Road to Rio: U.S. Sneaks by Venezuela in Friendly

(Editor's Note: The U.S. men's national soccer team kicks off its 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in June, so this is the first installment of a new feature of the blog that will cover the Yanks as they seek to qualify for their seventh consecutive World Cup. The approach to each game will vary, but below I've graded the three players who played last night who are either current players for the Revolution or who are Revs alums.)

Venezuela v. United States

Player Ratings

(1=atrocious, 3=poor, 5=average, 7=good, 10=excellent)

Michael Parkhurst (2005-2008): 7

This game was tailor-made for Parkhurst to make a pretty good impression in his first national team appearance under Juergen Klinsmann. Venezuela's impotent attack didn't often put Parkhurst in a position to become overmatched physically, and The Burgundy's low pressure defense allowed the center back to do what he does best: Circulate the ball, maintain possession, and change the points of attack effectively.

To be fair to the F.C. Nordsjælland defender, though, Parkhurst acquitted himself well in the handful of aerial battles he had, and his game awareness enabled him to pretty much always be in the right spot at the right time. He seemed to work well with fellow center-back Geoff Cameron and the other defenders to hold a consistent line and account for their marks. Parkhurst was one of five players for the U.S. who played all 90 minutes.

Jeff Larentowicz (2005-2009): 6

Larentiwicz did what every coach wants his No. 6 to do: Give the attacking midfielder defensive cover, break up the other team's attack in the midfield, keep the ball moving, and maintain possession. By my count, Larentowicz completed 94% of his passes (31 of 33) in the sixty minutes he played (he was replaced by the eventual goal-scorer Ricardo Clark), though his cautious offensive play in the first half appeared to force Jermaine Jones to drop deep into the midfield and sometimes into the defensive third of the field to collect the ball and try to jumpstart the attack.

A poor game for a defensive midfielder occurs when he makes a glaring defensive mistake, a good game for a defensive midfielder is when he sprinkles a solid defensive performance with a few sparkling attacking plays, and an average performance for a defensive midfielder means he largely goes unnoticed. Hence Larentowicz's above-average--but not good--rating.

Benny Feilhaber (2011-present): 5

Cliche alert: Feilhaber was uneven. For every clever play (his slip pass to Brek Shea in the 20th minute, for instance), there are a couple ham-footed plays (the attempted backheel to Shea off a turnover in the 7th minute or the attempted chip to Jermaine Jones in the 27th minute). And for every decisive play (the one-touch pass in the defensive third of the field that sprung Heath Pearce for an unsuccessful counter-attack in the 25th minute) there's the moment he just...takes...too...damn...long (his third-minute shot off a turnover).

Overall, Feilhaber wasn't sharp enough to be the best playmaker for the U.S. and not physically stout enough to occasionally complement Teal Bunbury as the team's second striker. He was subbed after about sixty minutes.

(Update: Brian O'Connell of New England Soccer Today has a good piece on how Michael Parkhurst was joined at center back by a former youth club teammate from Rhode Island, Geoff Cameron.)

- John C.L. Morgan