I was at an outdoor cafe in Koln watching the USA play Italy in WC 90 on a TV with rabbit ears. That might have been the best US game I have ever watched. We were supposed to get slaughtered but only lost 1-0 and had a ball get cleared off their goal line. The locals were initially dismissive of the game but as the second half went on, more and more people crowded around that TV rooting for the US. There was one sequence where the US had 23 consecutive passes which was incredible given the talent of that Italy squad and the US basically being amateurs. And yes, mullets galore on both squads.
I think I still have that match on an old VHS tape recorded from the TBS/TNT broadcast.. Sorry to pollute Wes's page again, but too hard to resist not linking to this: https://phillysoccerpage.net/2014/04/17/the-us-and-the-1990-world-cup/
Polluting further, but this article has interviews of many of the players and coach (Harkes, Vermes, Murray, Gansler, etc) as they went through that World Cup. Different times. https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/10/usa-world-cup-italia-90-oral-history
Wes had an interesting interview on Sirius FC where he talked about preferring the 8 and being leery of being a jack of all trades, master of none player
Injury report from his club: The Royal Blues midfielder landed badly after a header and had to go over with concerns over his ankle. The US national team confirmed to Schalke that he hasn’t broken anything, but it looks like he has bruised the bone and damaged a ligament. He will soon see a foot specialist in the US to determine the exact nature of the injury. https://schalke04.de/en/internationals/weston-mckennie-gets-injured-win-ecuador/
Everybody loves WM's balls out play, but he's going to have to learn to be more physically in control going into his challenges or his career will not be nearly as long. Simple thing yesterday...get to the spot, body in and go straight up and down, he's certainly strong enough...instead he jumps in from the side and who knows how you're going to land.
He's shown impressive resilience before and has avoided major injury when it looked like he hadn't. Here's to hoping he's one of those rubbery ligament, steel bone kind of guys cause as noted, he puts himself out there. Had a nasty bone bruise on my shin last year from playing and can confirm, heinous bruising and it lingers a good long while
He'll be out 6-10 weeks https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2019/03/23/schalke-issue-injury-update-on-usmnts-mckennie/
Technically they are speculating off other ankle injuries since Schalke did not issue a time table. That said my initial speculation was season over so...
He'll have a good break. He's plenty young enough to take the best of his game and "leave' the rest. You never want to inhibit an athlete's natural ability or desire but he's got to better channel his energy and aggression. He needs to develop an all-around game rather than rely strictly on his physicality. He could do worse that to take a few cues from Adams whose game is more mature at similar stages in their careers.
For some strange reason, the worst, most long-term injuries tend to happen during NT duty. Last time it was Gyau who got one that basically ended his career. I suspect it's the stress of the situation, representing your country in the one sport the entire planet cares about. Some day we'll have studies showing that stress affects the entire body, tenses it, who knows, making any injuries suffered during the game much, much worse. No wonder clubs hate seeing their stars leaving for the international breaks.
Wow! Thanks for that? Both of those were horrible! I hope WM can heal quickly, but that was terrible.
https://www.derwesten.de/sport/fuss...er-spieler-hat-sich-verletzt-id216722341.html On Friday, FC Schalke finally announced: "The US Association has announced that the doctors rule out a break. However, McKennie had contracted a severe bone sprain with ligament injuries. For further investigation, a foot specialist in the US is called in." And: "Only then the exact extent of the injury can be determined." Then it'll be clear how long the footballer is expected to be out.
man, similar experience, germany, Champions restaurant Cologne, Quarterfinals, 2002. The restaurant had a gimmick going with EinsLive or something and a girl showed up and stripped butt naked on a make-shift stage and everyone laughed at her and threw food...in a nice way. We were all watching the game. The germans condescending as ever, but there was real fear in the air on that first Donovan break away and when Sannah went absolutely mental on the wing. Best game of his career.