Okay so I've got an awful taste in my mouth after today's game, but this finish has to be the best of any American at any World Cup ever. Certainly one of the goals of the tourney so far. Sublime. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y73APmQsyvo"]YouTube- Landon Donovan Goal for USA against Slovenia[/ame]
Yeah the GK was a total **********. Make a challenge or do something. Make an incredibly tight angle more impossible. Still, good finish but McBride against Portugal was way better and way more important because after it got to 3-0....Jeff Agoos happened.
For a moment, it looks like LD doesn't quite know what to make of the fact that the GK was not coming out to challenge him. Then he does a sort of "Well, if you are just going to stand there planted on the line I'm gonna pound this at your face."
Only thing that would have made the goal better is if Landon would have pointed at the keeper before the shot
Well, we almost saw our first decapitation in the WC with that shot! I don't ever recall a goal like that. No angle and a blast right at the keepers head and he doesn't even touch it...
Yep, that was definitely a WTF? moment on the part of that goalie. Isn't he supposed to be one of the best in Europe? Shocking. Looked like a little schoolgirl. (No offense to any little schoolgirls reading this post...)
To often I think Donovan passes when he should shoot and shoots when he should pass. I'm glad to see him step up and just blast it in that keepers face.
Watching that goal again, Donovan didn't really have any choice as Dempsey and (I think) Feilhaber took each other out of the play by crashing into each other with their runs. Need better communication on that.
I do think it completely caught the GK offguard that Landon shot the ball. If you notice, about a second before the shot you see him make a glance to his left (towards our other players). I think the GK saw his eyes and was sure that a pass was coming. Inexcusable error, of course. But I think that's what happened.
Donovan's situation reminds me of one Bradley found himself in during a prematch frienly where he passed the ball to a marked Dempsey rather than take the shot himself. Donovan made the absolute right decision. If you are one on one with the goalkeeper at a bad angle, and all your passing options in front of goal are covered you are better off taking the shot yourself. BTW, with that textured surface on the Jabulani, I bet that thing would leave quite a wild looking imprint on the side of his face.
Keeper had no time to get his hands up even if he wanted to. Donovan was inside the six and cranked it, and the ball the keeper is expecting at that point is a low cross/shot to the far post, so his hands are low. Once the ball came flying at him, he probably just saw his life flashing before his eyes.
He scored from 5 feet away, let's not get carried away. The "Donovan moment(s)" we need are in the build up. He has not been too impressive one-on-one in this tournament. All that said, I was still screaming like mad after all 3 US goals today.
That was a clutch goal, so many people could fluff that goal it's not even funny. Donovan has the composure to take the keeper 1v1 at a tight angle like that.
Whatever. It was an effing fantastic goal. And pretty much all of our offense in this tournament has been generated by Donovan.
That was a spectacular goal from that angle - not to mention that he set up both of our other goals. His services into the box have been dangerous in both games (he put one ball on Altidore's head against England that springs to mind). He had a couple great runs that could have been goals in the first half - the one that Findley tried to cross, and the one that Dempsey put across the goalmouth that was cleared away (right before they made it 2-0). He did have a couple careless mistakes in the midfield today (a bad pass back that nearly gave them a counter), but all in all, he had a big impact on the game, and that goal early in the second half was enormous for our psyche.
Even better than Robert Green's blunder? lol Finding out which picture is better would make a great poll.
