Wynalda: That's more like it

From all the things I've heard come out of Wynalda's mouth, I would be 99% sure this is tongue in cheek. It's his style.

I'm guessing if McBride was to break his record, Waldo would be one of the first to congratulate him.
I've grown to really like having Waldo around, adds a nice element to soccer in this country.


Edited to add...
Check that... it's definitely tongue in cheek... and I thought it was pretty funny.

 

Agreed. The closest thing we have to a legacy...check that, he is a legitamate legacy for today's US soccer. And his TV commentary is fresh, like mid-90s John Madden.

 

I strangely liked the idea of giving Meola his 100th cap if in fact he is at 99 right now. Especially since there really isn't an emerging keeper to play. There might be two guys in MLS you could argue should get a look, but I have to think that right now every important game will be played by Friedel or Keller and that if both of those guys are unavailable then it would be played by Howard.

Meola directing an inexperienced defense. Maybe Marshall with Pope and Gibbs and another fringe or young MLS defender.

 

I agree... was just about to write this in but now I'll just concur.
Meola is indeed at 99. I think this would be a very nice time to give him #100.
Meola has done an awful lot for soccer in this country and I'd love to see him get his 100th cap... much more than watch cobi get #170.

Meola is still one of the best keepers in MLS... so it's not completely unwarranted either.

 

Waldo (and others) keep picking DC United to make the final. I don't see it. If DC gets past both Columbus AND the Metros, I'll eat my hat.

I too would like to see Meola get 100 caps, but since I'm hoping he's playing Nov. 14th, he won't be available Nov. 17th. Pick Joe Cannon instead.

Maybe Meola in a friendly next year.

 

Well, we've owned the Metros all season, and we certainly haven't rolled over the Crew.


I wouldn't be surprised if we made the final.

 

Even if he WAS playing on the 14th, he could play in this game. Hell, he's a KEEPER for goodness' sake. It's not like he's a field player who won't have any legs for a day or two after the game.

As for the DC comment ......... how do you want your hat seasoned?

 

IF DC wins the championship, it would certainly be historic - they would be the first 3 seed to win MLS Cup.

And if it comes to that, I'll have it with ranch dressing, which makes almost anything taste good.

 

How far away is McBride?

At any rate, Donovan's gonna blow by both of them within a couple of years. He'll crush that record -- although if we're lucky, he'll have company (do you hear me, EJ?) in that endeavor.

 

with his current projected pace, ej will have it by the 9th matchday of the hex!!

 

If we win at home this weekend, which there's a good chance of, we'll be the number 2 seed.

 

McBride is 32 and Donovan is 22.

Whether McBride gets to Waldo's total or not is irrelevant. As JohnR said, Donovan's going to blow past both of them.

Landon is 4th all time in goals scored at age 22. Joe-Max Moore has 24 in 3rd.

Behind Landon already are Earnie Stewart at 17 and Cobi Jones at 15.

By the way, Landon is also already almost three quarters of the way to Cobi Jones' all time assist record too. Cobi has 22 assists and Landon is up to 15.

 

Barring injury, I think it's safe to say LD is on the fast track to becoming The Best American Soccer Player Ever.

(Where did you find those goal and assist stats? Are those on ussoccer.com somewhere?)

 

This is scary. And this time table is going to speed up as well. As the TEAM gets better, and plays faster, Landon's goal scoring production will probably only increase. Of course, as has been stated earlier, there may be other people joining him if we are lucky.

 

The sentimental side of me likes it, but the pragmatic side says Howard should be between the pipes. This is going to be a perfect match to test a keeper with some real attacking action. Seems like just the thing Howard could use right about now.

 

Arena always talks about picking players based on club performance...barring a meltdown in the next few weeks, Cannon deserves to start against Jamaica.

 

One good source is www.soccerhall.org, although I don't think they have assists anywhere.

Through the Panama game, Donovan has 56 caps and 19 goals. His strike rate is 0.339 goals per cap, only slightly better than Wynalda's 0.321, but you've got to think that Donovan will end up with quite a few more caps.

 

As much of chump I think Wynalda is, mainly for his comments about US fans years ago with no retraction after or change to date, his comment seems very tongue in cheek to me. And yes I would bet he would be one of the first to congratulate McBride or whoever breaks the record he holds.

 

While Howard would be the best choice, if he's not called in, I'm pretty mad if I'm Jonny Walker and Meola starts this game. In each of the last three camps Walker's been called in to be third choice. That means Bruce views him to be the best US keeper in MLS. Now, the game doesn't matter and some guy who hasn't played for the US since May of 2002 comes in and takes over?

You should earn every cap you get. I don't give two **********s if Tony Meola ends up with 99 caps instead of 100. In my mind, the goal is getting the right team on the field in 2006. Tony Meola's chances of being there are slim to none. Jonny Walker's chances of at least being on the team are much higher. Why then ruin his confidence?

 

if i'm arena, i look at the upcoming hex and 2006 itself and ask myself, which keeper would most help me in the hex and/or the finals...

so it's a question or howard or keller....if either continues to sit...get them some pt agaisnt the boyz

 

Absoultely right. When will we get over our obsession with giving caps to old fogeys just to get them a nice round number... completely pointless. Similarly, gifting caps to Cobi Jones just to get him to the career record only cheapens and taints the accomplishment.

We treat our stable-full of great keepers like they can be just plugged into the team at random. In reality, wouldn't it be nice to let a 1 or 2 keepers get a chance to gel with the backline and improve our organization, especially when we're trying to blood youngsters like Gibbs, Onyewu, etc...

 

I like to think of this like a simple equation: where 0<x<1, old guys' playing time = x. Young guys' playing time = 1-x. Everytime x gets bigger, I cringe.

I'll reluctantly admit that Cobi has shown well recently, but I get mad everytime I see him on the game day roster. Even if Clark, Dempsey or Gaven doesn't play, I'd rather have them on the bench just for the experience.

I agree that it's pointless to play younger players now if it means we don't qualify for 2006. I guess I'm just impatient; I see all this amazing talent on the horizon and I get sick of seeing 35 year old has-beens playing over them.

 

You call yourself a Wizards fan - and you don't realize that there's almost no way that Meola gets back onto the field this season? Look at the GK stat leaders chart on MLSnet. Meola is 3rd - but some guy named Oshoniyi is 1st - and Bo ain't gettin' national team looks, but he will be the Wizards #1 for the rest of this season. Meola's tendinitis has - barring a red card or injury to Oshoniyi - ended his season.