• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

American Soccer |OT| Life, liberty and the pursuit of the beautiful game

Status
Not open for further replies.
X

xbhaskarx

Member
FALLING OUT: How America’s Greatest Player Missed the Plane

“He failed there because he didn’t believe in himself”

Those are the words of Jürgen Klinsmann, describing Landon Donovan’s performance in a heartbreaking quarterfinal loss to Germany in the 2002 World Cup. In a hard-fought match, Donovan failed to convert multiple one-on-one chances against German keeper Oliver Kahn — and drew curt criticism from Klinsmann:

”The U.S. played a great game — they had it in their hands. They were winning most of the one-on-one situations in the midfield… But these are games decided by the mind, not the feet.”

...

Anyone who actually watched that game against Germany knows that Landon Donovan forced Oliver Kahn to make several outstanding saves. During the game the German broadcasters had nothing but praise for the young striker. Jürgen’s criticisms of Donovan are out of step with the rest of the media and ring false. But why? Was Jürgen disappointed in Donovan for not toughing it out in Germany — and did that disappointment seep into his assessment of Donovan’s chances on goal in that game? One thing is certain: no one else in the media saw the same shortcomings Jürgen did.
Click to expand...
 
M

methodman

Banned
Heretic said:
Ugh... still heartbroken :'(
Click to expand...
Me too. Still makes no fucking sense. Smh at klinsmann dropping donovan two days before a game where he scores twice and drops a perfect dime on a set piece vs keeping a striker who hasn't scored in 1771(!) minutes for his club or country. Not saying Altidore should have missed the world cup, just saying he hasn't done anything to be there, which was a reason people were using for Donovan not being on the plane.

Still 3 more days till the final decision. have slight hopes Donovan makes it. :(
 
O

Osorio

Member
Bo4gtxwCYAEbt2N.jpg


Our team is now blessed.
 
K

KingGondo

Banned
Just ordered my USMNT away jersey (Bradley customized) via World Soccer Shop.

They're currently offering 20% off with the code WSS530 if anyone else is interested.
 
M

Meier

Member
For the love of god, enough with the Landon comments. Please. Please. Please. Just get over it, it's done and you're not going to change it. I can't deal with another few weeks (months, years?) of this.
 
O

Osorio

Member
Meier said:
For the love of god, enough with the Landon comments. Please. Please. Please. Just get over it, it's done and you're not going to change it. I can't deal with another few weeks (months, years?) of this.
Click to expand...

Seriously, this isn't Lebron leaving the Cavs. If our fate at this World Cup is dependent on Landon Donovan we're FUCKED
 
C

Cornballer

Member
If anyone wants to do some scouting:
Steven Goff said:
#USMNT World Cup foes on ESPN3.com: Ghana-Netherlands Sat 2:30 ET, Portugal-Greece Sat 2:30, Germany-Cameroon Sun noon
Click to expand...




Meier said:
For the love of god, enough with the Landon comments. Please. Please. Please. Just get over it, it's done and you're not going to change it. I can't deal with another few weeks (months, years?) of this.
Click to expand...
It's been settling down a bit. It's been a week, so hopefully we won't see much of it going forward. We have MLS games and another USMNT friendly this weekend that will likely take over discussion here.
 
A

Askani

Member
Meier said:
For the love of god, enough with the Landon comments. Please. Please. Please. Just get over it, it's done and you're not going to change it. I can't deal with another few weeks (months, years?) of this.
Click to expand...

I mean, that's all well and good, but what about Landon?
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
daoster said:
Thanks.

I love how these episodes are literally filmed like two days before. It's great. Rog Bennet deserves an Emmy for this series!
Click to expand...

it's surreal knowing that what you are watching had just happened. Typically in shows/documentaries like this, there is a large gestation period where the mythmaking happens. There's a lot of haziness about the actual time period in which the events unfolded. With this show we see it play out at most a week later. It's amazing.
 
G

Grover Cleveland

Member
Meier said:
For the love of god, enough with the Landon comments. Please. Please. Please. Just get over it, it's done and you're not going to change it. I can't deal with another few weeks (months, years?) of this.
Click to expand...

It's supremely unfair to the 23 guys who are on the roster. Landon's not walking through that door, as much as it pains some people. But at some point, we need to actually throw our support behind the dudes who are there and stop worrying about those who aren't.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Grover Cleveland said:
It's supremely unfair to the 23 guys who are on the roster.
Click to expand...


This is fucking hilarious, I mean how clueless can you get....

What is more "supremely unfair":

- People expressing opinions about their team, something players can easily avoid for the most part. Do you imagine Bradley sitting in his room reading comments on internet forums instead of training? Are people not cheering on the team at the games now? What the fuck is being lost exactly??

- Not taking the best possible team to the biggest event, one that only happens once every four years... For guys like Dempsey and Howard this is their last time at a World Cup. Howard just said Donovan was one of their top two field players a week ago, do you think Howard believes it's more unfair to not have the best 23 players on the roster or that some people on the internet are reading an article on some random blog?
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Greg Seltzer updates from Europe:
Okay, now do not pass on that I said he signed or that he is definitely the guy, but here's what I got. I have triangulated the situation to the point where it sure seems that Juan Agudelo is the American nearing a deal with Hannover 96 (as hinted last night on Extra Time Radio by Stevie Wonder). The thing is, I do not actually have "the nod" from anywhere yet, a confirm or spilled details to know for sure. As for erstwhile loan employers FC Utrecht, I was told by a few birdies last week that they were already getting priced out of the race.

Meanwhile, fellow US forward/hot transfer target Terrence Boyd has made the Austrian Bundesliga B-Team, as named by a leading domestic outlet.
Click to expand...
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
I think this diamond talk is a little premature, at least in assessing its worth using the Azerbaijan game. Wondo's positioning and role in that game (I assume) would be very different than Dempsey's. As a result of Dempsey's absence, we lacked that other presence at the top of the midfield, which caused Altidore to drift back more and more. Maybe I'm misremembering the game (very possible), but Wondo seemed to be invisible excepting the two headers.

We'll see on Sunday whether the diamond works out better. I'm refraining from too much judgment.
 
W

Wes

venison crêpe
Hi folks.

I'm going to be working a lot on the World Cup thread this week. If anyone wants to help, make themselves known either in here or in the other football thread.

I remember posting something in March and there were a few interested people in here and having spoken to Cornballer recently I know that hasn't changed as we've got closer to the competition.

Basic help is filling out some team info in a format/template I make. I may have further need for help from people with stuff to do later in the weekend or over the coming week so if you're up for something beyond filling out team info/description stuff for me make mention you're potentially willing to help out further.

I'll be sending out the template for the teams tomorrow lunchtime and assigning nations to people so if you're interested let yourselves be heard soon to now-ish.

So if you're interested if you could just start a post like:

"Wes - Basic help" or "Wes - further help"

Just so I can copy names across to a spreadsheet so I can see what I've asked people to do and credit people accordingly in the OT.

Please Note: I'm not holding anyone to any kind of commitment if it turns out they're unable to help after saying they wanted to. Any help I get is a bonus, that's all!

Thanks,
Wes.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
lastflowers said:
I think this diamond talk is a little premature, at least in assessing its worth using the Azerbaijan game. Wondo's positioning and role in that game (I assume) would be very different than Dempsey's. As a result of Dempsey's absence, we lacked that other presence at the top of the midfield, which caused Altidore to drift back more and more. Maybe I'm misremembering the game (very possible), but Wondo seemed to be invisible excepting the two headers.

We'll see on Sunday whether the diamond works out better. I'm refraining from too much judgment.
Click to expand...

No you are right. Wondo did play further up than Dempsey would have. If anything Wondo should be the sub for Jozy and Johannson the sub for Dempsey.
 
M

Meier

Member
According to Paulo Bento, Ronaldo may miss the World Cup due to swelling of his patellar tendon.

It+s+HAPPENING.+100+shure+from+pol_47a934_4838945.gif


(Let's be honest, no way he misses it.. but a man can dream)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Todd Howard Said Fallout Won't Leave The United States
News 2
53
3K
Varteras replied
MSN: Electronic Arts (EA) takes on Soccer - pays $588 million for Premier League rights.
28
2K
shoplifter replied
Major Soccer Clubs Stick With EA Following FIFA Split (IGN)
Opinion News 2
85
7K
fermcr replied
Challenger Games (illang,second wave) closing
1
752
IAmRei replied
French video game market (2023) Console Gaming +24.1%, PC gaming -8.5% and Mobile Gaming +4.8%
27
2K
Flabagast replied
Top Bottom