USA vs. Panama, 2018 World Cup qualifying: Man of the match, community player ratings

The United States rolled into Orlando on Friday with their World Cup dreams on the line. And by the second blow of the halftime whistle, all fear of not advancing to Russia 2018 seemed to dissipate for both players and fans. The US marched on to thump Panama 4-0, thanks to a clinical performance in the final third.

After the match, you got a chance to rate the players and tell us how you thought they performed. The results for some players were in high eight’s and nine’s, while others were left scraping for a six. Here are the averaged ratings:

Starters

Tim Howard - 6.85

DeAndre Yedlin - 7.72

Omar Gonzalez - 5.63

Matt Besler - 5.96

Jorge Villafana - 5.96

Michael Bradley - 5.86

Paul Arriola - 6.98

Darlington Nagbe - 5.90

Christian Pulisic - 9.63

Jozy Altidore - 8.45

Bobby Wood - 8.32

Substitutes

Dax McCarty - 6.38

Clint Dempsey - 5.50

Alejandro Bedoya - 5.52

Little surprise here, but Christian Pulisic was selected as your Man of the Match by more than one point clear of the closest American. Pulisic really had himself a night, racking up an assist and goal. His ability to pull all the strings in the attack was overwhelming at times for the Panamanians, and showed why he has really been the best player of the qualifiers for the US.

Speaking of the attack, everyone seemed real pleased with the performance of the forwards, with Altidore and Wood getting over the eight mark. However, the one downside seems to be that backline (with the exception of DeAndre Yedlin). Gonzalez and Bradley didn’t strike a cord with the fans, giving them the two lowest ratings of the starters.

The USMNT’s final chance to place their stamps on a World Cup 2018 berth is in Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday night.