The US men's national team started Tuesday's Concacaf World Cup Qualifier at Jamaica well through Timothy Weah's sharp finish, but never quite recovered after Michail Antonio's golazo brought the Reggae Boyz back level.
The end result was a 1-1 draw that gave head coach Gregg Berhalter's team four of six points from the November window, with Qatar 2022 spots coming closer into view.
Here's who stood out, and who struggled, from the match at Independence Park in Kingston.
United States Men's National Team Player Ratings
Should he have saved Michail Antonio’s first-half thunderbolt? That was a hot topic of debate, but it would have required an incredible stop. A couple iffy moments in distribution ding Steffen’s rating more than not getting a paw to the equalizer.
Yedlin was again reliable, locking down the right side in place of Sergino Dest. The former Seattle Sounders homegrown has placed himself as a top contingency plan whenever Dest can’t go.
The Nashville SC defender got beat in the air on Damion Lowe’s controversially disallowed header, but you can’t knock him too much for a goal that didn’t count regardless of what you think of the call. Zimmerman was basically lights-out aside from that play.
The FC Dallas product didn’t make any egregious errors in place of the suspended Miles Robinson. But he arguably got lucky to not get called for a handball during the first half that would have resulted in a Jamaica penalty kick.
The Fulham left back’s physical gifts remain obvious, but he struggled to put in much dangerous service when getting forward and had some more inopportune giveaways.
Once again, it’s hard to assign too much blame for a golazo like the one Antonio scored, but Adams was the closest defender and perhaps could have closed the space before Jamaica's fateful shot. That doesn’t detract from how vital the RBNY product is to the USMNT's midfield.
The Sporting Kansas City homegrown product struggled to make an imprint in the absence of Weston McKennie, save for a near-miss on a distance shot just after the second-half restart. His passing wasn't probing enough, and his defensive presence was relatively passive.
Musah remains one of the main revelations of this qualifying cycle, but the 18-year-old wasn’t as impactful in this one. He was perhaps the player most negatively affected by McKennie's absence.
The Lille winger’s opening tally was an incredible individual effort and stood as the USMNT’s lone goal of the night. He was relatively quiet in the aftermath, but he made a case this window to stay in the starting XI.
Pepi played a key role in facilitating Weah’s opener, but the FC Dallas homegrown is having a tougher time finding dangerous positions near goal after a torrid start to his international career.
You can never fault Aaronson for his work rate, but the Yanks could have used more danger from the former Philadelphia Union man with Christian Pulisic still not 90-minutes fit.
Going into this without McKennie and Miles Robinson, Berhalter’s choice of replacements in Busio and Richards were logical ones. But the team clearly missed its stalwart duo, and the end result was an underwhelming one after the euphoria of last Friday's 2-0 win over Mexico.
Substitutes
Coming off his dramatic winner against Mexico, Pulisic drew a couple of dangerous free kicks after entering as a second-half substitute, but none that resulted in a game-winning goal.
Acosta replaced Musah in the 66th minute and did well to put out a couple of fires to stop potential counters going the other way.
Arriola closed out the match after entering for Aaronson in the 77th minute, but there was nothing too memorable from the D.C. United winger aside from a painful-looking kick on the shin
Like Arriola, Ferreira’s second-half cameo didn’t change much in attack for the Yanks after he subbed on for Pepi.
