My thoughts on Wondo

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by Sparks27, Jul 1, 2014.

  1. Sparks27

    Sparks27 Member

    Jan 22, 2012
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    #1 Sparks27, Jul 1, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2014
    Before I start this let me make this clear. In no way, shape, or form do I think my thoughts are more important then yours. Neither do I think I am more important then you. I just think what I have to say in this specific moment is unique and needs to be seen. Now to get on with it...

    Alike most of you I am proud of the USA. Everything they have done this last month has not always been pretty but its been emotional(at least for me) to watch. All 23 men on the roster in training and on the field did a great job of representing their country and I am so proud to call myself and American.

    However I see people blaming Wondo for this game and personally calling him out and to me it hurts. Let me tell you I am a high school soccer player and although the level is much, much different, one thing that's not different is reaction times. In a scenario like that Wondo doesn't have enough time to think and say "hey I've got the game on my shoulder let me just take my time, keep my composure and smack this one to the top corner". It doesn't work like that it's more of just a reaction with not much thinking involved at all. As Michael Bradley has said "millions of these things happen in a game" it's just unfortunate the timing(same with Bradley's own turnover vs Portugal). For people to say things like "I will never forgive Wondo" is very hurtful in my opinion. His ambition wasn't to blow the game.

    Ill leave it off with this tweet from Wondo himself.


    No Wondo you didn't let the nation down. You and the rest of the boys made us proud. To you and the whole team THANK YOU
     
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  2. dban

    dban Member

    May 20, 2003
    PhillyBurbs - Delawareside
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We forgive him but that was an epic flub at this level. He seemed to be shocked that it fell to him.
     
  3. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    I respect that he owns up to it. Some players do their best to refuse any shoulder of blame. He had a chance. He flubbed it. It happens. But had he scored that, he'd been given a parade. Would have been on the cover of NY Times "Native American Polish WONDO sends Belgian waffles down the gutter as US sails to the quarters"
     
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  4. elvinjones

    elvinjones Member

    Jul 4, 2011
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He's a classy guy. He will be missed hahahaha. Seriously though blaming everything on Bradley, Wondo, I just think it's misplaced. Like his shot. God...what a goal that would have been.
     
  5. 00Kevin

    00Kevin Member+

    Jun 13, 2006
    SoCal
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm very happy for him to have had the opportunity to play in a world cup, but he shouldn't have
     
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  6. steve smith

    steve smith New Member

    Jul 1, 2014
    I hope he has a strong Family unit to support him because that play he will take to his grave.It will haunt him for ever
     
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  7. dundee9

    dundee9 Member

    Jan 13, 2007
    Bacon should have been in there instead.
     
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  8. CarlosE

    CarlosE Member

    Dec 13, 2000
    Calvert County, MD
    Agree. Like many other great MLS'ers (Kreiss, Lassiter, Twellman, etc.), he's also a great MLS player, but just not good enough for the international stage. I blame JK more than Wondo for putting him in that position to fail by placing him on the squad.
     
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  9. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    Agreed. In fact he arguably should have started. Drop 1 of Bedoya/Zusi
     
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  10. JozyBradley

    JozyBradley Member

    Sep 1, 2013
    I also don't think he should be blamed for the lost....Maybe Klinsmann should had started with a natural striker instead of Dempsey...I thought we looked better when Wondo came in and Dempsey was pushed down behind the striker....whenever we play 4-5-1, the team always bunker downs and we end of having to suck in too much pressure..not a good recipe to win matches.

    The one thing I just don't understand about that miss by wondo is how can you manage to sky such a ball in such a position...That ball was perfectly set to hit it low and on target...Even if the goalkeeper had saved it, at least there could be a chance for a rebound....Or maybe the ball would had slipped under the keeper and under his feet or go pass him into the near post.

    I just have a hard time understanding how can you not be able to hit the ball low and hard when you are so close to the target...and the ball was dropping perfectly for him.
     
  11. summers

    summers Member

    Jul 14, 2007
    For what it is worth (and probably not much), the only reason we had possession there was that Wondo scrapped for a couple 50-50 balls outside the box when Belgium was trying to clear. Yeah - he flubbed the shot, but had he not put in some solid work to win possession, there was no shot to flub.
     
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  12. Kool Herc

    Kool Herc Member

    Oct 17, 2008
    Dallas
    Club:
    Leeds United AFC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I feel no pain from Wondo's flub, the soccer gods weren't going to let us get away with a snatch-and-grab against Belgium. They controlled the game and deserved the win.

    When the USA arrives we will get the same karma in return for Wondo's sacrifice to the soccer god.
     
  13. el americano

    el americano Moderator
    Staff Member

    United States
    Jun 9, 2006
    San Francisco
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Horrible miss. We weren't going to pass Argentina, Netherlands, and Germany/Brazil anyway, but I would have liked to try. No hard feelings, sports is cruel like that.

    I'm still not used to American players using "gutted" like that.

     
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  14. olephill2

    olephill2 Member+

    Oct 6, 2006
    Club:
    Watford FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is a simultaneously prophetic, damning, and inspiring post. If you believe at all in something greater as it relates to soccer (as Alexi Lalas does), this is an excellent point. It is the same force that caused that rebound to open up to Landon Donovan in June of 2010. It wasn't our time to go home that day - not after the amazing comeback against Slovenia and controlling the game against Algeria. I was and am as gutted about the loss today as anyone else (but proud of the effort and fight), but one could make the case there would have been something cruelly unjust if we had stolen the game at that moment in the 90th minute after being completely bossed by Belgium for 89 minutes - I know what people will say, "that's soccer". And I know we have a rich history of winning those types of games where we are outplayed (many times against Mexico, Ghana 2014), but it would have been quite remarkable for Belgium to have lost the game in that moment after out-shooting us 38-14 (and the margin was probably worse for the US at the time, since our attack didn't pick up until we went down a goal). Hopefully the karma works its way back in our favor in some critical moment in the future, when the roles are reversed.

    Repped.
     
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  15. bajansoccer

    bajansoccer Member

    Aug 28, 2011
    Only real cognescenti and players know Wondo miss was more to do with Courtois play not Wondo mistake. He closed him down low and he had no choice but to go high. Not that easy. His real options if more composed was to touch around keeper or pass to wide open dempsey.
     
  16. CarlosE

    CarlosE Member

    Dec 13, 2000
    Calvert County, MD
    The best option was to one-touch to Deuce for an easy tap-in into an open goal.

    Wondo choked.
     
  17. man_in_the_middle

    May 2, 2008
    I think Wondo thought he had a tap in himself but was surprised by how quickly Courtois closed his angle off. Of course if he had to do it again he would have tapped it to Dempsey. We would all like a do over, but it happened quickly and wasn't as easy as it first looked.
     
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  18. mcontento

    mcontento Member

    Jun 26, 2000
    Catalina Wine Mixer
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That albatross will hang about his neck for eternity.
     
  19. TrueCrew

    TrueCrew Member+

    Dec 22, 2003
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It happens in soccer. He'll be replaying that one for a long time. But so will the Swiss player who hit the post with the header to tie at 1-1, or the other guy who dragged a chance wide in the 1st half. Or the Chilean who hit the cross bar at the death vs. Brazil.

    Still, the issue here is that everyone thinks Landon would have buried it.
     
  20. Schapes

    Schapes Member

    Aug 20, 2001
    Bacon didn't look that great against Ghana.

    That is why Wondo was in there.
     
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  21. Android Cat

    Android Cat Member+

    Sep 16, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bacon also had no service. Nine players behind him were being besieged. Dempsey was out of commission. Doubtful Wondo would've done anything different.
     
  22. freroht

    freroht Member

    Jul 7, 2010
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Haiti
    Wondo played hard. He was fighting for balls all the time. It was a bad shot, but I am content with his performance. On the other hand: Zusi, Bedoya, Bradley, Jones and to a some extent Dempsey, have not performed well yesterday.
     
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  23. FakeFlopper

    FakeFlopper Member

    Jul 21, 2005
    Austin, Tx
    It was his one job, but after the letdown soaked in, we've all missed some shots we should have had. It's not his fault, because we're simply not good enough as a team yet to blame one player. The only way the US would have advanced would have been if all the guys on the team had a great game together. Yea, I'm proud of them, because that was one more game we had that every said we wouldn't have.
     
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  24. KennyWoo

    KennyWoo Member

    May 21, 2007
    Pasadena, California
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I can forgive him. I don't hate the guy or anything like that.

    But I'll never forget either. I'll never forget Orozco's red card in the 2008 Olympics and that was a ********ing youth tournament. This was stoppage time in the World Cup R16, how are we supposed to feel?
     
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  25. Ictar

    Ictar Member

    Jun 18, 2002
    The Oklahoma Panhandle
    Did we watch the same game? Bradley played great yesterday. Jones did play his worst game, Zusi and Bedoya didn't do much offensively but Bedoya had some good tackles/steals defensively. Dempsey, well, we rode that horse into the dirt, didn't we? He immediately looked better when Wondo came on and he wasn't the only one trying to do shit around their box. His shots came from him taking on one or two guys and doing the best he could just to get it on frame.
     

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