We really need a nickname we can all embrace. Eagle is OK but kind of generic. Yanks seems more what other fans call us without knowing we actually had a civil war between the Yankees and the Southerners without even getting into the baseball team. Bald Eagles? Wish they'd take tons of suggestions and then allow votes at every national team game over the next year or so. Eliminate a few at a time before having a final choice between two. Of course the fed reserves the right to cancel it if joke names start getting lots of votes.
Our Rugby team is the Eagles. Works for me. (btw, rugby is coming on. It's going to be a player. If you haven't watched U.S.'s 7's matches, take a look - we're the best in the world). I remember the 1st time Sports Center showed a soccer highlight that wasn't for comic effect. When they start showing 7's highlights, it will be a game changer.
Woo, hey, 15's/7's are both awesome. Especially 7's. Perry Baker is finally a complete Rugby player, and the combo of Baker + Isles, with Iosefo and Hughes as the brains = domination. Our 15's team is also getting better and better. The colleges are turning out a lot of good amateur players now, and we've even got some professionals!
Pure pleasure to watch his play on the national team and in MLS. After 1994, watching Donovan and Run DmB in 2002 are my favorite moments of watching the USMNT. Great professional and role model for future players.
I have some more recent negative views of Backpass Beaz, and it's sad, cuz he was such a solid player for the US for so many years. I blame Brucie for continuing to call him up in his "MLS/veterans will fix this for us" phase. He should have been retired from the nats about 6-7 years ago. Poor end, and deserved better. I don't remember him that much early on, maybe because he got overshadowed by Landon so much (and maybe bc he was playing internationally before it was so easy to watch). Time to Youtube some Beaz highlights from when he was still a beast on the wing!
I agree. There was nothing more exciting then watching the two of them take off down an almost empty field to opponent's goal. It didn't always end with a goal, but it was fun to watch. I do not think there have been two such speedsters since...and we sadly miss them.
One of the big tragedies (imo) re the MNT is that Donovan and Beaz weren't paired up more. When they could pass to each other it was a thing of beauty. But, Beaz was hurt a lot. And, most of the time they were played left and right wingers, where the best they could do was waive to each other across the field. i know neither is a CAM, but I wish the managers would have sacrificed a little, to get one of them in the middle, so they could work together when they played.
I imagine the NFL would do everything in its power to prevent Rugby Union from challenging it. Also, another thing I've noticed is that ESPN tends to denigrate any non-US sport. It's almost like ESPN is proud of its ignorance of non-US sports.
Sports that ESPN does not have the rights to, or have less rights to than they used to, have a tendency not to exist on their broadcasts.
Thank you for your skill, dedication, effort and love of the sport, DaMarcus. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
So many times his 138lb frame received a crunching tackle and I thought there was no way he could continue. Yet he would get back up, gimp around a bit and go on and here he is at age 37! Watching him from the stands is where you could see what an intelligent player he was. He had great quicks for attack but took his defensive duties seriously which helped him make his transition to LB. Great career!
I think that Beasley was a late bloomer. I recall that he had the speed, but his crosses were not that great to begin with. He had to perfect them, and as he developed as a player, he did. I think, perhaps, he was overshadowed by Donovan and, to a lesser extent, Dempsey. But it appears that he continually worked on his game and was willing to take on different positions so that he could extend his playing life.
I always liked this goal from Beasley in Champions League. He made a great run to secure a superb lofted ball from Cousin on the counter to cement a 0-3 away win in October 2007 over Olympique Lyonnais at its peak. Unfortunately, it was another Champions League match against Stuttgart the next month where Beasley suffered the knee ligament damage that forever changed the course of his career.
Indeed. The list of American players who were better and contributed more to the US Soccer is VERY short. In the context of American soccer, Beas is a Hall of Famer's Hall of Famer.
Injuries really robbed him. He did quite well in Mexico for a few years. I feel we overlook that period of his career.
I enjoyed this segment of Herculez Gomez's interview with Damarcus Beasley about all time greatest USMNT players: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...veals-his-best-mls-and-usmnt-players-all-time Beasley has perhaps a special insight into this since he not only regularly played alongside all of the USMNT players of the last 20 years, but he mentions that he also played with or against all the early 90's stars like Balboa, Lalas, Meola, and Wynalda at the tail ends of their careers. His all-time top 3 includes Claudio Reyna and Clint Dempsey, but Landon Donovan gets the nod for the top spot. Here's his all-time Best XI: --------------Howard-------------- -------Balboa--Pope--Boca----- Cherundolo-------------Beasley ---------------Reyna----------------- -------Pulisic-------Donovan------ --------Dempsey--Altidore-------- Wynalda initially made it onto his lineup until he realized that he had too many men on the field. Also that formation is in sore need of an extra holding midfielder, and I would have been very curious who Beasley went with to fill that slot.