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

Haven't read them all - but have to put 'the Highlander' Jeff Agoos at the top for me.

The back pass leading to goal vs. Jamaica back in the '97 qualifier in DC as well as his own goal vs. Portugal WC '02 were both horrendous.

 

Please stay as far away from this team in Brazil as you can , however, feel free to go to as many Dynamo/ Inter Milan/ Man Citeh/ Barcelona games as your heart desires

 

In that case, please keep going to Brewers games, and try to hit as my A's games as you can, Rangers need as much help as they can get

 

Damn, I saw real potential as a good luck (or not good luck) charm

 

I feel bad for the guy because he put in some solid minutes for us over the years, but Agoos is probably in the top spot as far as the frequency of bad gaffe occurrences.

 

funny story, my dad for some reason always loved jeff agoos. in the run up to WC 2002 we'd run through our lineups and he'd always have agoos in there. i kept saying the guy is awful and we'll go nowhere if he is on the pitch. we actually made a $50 bet that agoos would have a massive ******** up in the WC. Easiest and quickest $50 i ever made. His wonderstrike went in and my dad looked so disappointed with his boy agoos.

 

It was such a beautiful volley, too. McBride was probably jealous.

 

Mathis clearly was. That's why he went out and got his in the next game.

 

So we'll book you for three trips to Azteca and one trip to Mordor for later this year...on it!

 

Worst blunder ever and our team was so solid in that first half

 

For most long-time fans, the worst blunder ever by a large margin is Kasey Keller's in the 1998 WCQer against Mexico. And there's nothing even in the same ballpark.

On a goal clearance he smacked the ball right into Carlos Hermosillo's forehead, which then rebounded over Keller's head into the goal.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/21/sports/this-goal-will-rebound-into-the-blooper-highlights.html

Not just for the hilarity of the howler, but the stage at which is was performed.

Right before this game, Kasey had been a hero for Leicester City. The man was at the height of his powers. He had just produced a shutout to lead Leicester City to a victory in the League Cup Final. He flew all the way across the atlantic, and 39 seconds into the game conceded the worst blunder by a huge margin that I've ever seen for the USMNT. By a laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge margin.

I'm sure there's a youtube video for the younger fans out there that don't know the play I'm talking about.

That Gold Cup match wasn't a blunder. We just stunk...........................

 

Nothing? Nothing? You sure? Jeff Agoos wants a word with you.

 

Here you go

 

I'd still go with Keller but here's your clip

just to compare..

 

One of the biggest blunders was not even called. In the WC 98 Iran game, while it was still 0-0, Keller completely took out an Iranian forward in the box, who was dribbling around him for a tap in. Should have been a red and a penalty, but the ref looked the other way. Not that it mattered in the end.

 

It's not really a blunder but I'd have to go with the choke job by our entire defense in the 2011 Gold Cup Final with Dos Santos dribbling around everybody. That was just pathetic.

 

The Kasey Keller mistake is number one by a long shot but I have one that haunts me still. Bocanegra playing against Ghana in the last World Cup and not taking down the forward who scores the game winning goal before he gets to the box. I understand that he would have picked up a second yellow card but you keep from losing the game and possibly taking it to penalties where Tim Howard excels in that department. I really hate Luis Suarez but his game saving intentional handling on the ball against Ghana allowed his team to move on to the next round.

 

It's close...................but I don't consider that a blunder at the level of Keller's.

If we'd actually failed to close out that Portugal game, that Agoos mishap would be considered a much bigger blunder these days. Now it's kind of a comical happenstance.

 

I thought of Agoos' own goal first. He was facing his own goal and volleyed it directly in. It didn't even look like a miskick. What exactly was he trying to do? I would have laughed my ass off if I didn't have a rooting interest. As a fan of the team it happened to, that's as nauseating as it gets. If only he used that kind of placement over power strategy on his shots at the opposing team's nets. Oh what a great long distance shooter Jeff Agoos is, some announcers would try to claim. He scored a whole 4 goals in 134 caps. That was one of the worst scoring rates for a long-term defender in the World Cup streak era of U.S. football. Agoos had laughable coordination for an athlete.

The 2nd one I thought about was Kasey Keller off Carlos Hermosillo and into his own net. I don't think I've seen that happen since. Wait until the guy is long gone. You can pick it up and hold onto it. It's not like there was a rush to release it because he had put it on the ground and couldn't pick it up anymore. Or even just thinking he could distribute it to a teammate out of the back, but just didn't have enough time, or misplayed it. That kind of thing happens from time to time. That situation was friggin weird.