Rumor, conjecture, and hearsay = Another lengthy BS thread Can’t say it’s not amusing, but I’m off to checkout UrbanLegends.Com
Exactly. And I've seen much wore from pro athletes than an occasional smoke. Up to a pack a day...not good ...but get a grip boys. At least he's not raping and killing. That's saved for the high priced American athletes.
Re: Big Soccer Revisionist History Good point. In the meantime, we've learned that it is so much better for players to have the restraint of Mastoeni -- with Blanco standing over him, proving to the world who really has class, or lacks it, under pressure.
Have a discuss with few of my friends, then we have a conclusion of Mathis will not make next US World Cup team. This is before this new story. Mathis doesn't have the work rate. Period. He maybe a better finisher than Donovan right now, but Landon has a better work ethnic. Yes, McBride improved after his 25th birthday with his hardwork on his limited talent. But just remember the new players we have--Twellman, Buddle, Casey, etc. Those are HARD-WORKERS with TALENTS.
I heard Mathis was in a bar the other night, doing shots, smoking cigarettes when he snuk out the back and smoked a fatty boom blatty. Last they saw of him he was going off with a hooker yelling something about morals being for pusseez
If this continues, I see a VH1 "Where are they now?" type segment in Mathis' future. As long as Bruce is the coach, which will be for at least 4 more years, a premium will be placed on athletes who work hard every minute for 90 minutes. As long as Mathis continues his current form, he will become less and less a part of Arena's plans. It is up to Clint. If he wants to achieve the goals he has publicly declared, he'll start paying attention to diet and excercise and serious training. If he doesn't, he can kiss his goals and his International career goodbye.
I have not read the wole thread and do not know if any1 has said this yet, but, the American Roy keane?
Well for starters, name another player form the our world cup team that had the coach question his work ethic. there is none. Dude has a problem. Now his club coach is talking same problem. And lastly and most importantly and something no ones mentioned. Didn't his captain question his commitment and scoff at him going overseas. Something about professionalism and how he doesn't have it? That being Claudio who knows a thing about those subjects. We have Bruce, Claudio, and his club coach all saying the same thing. Last thing, there are no more huge transfers being made. Teams are selling players cause they have no money. Hick boy needs to wake up.
It's all a consipiracy MLS and da Bruce are in league to keep home-grown talent home, It isn't jsut cooncidental that the complaints were made as Bayern were making an offer, and that DMB's, and later McBride's offers fell through because of MLS hesitancy to deal. What do you think?
Throw in bad knees and what do you have...damaged goods. You can't have a history of serious and poor work habits and expect to play in a top Euro league, much less expect anyone to pay a decent transfer fee. Clint needs to take a good look in the mirror and decide how he wants his future to look.
South shall rise again! Yes, and we all know that the VHI Behing the Music specials follow a pattern: rise to fame, fall due to vices or whatever, then recovery and second rise. I guess we are halfway there with Clint!
Re: It's all a consipiracy I think your idea is silly. I don't think Bruce A cares where his players play, as long as they play. He is the USA coach, not MLS's boy. He is the most powerful person in US soccer by far. He can say what he pleases. Bayern was making an offer well after Bruce criticized Mathis work habits. Furthermore, Bayern's offer was a joke. Even with Clint's problems, MLS isn't going to sell him for the insulting offer of $1 million, which is what their offer was reported at.
Right before the cup. I cannot remember the exact quote, but he said something to the effect that the training is much harder and you have to be prepared to give 100%. I think he was being asked about Mathis supposed transfer by a reporter and what advice he would give. He seemed to imply that mathis would have to shape up to make it over there and this fell in line with what Bruce started saying. Mathis has all the skill in the world but he doesn't like to train.
I saw this thread coming a mile away. Arena complained about Mathis' fitness and work ethic. OZ complained about Mathis' temper. So OZ' complaints make Arena's complaints somehow more valid? WTF? They are two totally different things. To get all the fun stuff out of the way: 1: Mathis being a chain smoker is a rumor. It has never been proven. Until Mathis or someone in the know (ie: NOT a random BS user) says that he is, it isn't fair to accept that rumor as fact. 2: The Reyna comment is being taken WAY out of context. It was one of those innocent remarks about how Euro league training is harder than MLS training and all the people who wanted to validate Arena after the cup interpreted it to fit their theory. If I remember right, Reyna was also talking about ALL the USMNT players from MLS, and not just Mathis. That said, for those who think his play will just decline, you all have short memories. Mathis is this year's leading USMNT scorer. Yup, the number one scorer isn't Donovan or McBride or Wolff, it's Clint. He was brought back too early from his knee injury by Bruce, he still played great, but it made him injure the knee again. Clint is one of those players who has always stayed in shape by playing. If his injury problems persist, then yes, he needs to work on that by staying fit in other ways. As to the temper issue, that is not new, nor is it a problem. Mathis is a winner. On a winning team (ie the nats, and the Metros in 2000 and early 2001) his fiery play is what we all admired about him. He wouldn't back down from anyone and that was part of the greatness he displayed. This season, he's on a team that is imploding. It's being coached by a moron who puts insane lineups on the field, benches some of his best players, starts some of his worst and has no idea how to substitute. Look at the history: The only player on the Metros with a worse temper than Mathis was Hernandez. Hernandez was yelling and screaming early in the season, and OZ traded him. In NE, with a coach who is doing a number of things well, Hernandez is playing like he did in 2000 and 2001. ALL the Metros are yelling at the ref, the coach and each other. Clint just stands out more because he's ALWAYS had the biggest temper. Put a coach in that will give the team a chance to win, and Mathis will start playing like the best striker in the league again, but Mathis plays poorly for a coach he doesn't respect who won't put players on the field that will help the team win. OZ is the problem. Not Mathis. And none of it has ANYTHING to do with the Mathis/Arena issue. JMac
I remember a snickers commercial from WC'94 with Tab Ramos in it. He said "I hate to train.....but I love to win." Maybe Clint should go eat some snickers instead of twinkies.
Shmucks Gee it takes a DC Scum & a Revs supporter to jump on the anti-Mathis banwagon, because Clint's club is the Metro. Oh I almost forgot. Metro already had two of their last three matches against the bottom feeders of the table. Still DC needs a victory on Thursday. A draw doesn't do much nor does a loss now does it. Clint is Clint. He needs to keep that temper shut but you know what, at least he has the balls to take on anyone and not hide away like a sissy, compaired to some of the other players that can't hack it. Just wait Revs supporters. There are two days left before the big one this saturday. Let's see what happenes shall we. If it wasn't for Clint Mathis, then those giant assists to Josh Wolff's goals in the 2001 Qualifiers against Mexico in Columbus, Costa Rica in Kansas City and that giant free kick goal in Honduras doesn't get us 9 Points and top of the table now does it. Remember that before you critizise his off field habits.
First he "scoffed" at him going to Europe, doesn't have professionalism. Then, you can't "remember" the quote and he just said you have to give %100. Nice speculation, Maury. You'd make a great National Enquirer reporter
Re: Re: Bruce Was Right Look, Nick may be an arrogant S.O.B., but that doesn't mean he's wrong on this point. Mathis' temper/conditioning/"party animal"/attitude problem is MATHIS, not the Metrostars, and certainly not their training program -- which was good enough to get their strength & conditioning coach hired away by a Premiership/Division One squad (can't remember what they were at the time; Manchester City, right?). If Bruce wanted to initially blame the Metros for Mathis being out of shape when he hit camp, that's just silly. Of the Metros' many difficulties this season, being out of shape is not one of them. I think it's become apparent since those comments were made that neither the Metros nor the USMNT are/were responsible for Mathis' overall fitness. Furthermore, I still think the main root of his ills is mental over the physical; he needs to re-dedicate himself to the Metros' success and play within his abilities, rather than paying attention to his pre-World Cup press clippings.
- With regard to Bruce Arena, to put it bluntly anyone who thinks he says a damn thing because MLS or USSF or anybody else wants him to just is not paying attention. It's the single thing you MUST know about him; he's an absolutely arrogant SOB who says what he wants and you can go hang if you don;t like it. Even Alan Rothenberg said recently that their biggest hesitation in hiring him had nothing to do with soccer - they knew damn well that he could handle that part - it was his mouth. He said they were terrified that he'd get the job and, when he didn't get exactly what he wanted, he'd start publicly badmouthing THEM. Arena keeps his own council. - Clint Mathis would be a VERY long ways from the first young athlete who got to a high level and decided he was so good now that he didn't need to work hard anymore. Because the fact is that, while some athletes LOVE to train and have to be thrown off the practice field or out of the weight room, there are just as many who hate to train and do it only when they have to. The crossroads in a lot of guy's careers comes when they make it to stardom; when they've become bigger then the coach, and have the leverage to say "No". What does a guy like Oz do? Bench him? Chew him out? Have his captains have a talk with him? It's a crossroads where, sadly, a whole lot of guys fall down. And while we really don't know for certain, there are some disturbing signs that Clint is there at the moment. And while I wish the Cabbies nothing but pestilence and plague, I ssincerely hope that things with the Redneck are not what they would seem.
Being great at something is better.... So I cannot remember exactly what was written, I don't have hours to scour the net like some people to find exact verbage. But it is out there, just not on BS's mighty servers after the huge crash. And saying every coach who questions Clint's dedication is an idiot instead of realizing where the real problem lies is what?
The fact that Mathis was our best forward going into the WC (because of finishing results, he had scored the most goals up to that point) alone would have made him a lock on most teams in the world (especially when scoring 2 goals against Germany). However, what would most of you have done if you were benched all of a sudden after starting most games for a month or so? Remember that shot against Ireland. How wicked was that. He had 5 yards of space, he ran into it and shot the ball. That was insane. All I'm saying is that he took the situation like a man. He didn't go to the media and complain. He didn't compromise the team!!!!!!!!!! That is crucial. He cared more about the team winning then he did about himself in this situation. He said fine, i'm screwed, but I'm not going to screw up for my teammates. Roy Keane didn't do that (whether he should have or shouldn't have is up to debate in my mind) Mathis was quiet, and used his minutes. He scored a goal against Korea that maybe only Landon could score. Maybe! McBride couldn't. We saw the exact same situation against Germany, and McBride completely missed the ball in the air. He slowed down, and stuck his leg out looking up, and the ball landed 5 feet ahead. Not because it was too hard or something, but because he completely misjudged it. Mathis would have scored there. Should Mathis be in better shape? Hell yea. I personally feel that he looks in better shape now then he has all year. That's my opinion. However, these rants that he needs mental help, and things like that are ridiculous. Mathis against Mexico 2 years ago set the tone for the National team. In those first 5 gaemes he gave the team confidence, with his I don't give a (rap attitude. We never had that before, and then Mathis came. He stood up for his teammates. We weren't soft anymore. Our mentality changed from bunker and hunted ideals into a hunter. We were going out to win. Landon and DMB reinforced that ideal, because they are of the same mold. mathis was the first though.