USMNT - El Salvador player ratings: The visitors were rusty and, well, visitors, but the United States men’s national team didn’t play down to the level of El Salvador in a 6-0 blowout win Wednesday at Inter Miami CF Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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How did the players -- most from MLS and many debutants -- fare? Pretty good, though we’ll be grading on a curve.
As a reminder, our player ratings begin with 6 as a baseline, so a 6 isn’t bad. A 10 will be very rare, as well anything below 3.
USMNT - El Salvador player ratings
Starting XI
Bill Hamid: 7 – Saved one shot early and another late, the latter on a very bad giveaway that could’ve easily made it 6-1.
Julian Araujo: 5 – Some bright movements going forward especially in the early blitz of goals, but his giveaway was super ugly and would’ve had it 6-1 if Hamid didn’t parry.
Aaron Long: 6 – Didn’t have much to do but moved the ball accurately and led the line.
Mark McKenzie: 7 – Like Long, but had a goal perhaps wrongly-ruled out for offside. Looking forward to seeing what’s next for the Europe-eyeing Union center back.
Sam Vines: 7 – Some nice moments pushing the left edge but didn’t have much to do on the whole. Not really his fault. Again, we’re grading on a curve.
Jackson Yueill: 6 – Didn’t have a ton to do, either, but steady, active, and well-positioned in the middle of the park.
Sebastian Lletget: 7 – Crafty and fluid with a goal and an assist, became the only player to appear in all four USMNT matches of 2020.
Paul Arriola: 7 – Busy from moment one and so good to see the 25-year-old DC United man start the scoring 10 months after ACL surgery.
Brenden Aaronson: 8 – For the first 20 minutes, he played the Giovanni Reyna role in near-perfect fashion. Let’s not downgrade him for Akinola leaping in front of what could’ve been the first goal of his brace, or for Mueller looking like the University of Wisconsin’s answer to Lionel Messi.
Chris Mueller: 9 – The Madison Messi (tongue-in-cheek, see above, trademarked, and we’d also accept “The Chicago Coman” given his hometown’s nearest metropolis) was electric on the left side.
Ayo Akinola: 7 – The only thing he did wrong was play in the same game as Mueller and Aaronson. Wisely allowed Arriola the chance to rip home his goal before taking one off the boot of Aaronson. Fair play.
Substitutions
Marco Farfan (On for Vines, HT): 6 –
Sebastian Soto (On for Arriola, 57'): 6 –
Kellyn Acosta (On for Lletget, 69'): 7 –
Djordje Mihailovic (On for Akinola, 74'): N/A –
Kyle Duncan (On for Araujo, 74'): N/A –