4-2 helped a bit, and then the halftime insertions of Mix Diskerud and Stuart Holden blew the game wide open.
Substitutes:
CM Mikkel Diskerud (7) – There were a couple of defensive issues, but Diskerud kept busy unleashing the attack for the most part.
CM Stuart Holden (8) – The Bolton man definitively showed he is now back from injury hell. Holden picked up an assist on Donovan's second and released crosser Brek Shea to help set up the capper.
FWD Chris Wondolowski (7) – His first US goal came on a finish as cool as cucumber ice cream. Wondo-ful!
CM Alejandro Bedoya (7.5) – Aside from a nicely measured finish on the final goal, the Helsingborg hot transfer topic made an important hustle touch to feed assist man Holden on the US fourth. Bedoya also put a pair of dangerous crosses into the area, which amounts to a lot of danger for 30 minutes work.
LW Brek Shea (6.5) – Though he should sometimes make quicker decisions, the Stoke City winger timed his runs well, took his defender on repeated rides and eventually got his end product sorted out to tee up Bedoya.
FWD Will Bruin (6) – In a short shift, the Houston Dynamo forward showed he could find dangerous positions.
