USA 1, Switzerland 0

Player ratings from yesterday's USA game: Marcus Hahnemann - 6.0 - he didn't have a whole lot to do but didn't make any mistakes either. Steve Cherundolo - 6.0 - made a few good runs forward and was good enough defending. Not a spectacular performance but solid. Oguchi Onyewu - 7.0 - gets a little too physical sometimes, getting close to giving away freekicks and even PKs but he pretty much shut down their big forward (Streller) in the first half. Carlos Bocanegra - 8.5 - he played great, anchoring one of our best defensive performances in recent memory. Switzerland really only had 1 or 2 real shots on goal and nothing too dangerous and Boca was a huge part of it with great positioning and a few big tackles. He was also unlucky not to score when he redirected a shot directly to their keeper from 6 yards out. Eddie Lewis - 3.0 - I normally think he's ok but in this game he was pretty terrible both at left back and left winger. Our defense looked the most shaky before he was moved up to the wing and once he was playing as an attacker he gave away possession nearly every time he got the ball and when he didn't he wasted several good crossing opportunities. He also took too long on a good scoring chance and ended up hitting it right at the keeper for a relatively routine save. It was telling how much better our offense looked when he was subbed out (along with Twellman). Benny Feilhaber - 6.0 - he had a really good first half where I thought he was probably our best attacking player but tailed off as the game went on. Maurice Edu - 7.0 - for a guy making his first cap against pretty good competition he did surprisingly well. He didn't necessarily shine but never looked overmatched either. I didn't know much about him before but he certainly looks like a good guy to have around especially since Mastro is aging and hurt half the time. Michael Bradley - 8.0 - After very good to great performances against Brazil and Switzerland (not to mention a goal scoring binge for his club Heerenveen) he's really starting to grow on me. As his offense has improved he's really turning into a good all-purpose midfielder and he's still only 20. He played well today and then found himself in the right place at the right time to score the winning goal. Damarcus Beasley - no rating - He got hurt like 10 minutes in and tried to play through it but was never the same. Hopefully the injury isn't a long term thing... Taylor Twellman - 3.0 - along with Lewis, he was the other guy who I thought was bad out of the starting 11. Maybe never got great service but was pretty worthless either way. Our MLS forwards really suck. Clint Dempsey - 5.0 - not his best day but never saw much of the ball. I am very impressed at his overall conversion from winger to forward though. Subs: Heath Pearce - 6.0 - defense looked way better with him at left back instead of Lewis. Brad Guzan - 6.0 - made one good save on a free kick that he stupidly gave away with his handball outside of the box. Dan Califf - 7.0 - did well at center back coming on for Onyewu at halftime. He did miss one great goalscoring chance on a corner though, hitting a free header over. Freddy Adu - 9.0 - hard to overstate how much more lively our offense looked when he came on for Twellman. Had a hand in the attack that led to the goal, could've easily scored chipping a through ball one time just over, drew and took a dangerous freekick, and had a nifty back heel right into the path of Cherundolo - all in the span of 15 minutes that he played. He looked significantly better than the last time I saw him play, hope he gets some more time at Benfica and for the national team. Danny Szetela - 8.0 - along with Adu, him coming on for Lewis paid big dividends for our offensive production. Sent in the cross that led to the goal and in general looked very confident out there for a guy making his first cap. He's an exciting prospect, someone who should hopefully be a starter by the next world cup. Robbie Findley - no rating - also making his first cap, looked lively but didn't have much to do. Overall, this was a very solid performance from the US. We were playing against a good Switzerland team who could've easily been in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup (didn't concede a goal in the WC) and had most of their regulars and we pretty much shut them down - outstanding performance from our defense. Though we did have some good chances here and there, our offense didn't look too dangerous for most of the game, clearly missing Landon. For as much crap as I give him for not asserting himself, he's definitely our most important offensive player. We did take it to another level offensively when Adu and Szetela came in which is especially encouraging since these are two of our most promising young players. Great to end our losing streak and get a win on European soil. Next up is at South Africa in a month, winnable game no doubt (hope we get them as our seed in the WC draw...).