Biggest blunder/"C'mon man" moment in USMNT history?

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by USOutlaw16, Dec 20, 2011.

  1. USOutlaw16

    USOutlaw16 Member+

    Green Bay Voyageurs
    United States
    Jan 22, 2011
    On the Gringo Wall of Shame
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was trying to think of some of the moments in our history, that, while we have some good moments, we have some that make us shake our heads and would likely appear on a soccer version of "C'mon man!"

    -Mike Burns at the near post vs. Germany, 1998
    -Thomas Dooley jumping blindly into midair with his back to the ball AND Klinsi, 1998
    -Agoos backpass vs. Jamaica
    -USSF scheduling Honduras 2002WCQ at RFK
    -Agoos own goal at 2002 WC
    -Claudio Reyna losing his mark, 2006 vs. Ghana and Italy
    -DMB vs. Brazil, 2009 Confed Cup
    -Ricardo Clark vs. Ghana
    -Bornstein vs. Mexico

    any others that I could add to this list?
     
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  2. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kasey Keller firing one off of Carlos Hermosillo's forehead and into the US net, Foxboro '97...

    (granted, Carlos had a forehead that was pretty hard to miss, but still...)
     
  3. bshredder

    bshredder BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 23, 1999
    Club:
    Millwall FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not US national team game but Michael Orozco's 2nd minute red card in the final group game at the 2008 Olympics was unbelievable.
     
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  4. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Harkes having an affair with Wynalda's wife?

    I think the clear winner is "everything about the 1998 World Cup"....
     
  5. The Devil's Architect

    Feb 10, 2000
    The American Steppe
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Arena selecting Keller over Friedel in any game.
     
  6. USOutlaw16

    USOutlaw16 Member+

    Green Bay Voyageurs
    United States
    Jan 22, 2011
    On the Gringo Wall of Shame
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought of a few others

    -Ream fouling inside the penalty box vs. Panama
    -Goodson own goal vs. Panama
    -Dempsey missing the tap-in vs. Guadeloupe
     
  7. leppercut

    leppercut Member+

    Oct 10, 2006
    SLC and Anchorage
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wondo's weak ass shot
    Brek's recent slip up inside the box
     
  8. schrutebuck

    schrutebuck Member+

    Jul 26, 2007
    Bornstein's dreadful backpass against Paraguay in 07
     
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  9. ClevelandForce

    Jan 27, 2010
    Conor Casey embarrassingly flubbing a golden chance in the 9th minute in the final match before the World Cup. You know, the Charlie Davies/Costa Rica game, when the fans were standing with the #9 signs. C'mon man.
     
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  10. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    You go back THAT far?

    '07 Gold Cup Final (The Benny game) Ching and DMB missed some pretty unforgivable sitters, but that would have killed off the drama of the match.

    '02 World Cup. We just beat Portugal, tied host SK and the Freidel PK save and we play the first half that we did vs. Poland. C'mon man.

    '09 in Saprissa was a c'mon man effort for the entire team, but damn DMB was bad.
     
  11. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    For any US fans of a certain age this is BY FAR the winner. BY FAR. There's not even a close second amongst the things you guys are mentioning.

    Bad fouls are committed in every game, own goals happen all the time, missed sitters happen all the time.....................but you can watch 500 more USMNT games & not see anything like that Keller/Hermosillo encounter. The fact that it occured less than a minute into a World Cup qualifier against Mexico takes it up even a notch further.
     
  12. Mr Martin

    Mr Martin Member+

    Jun 12, 2002
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Didn't Donovan have a classic swing-and-miss moment after rounding the keeper a couple of years ago? Was it vs Mexico? Who remembers?
     
  13. DamonEsquire

    DamonEsquire BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 16, 2002
    Kentucky
    Club:
    Leeds United AFC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Howard going inside netting of goal for a save against Spain? and within a few other games did virtually samething. I think. One was a goal and the other was a save. But you have to imagine to push offline for a better attempt. Still Keller's might be top notch winner. That is really hard to do. Also it was when the Strikers were shadowing the keepers movements before he boots it out of box. There were many calling cards for that move. So it was only one of many attempts if you look at it that away.
     
  14. DamonEsquire

    DamonEsquire BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 16, 2002
    Kentucky
    Club:
    Leeds United AFC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes and he also had a missed header before his memorable Mexico run through. Everyone said he lacked simple skill sets but he made that up with that header...
     
  15. Wessoman

    Wessoman Member+

    Sep 26, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's probably my biggest "C'MON MAN!" moment I can think of. As well as-

    Probably the worst play in the modern US National Team era.

    As for Olympics -
    Of all the ones NOT mentioned, I would pick David Regis's bonehead play against Italy in 2002. We were well on our way to drawing Italy, and let's just say Regis decided to get cute to the ball instead of passing forward, passing back, passing square, running with the ball, kicking out of bounds or attempting to nutmeg. ANYTHING else but his horrible Rabona, where he just got fouled and gave up a goal. C'MON, MAN!!

    Not US national team, but remember in the 2009 Confederations Cup, against Egypt, where Clint Dempsey was playing the best game I have ever seen anybody in a US kit play, and having to listen to Harksie's PBP make out Dempsey as if he was not even the quality of Ritchie Williams. C'MON, MAN!!

    AND- One Caveat-

    Not a C'mon man moment. Here, the US just scored a completely legitimate equalizing goal that was disallowed. The US was still arguing the call when the referee inscruitably allowed play to continue, where then we went down with another gift goal to the Polish. Then, the Polish played 10 behind the ball. So yeah, we played badly.

    I mean, if that's a C'mon man moment, then the Malian referee was just as bad. The only difference was that the US team had the sense to not waste time arguing that call. Both games were completely the fault of anti-US officiating, and NOT with the poor play of the US.
     
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  16. DamonEsquire

    DamonEsquire BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 16, 2002
    Kentucky
    Club:
    Leeds United AFC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Also didn't Ernie Stewart swing and miss on an easy cross after everyone was beat toward the end of his campaign... There are some tough ones out there.
     
  17. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Due to the importance of the game:

    Carlos Bocanegra bicycling the ball from the touchline into the area for the Gooch penalty in the Ghana game. The game had been tied 1 all and was still all to play for.
     
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  18. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    This is a good one.
     
  19. ebbro

    ebbro Member+

    Jun 10, 2005
    Except that he wasn't really attempting a bicycle kick - that' would've been even more of a c'mon man moment. He tried to clear it overhead like players do all the time, but he kicked it almost straight up and then headed it across goal. I'd liked to let the ref share in the c'mon man moment for the weak penalty call.
     
  20. DynamoEAR

    DynamoEAR Member+

    May 30, 2011
    HoustAtlantaDMV
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's what he said.:eek:
     
  21. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Bicycle kick or overhead clearance Bocanegra still screwed up majorly considering he could have just kicked it into touch. I've noticed he subsequently almost always kicks the ball into touch when defending around that area even when there is very little pressure. Brings a smirk to my face.
     
  22. TrueCrew

    TrueCrew Member+

    Dec 22, 2003
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For me, the stakes get raised a bit at the WC and WCQ blunders.

    1. Harkes sleeping with Wynalda's wife. It ruined the whole '98 WC.
    2. Keller off forehead for an OG. USA/Mex WCQ
    3. Agoos backpass vs. Jamaica in WCQ.

    We'd have lost to Germany anyway, so while Burns and Dooley messed up, I don't get that worked up about it. Reyna's mistake against Ghana was physical, he just got physically over matched and the ball went the other way. That happens all the time.
     
  23. Lloyd Heilbrunn

    Lloyd Heilbrunn Member+

    Feb 11, 2002
    Jupiter, Fl.
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A positive C'mon Man:

    Lalas scoring off the back of his head vs England.
     
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  24. onefineesq

    onefineesq Member+

    Sep 16, 2003
    Laurel, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought about that game as well, but I would have picked the last Costa Rica goal and Michael Bradley. That goal had to be the one of the poorest efforts I'd ever seen by a player in an attempt to defend. Michael essentially gave up and allowed the player to simply walk around him. C'mon man is right.
     
  25. Mr Martin

    Mr Martin Member+

    Jun 12, 2002
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For me the biggest head-scratcher moment since 1990 was actually a coaching choice, which may or may not be appropriate for this thread, since we have been talking about player errors. But this particular wound was self-inflicted stupidity:

    Steve Sampson's starting XI vs Iran at the 1998 World Cup: a 3-5-2 with ZERO defensive mids.

    Who plays a 3-man back line with zero DMs???

    Pope, Dooley and Regis were the back three. Hejduk and Jones were the wingers. McBride and Wegerle were the strikers. And the central midfield was Moore, Ramos, and Reyna.

    Keep in mind that Reyna was the CAM in Sampson's scheme, not a DM. And Ramos and Moore were certainly not DMs. And Iran's counter-attack goals exploited the exposed 3-man backline.

    A true self-inflicted clusterf*#k in a must-win game. Against frigg'in Iran. With the whole world watching.

    Ugh...
     
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