USA-Argentina: Goal.com Player Ratings Debacle

Dear Goal.com,

I caught you in a fib. You may think you fooled everyone, but you haven't fooled me!

On Sunday morning, I woke up and noticed how horrible Goal.com's rating of the USMNT was after their draw with Argentina. Aside from Tim Howard, USA's starting 11 did not have one player rated over a 6.0. Rule of thumb - a team that draws Argentina should have at least one player rated over a 6.0. They're Argentina! They've got Messi, Di Maria, Zanetti, Burdisso, etc... How can a team not lose to Argentina and have all 4.5 - 5.5 ratings? Frankly, it's not possible.

I guess the editors of Goal.com realized this, in hindsight. Today, as I sat down to re-rate my countrymen after their massive draw, I noticed Goal.com changed their initial ratings to shed a more positive light on the USMNT. Let's review: first Goal.com puts up ratings indicating they did not watch the game at all. Then, they correct their ratings and pretend nothing happend. Professional? Hardly. Exhibits A and B, below, will show you what I mean:

USA vs. Argentina: Player Ratings - First Edition

USA vs. Argentina: Player Ratings - Second Edition

Good for Goal.com for realizing they were terribly wrong and posting more deserved ratings for the USMNT. But unfortunately, they even screwed that up! For some reason Jermaine Jones was rated higher than Maurice Edu, when he was yanked at half for having a dreadful time handling the Argentine midfield (which also means he did not have "a few moments of danger late on"). Jozy Altidore was not "deservedly replaced," he played the full 90. Lastly, substitutes were not rated, which is a big deal in this case because Juan Agudelo, the 18-year old who came on for Jones at half, scored the leveler. So, they went from terribly wrong to a little less terribly wrong. COME ON GOAL.COM!

This is a huge problem! Journalists should not pump out news without thinking. Goal.com did not think before publishing these player ratings, twice. I find this truly pathetic and unprofessional. Moreover, I find it hard to trust a source that is riddled with mistakes.

Sensible Soccer's helpful suggestion to Goal.com when rating players:
1) Open eyes
2) Watch game
3) Think
4) Write
5) Publish
6) Don't re-think, re-write, and re-publish (get it right the first time)

Simple enough, right?