Battered. Throttled. Eviscerated.
Pick your verb of dominance, the United States likely fit it well in a 6-0 destruction of Honduras at Avaya Stadium in San Jose.
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The win boosts the U.S. in World Cup qualifying after their 0-2 start, but how did the individuals fare? Obviously well.
Starting XI
Tim Howard — 7 — The team just feels in a safer place with the veteran back there. If the U.S. goes to the 2018 World Cup, Howard remains their No. 1 (and there probably never should have been a question. Sorry Brad).
Jorge Villafana — 7 — Tidy passing and a low-risk game from the Santos Laguna man.
John Brooks (Off 70') — 7 — An early error before recovering to be his usual free-clearing, athletic self. Scary injury took him out late, as he looked dazed. Fox’s Jenny Taft said he was dehydrated, which is a relief.
Omar Gonzalez — 5 — He wasn’t bad, but Gonzalez is still a positional question mark. Bailed out a couple times by Brooks.
Geoff Cameron (Off 59') — 6 — Out of position and a bit hobbled, he wasn’t at his best.
Michael Bradley — 7 — One of his better USMNT games in a long time.
Sebastian Lletget (Off 17') — 8 — Scored, then got hurt on a roasting run down the right.
Darlington Nagbe — 6 — One or two electric moments in the first half, but overall a quiet enough night for the Timbers man.
Christian Pulisic — 9 — Hard to not to hand the kid a 10. He’s quite frankly the most exciting American talent in the history of the program.
Clint Dempsey — 10 — Along with Howard, the sort of player you knew would make sure this game ended with three points. The fact that he nabbed three goals, too, is just a bonus.
Jozy Altidore — 7 — Pretty darn good night holding up the ball, and passed as well as ever, but did he drop a bit too deep too often? The answer is probably, “Who cares? They won 6-0, dude.”
Subs
Alejandro Bedoya (On 18') — 6 — Typical high energy, space eating job in the middle of the park from the Union man.
Graham Zusi (On 58') — 6 — Good late clearance preserved the shutout.
Tim Ream (On 70') — 6 — Interesting to note that Arena went to him over Walker Zimmerman or Matt Besler.
