The US national team drew performance reviews ranging from the sublime to the disappointing in extending their record win streak with a 4-3 fightback victory away to Bosnia on Wednesday night.
Though not without some bright spots over the opening 45 minutes, the visitors found themselves down two at the break. However, with boss Jurgen Klinsmann again pulling the right adjustment strings, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley led the road back with fantastic second-half showings.
Tim Howard (7.5) - The Everton star can't be blamed too much on the goals and his best saves kept the team in the game.
Brad Evans (6.5) - Apart from a couple of hiccups at the back shortly after halftime, it was another competent outing for the Seattle Sounders man. In the first half, Evans also showed more impetus going forward than he has in the recent USMNT past.
Geoff Cameron (4.5) - Pressed into center back duty, the Stoke City handyman pulled off some nice blocks and clearances. However, he was also guilty of mistakes on the first two Bosnia goals and missed his jump in a bid to intercept the cross on the third.
John Anthony Brooks (5) - Like Cameron, the youngster was marked down for hesitating to cover the line on the opener. Unsurprisingly, with Edin Dzeko to police, Brooks was also given a bit of a master class on occasion. Still, he came to battle, filling his debut with plenty of moments where one could marvel at how he made a particular defensive play look easy as Sunday morning.
Fabian Johnson (5.5) - The left-sider doubled at two positions, but did precious little besides dry possession work before a marvelous set-up for the equalizer. Johnson then went quiet again over his last 20 minutes on the field.
Michael Bradley (8) - Not only did "The General" complete nearly twice as many passes as anybody else on the field, but two of them earned assists. His hustle to enter the play and subtle touch on the final ball keyed the deciding goal.
Jermaine Jones (4.5) - To his credit, Jones did a better job of maintaining a defensive spacial integrity with Bradley. But, wow, was he reckless with bad giveaways for a long stretch of the opening half or what?
Alejandro Bedoya (6) - The newest Nantes attacker really needs to find the game more often, because he's troublesome when active. Bedoya also pitched in with a couple of hustle plays in defense.
Mikkel Diskerud (6) - Mix started very slowly, but managed to raise his level of fight after a few turnovers. He should have won a penalty kick after that magical turn into the box.
Eddie Johnson (5) - The successful simple finish aside, Johnson had a real struggle on Wednesday night. After wasting a couple of good early positions, he became too timid to try much. Most annoyingly, the silly turnover that allowed Bosnia to score first sent American brows everywhere into hands.
Jozy Altidore (9) - What else could you ask of the Sunderland striker, apart from maybe pulling the trigger when free to the left of goal? Altidore keyed all four US goals using a wide variety of tools.
CoachJurgen Klinsmann (8) - The USMNT rally to win in Bosnia with the "A-" squad while handing out three debut caps and the win streak stays alive. His formation change granted Altidore an extra yard of space after intermission and that worked out pretty well. We could probably nitpick a complaint or two, but who would listen?
Substitutes:
Edgar Castillo (6.5) - Though he still looks a little shaky at times, Castillo seems to be growing in confidence at this level. His daring surge won the free kick that was buried by Altidore.
Aron Jóhannsson (7) - The game almost seems to slow down for this newcomer, who toyed with the Bosnia defense several times. Jóhannsson drew two saves in 27 minutes of work.
Joe Corona (6) - On for 27 minutes, Corona buzzed around well enough, but without providing the sting.
Sacha Kljestan (7) - The Anderlecht man was extremely tidy with the ball, including on his hard-nosed secondary assist on the winner.
Michael Parkhurst (6) - The Augsburg defender was only on for 10 minutes, just long enough for a cameo in the late attack push that won the game.
Bobby Wood (5) - Though on for just a few moments, he should have closed down the crosser on Bosnia's final goal more aggressively. Welcome to the team, it's a lesson learned.
