At no point during LD's tenure did I feel we were as dependent on him alone as we are now, in this exact moment, on Pulisic. That's not a judgment on either player since our current supporting cast is so weak/between generations. It's just--disorienting to see such a "team-first" soccer nation have to get dragged along by a single talent like Stoichkov's Bulgaria in '94, and least of all by a teenager. MLS and the sheer numbers and depth developed therein, and the game analytics, and the dietary science, and the altitude tents, were all supposed to define our future greatness with the weight of logic and reason on our side. Instead, we're picking apart bird entrails looking for signs of hope and praying for the health of our frail young king. Project 2010 and all the charts and graphs of that planning era of US Soccer are truly dead now, replaced by a belief in Magick and the savior/hero, no different from many other small nations 1/100th our size.
I like further observation. You may not but to each their own. I'll compare Nagbe not to our front three but to Arriola, the opposite mid in the diamond with similar responsibilities. Arriola: Assist: 1 Key Passes: 1 Passing: 20/23 Shots on target: 2 Tackles: 0 Blocks: 1 Interceptions: 2 Recoveries: 6 Dribbles: 1 Fouls won: 2 Nagbe: Assists: 0 Kay Passes: 0 Passing: 30/31 Shots on target: 0 Tackles: 0 Blocks: 0 Interceptions: 0 Recoveries: 4 Dribbles: 0 Fouls won: 1 Seems to me that wide ranging stats of our two side mids show what people saw. That being that Nagbe was quite invisible and not all that active. He gets the edge in middle 3rd possession, the one area he really excels. Outside that, not much.
So it wasn't a key pass when Nagbe sprung Pulisic, who then found Altidore for a goal? I must not know the definition of "key pass." It looked key to me. It's at just after 1:16 in this clip:
Half of this USA team that played Panama may not be the starting 11 when we get to Russia.... Wood Kenny-Pulisic-Ariola McKennie-Bradley Johnson-Brooks-Cameron-Yedlin
You are looking at it the wrong way: we have both the most talented and most overrated player in concacaf. We have balance. Focus on our balance.
You forgot about Wood's great backpass to Nagbe to set up that play. And don't forget Gonzo's great pass to Wood before that. While we're at it, who kicked off for us?
A key pass is the final pass before a shot. Since Nagbe usually is the "pass before the final pass" guy, it's a metric that often doesn't highlight his contribution to the attack.
I'm not ignoring LD's failures or bad performances; like any player he's had them. But he also has the same number of World Cup goals as Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane. It's comparably easy to think of all the times Donovan didn't rise to our expectations over the course of a, what, 15 year career? We haven't yet had to suffer through Pulisic's failures or bad performances and he will certainly have them like any great player does (look how human Messi looks these days; once considered the best all-time and may not even make the next WC). All the teams CP's played against and beaten so far are teams the US should beat. Eventually he will face a situation where his prodigious talent alone will not be enough to achieve and he'll have to solve big puzzles, as Donovan did, and he will look less messianic to us. OTOH, I think a lot people, especially young posters, forget how exciting and lethal a player Donovan was when he started out, before he was burdened with his own failures and the weight of our expectations and carrying a team. It's what every star has to go through and how they push through disappointment is what defines their career. Again, it's not a knock against Pulisic. He's played literally a handful of US games. He still has a lot to do to rank up with our greats.
That's terrible attempt at stats to try to prove one's point. Remind us all, how many WC minutes did LD played? And how many WC minutes did Platini and Zidane play?
This is a given Maybe, maybe not I just don't see the kid ever having to take a sabbatical to find himself, or reinvigorate his love for the game. He does not strike me as wired like that. Perhaps this is the primary reason so many believe he will easily surpass LD as a USMNT great. He can only play the games on the schedule and he has already become every bit as important and every bit the talisman (especially when lined up centrally) for the USMNT that LD was. It is unlikely CP will face any better teams at the WC than regularly appear on Dortmund's schedule. So essentially all he needs is time and health to be our new GOAT.
and to learn to play on a team that has less talented teammates, with less training time together, and where he will be leaned on more heavily. I am not saying he can't do it nor am I saying he isn't doing it now. Everything he has done to date has been incredible, but it will be less like Ronaldo and Bale playing for Real Madrid (Dortmund) and more like Ronaldo and Bale playing for Portugal and Wales (more will be demanded of them)
Which means he will fortunately not suffer mental health issues: Landon Donovan's Other Legacy: Challenging the stigma of mental health I certainly hope that's the case. It's pretty clear this has effected him all his life. May be at some point we'll recognize what he achieved despite his issues. In a sense, his sabbatical and early retirement should be recognized as "due to injury" just as a guy like John O'Brien or Stewart Holden never fulfilling their promise due to their bodies giving out. But yes, Pusilic does things no one in our pool ever has and I think barring injuries - physical or mental - he will be our best ever. Although it would be pretty cool if someone emerges from the pack to challenge him...
FTR it is no different to me than any other thing that keeps a guy off the field or from performing at their optimum. If you can't go, you can't go, but injury issues will tarnish a legacy.
Howard - Had an very good save when we needed it in the 1st half. . Villafana - Haven't seen him get much credit. To me, he had the same game Yedlin did. Yedlin - Played well Bradley - Had a funky give away. But, the guy was playing as a solo DM (Puli as an uber-attackminded AM - Bradley was was on Gilligan's Island without Gilligan, the Skipper, the millionaire, his wife, or the rest), And, there were two attack-minded FB's. To hold a team that came out with the intent to attack scoreless under those conditions is impressive. You could say Bradley being able to do that was the key to the game (he did that in one other WCQ, I forget which) Nagbe - did his thing, which is quietly, smoothly transition the ball from D to O. To his credit, he takes his defensive duties of his game very seriously. I like having him on the field. Arriola - The kid is a live wire. I like him. He's only 21, right? If his game continues to improve, he could be a real asset for us. Pulisic - Someone posted: "He's a revelation. Probably safe to say US GOAT already. That said, he needs to make sure he doesn't try to do it all himself." I completely agree. Regarding overdoing it, I think he is just in that mode right now. I watched a Dortmund match recently. Puli played the same way (w//o the goal&assist). When he got around the box, he was shoot-first. My guess is that he's trying to take his game to the next level and feels like becoming a consistent scorer is the next step. So, he's pressing that. He's using matches as a lab, to try to improve that element of his game. That's great. That's what players do. You work on things. Hopefully, not to the detriment of the team. And, there is no one that would put detriment and Puli in the same sentence. Aside, I've always been a Puli on the wing proponent. Because of plays like his assist to Jozy. When Puli has the ball out wide, it is almost impossible to prevent him from playing that ball across the face of the goal, behind the defense. Teams double up on him wide to try to stop it and he still gets it off. All his teammates have to do is recognize that and get in position to run onto it. However, how can you take him out of the role he played vs. Pan? Glad he's a Yank. Wood - Huge engine. IMO he's always been a little bit inaccurate. But, he has developed a combo of footwork/balance/strength/savvy that more than makes up for it. Another young guy that I'm looking forward to watching. Jozy - I've always thought Jozy was miscast as a target. When he was bought by Hull and the manager was saying he was going to use Jozy as a target, I thought "this will not end well." To me, Jozy's forte has always been his footwork - which he hurt when he got all bulked up. It's clear that Jozy has been working on his touch and his passing for the past few years. It's been a while now that he's been making those deft little passes. He now had MNT teammates that can capitalize on them. IMO, if we made Jozy a starter and gave him a consistent partner, they could really do some damage. Once Jozy gets an understanding with the other guy, he will get him the ball. Dude loves to look for the assist.
Simmer down, man -- there's no reason to be this argumentative. My "point" is that Donovan (and other US greats) have done things far and beyond what Pulisic has done in fewer than 20 NT caps against the likes of Bolivia and Trinidad and Tobago; is that really a controversial statement? No one's saying you have to send back your Pulisic Fatheads and body pillow. The list of players with at least 5 WC goals is pretty elite. CR7 doesn't have that many, despite holding scoring records in the Euro and UEFA CL (I think Messi has just that many). And of course, all those guys played in much better squads than Landon ever did. Is it really this hard to give credit to a USMNT legend? BTW, it's possible Dempsey could match or surpass Donovan's WC scoring record if he's still in any form next summer, putting him in very elite company. Reaching those heights certainly seems within CP's ability, but he hasn't done it yet.
Bradley had a lot of help from Nagbe and specially Ariola, the kid was practically playing like another CM besides his RW assignment.
I couldn't find minutes but: Michel Platini - 3 world cups, 14 appearances, 5 goals http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=28528/profile.html Zinedine Zidane - 3 world cups, 12 appearances, 5 goals http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=163331/index.html Landon Donovan - 3 world cups, 12 appearances, 5 goals http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/players-coaches/people=175507/index.html I'll go out on a limb and predict that Zidane and Platini played at least as many minutes as LD at world cups. I don't think that LD is as good as either player in the soccer Pantheon, but we do tend to push his accomplishments aside...
Go grab a cold one and chill, bud. Because LD scored 5 WC goals, he's as great as Zidane and Platini? He's no where near their level. Try not to put them together in the same sentence.
Not true. Not sure why people are spinning this myth. I re-watched with it in mind and the statement is not correct.But let's drop it. There is one god his name is Nagbe and his messenger is Bob Morocco. Having said that, I'm kinda freaked by the pervasive backward looking posts in this thread - but I can kind of understand it. On watching live I sighed in relief as Arriola seemed to be bringing a whole new style to his position over the futile Acosta who had been driving me crazy with his serial electric Kool-Aid acid tests in cmid. On second watch, a cold shiver crawled up the hair on the back of my neck as I realized what Arriola's performance betrayed: I*t was Arena 06. He had dumped Acosta for DMB, re-incarnaterd in the body of Paul Arriola. More running. Run, run, run. Arena had come to the conclusion that Acosta was a great runner but seemed to run east west a lot in search of .......well, in search of nothing. DMB was too old. What to do? And there, sitting on the bench was the answer in Paul Arriola. Onward we go to Russia - forward to the past. Arena 06 deja vue - all over again.