Those of us brave enough to stomach all 90 minutes saw something very odd in the last 15. With Brazil up a man and three goals, and Kaka and Luis Fabiano out of the game, Clint Dempsey very obviously, and very intentionally busted out every ball trick he's ever tried in his life. Repeatedly throughout the entire 15 minutes. He tried Blanco's hop. He got screamed at by Harkes for a Rabona (the biggest hot dog trick there is). He attempted to beat every Brazil defender within earshot with whatever he could come up with. Elasticos, nutmegs, things I'm not sure I've ever even seen before. A couple actually worked and got oohs and ahhs from the crowd. So what precisely was he saying? His body language all game was that of a frustrated player. What did this glaringly obvious display signify? He's always struck me as the sort of guy likely to go off one day, but he's always seemed to be able to rein it all in. Thoughts?
IF HE REALLY is doign this to protest bob....i dunno what to say. shows you he doesnt want to play for the man
He probably was a little pi$$ed, those guys got schooled out there today. the game was over when he was doing his thing so who really cares?
Agreed with Nutmeg. And I applaud him for it; at least it provided some entertainment after the joy of seeing Kljestan sent off.
I think it was a gigantic F-you to RoboBob, to be honest. It's pretty clear from Dempsey's attitute/effort for the national team over the past year that he has zero respect for the head coach. The lack of anything today from his teammates (not that he was any good, either) probably pushed him over the edge. I thought the tricks, given the game context, were disrespectful.
But why would a coach let him do something like that? Especially when there was a sub available... ps-Or maybe the coach doesn't have a clue!
embarrasing that he tried the Cuateminha. EMBARRASING. I laughed when I saw that. I actually said out loud " did he just try what I think he tried?"
Simpliest explination is that he was responsing to Brazil backing off in his own way, with a little fun of his own. They were treating the rest of the game like a joke, why shouldn't he? I suppose conspiracy theorists will claim this outburst was directed at a coach that won't let him play with freedom. Dunno. He doesn't do much of that at Fulham, so it's not like it's an essential part of his game. I think he was just trying to have some fun. What else was there to play for?
Yeah Bob doesn't like skill players. He likes bangers and muckers like .... Mikey and that's exactly why we're heading to the bottom Dempsey played like that at time for the Revolution and he was playing better when doing that then he does since he stopped doing that. Maybe he's just trying to get his game back to where it was before he went to England? This team plays like a whipped puppy and showing some spirit and boldness can't hurt. Not like we were going to win at that point
I actually like Dempsey's attempt at trying to give Brasilians a taste of there medicine with flair vs flair. Some of the techniques worked others didn't but at that point in the game, when the result was already sealed. Maybe more others should've tried like Clint Dempsey. Hope he was sending a message to the other national team members that you have to try tricks and play more attacking short passes, skilled futbol, rather than what the US was attempting to do in the 1st half with long ball to Altidore and speed run by Beasley.
That's funny. I thought it was bit disrespectful as well. They had taken their foot off the gas just a bit. I hate the Blanco move. I remember when Mexico played Germany and he tried it and the German just stuck his foot in and took the ball. However, I do think he was just frustrated and tired of it all. If you ask him I bet he would love Torres or Adu out there to play with.
I think if I could try and mindread, what he may be actually saying is that playing American style soccer and still getting embarrassed is a pointless exercise. Why not play the game the way the team doing the embarrassing loves to play? I'm not sure you discount the team this tantrum (I guess) occurred against. We know deep down Dempsey doesn't want to play solid soccer, he wants to play beautiful soccer. This is the same kid that cried when Maradona got suspended for the 1994 World Cup. If we could get a good soccer press going, I'm sure he'd offer up an interesting quote right about now. He's clearly very frustrated.
I was thinking the exact same thing as the OP. Flip flap, rabona, blanco hop. I was like... really?? He is going to try that now? It's like he tried some moves just to show he could do them, with no purpose. He did the blanco hop sideways away from the defender. I was eating cereal and had milk shoot out my nose I was laughing so hard. Only funny thing about this game
It's the ultimate show of disrespect. It shows he was apathetic towards the team and the result. It's bad enough showboating when you're winning, but when you've been hammered 3-0? Personally, I feel that he thinks he's better than the team, and is overrating his abilities a little. He knows he can't try all this in the Prem or he'll find is ass sitting on the bench in no time.
It's kinda funny.. I was watching a youtube vid a few days ago of Ricardo Quaresma talking about the Rabona, and he's saying "you don't do that if you're down.. the fans will be pissed and wondering why you would try that. you only do that when you're winning and have the game in hand." Dempsey didn't get the memo.
Perhaps Clint was hoping to raise Bob's ire and get himself benched for the Egypt game so he doesn't have to be subjected to the crap formations and tactics anymore.
I didn't say I thought he was disgusted with Bob. Just disgusted. Who knows, maybe he thought, "if I play like a Brazilian, I might get the ref to make some calls for me, too?" And I thought the tricks were irreverent. They were disrespectful. They were indulgent. And most importantly, they were absolutely hilarious.
I though it was selfish. Really, when he did it with Feilhaber standing right there wide open, that was pathetic. And BB doesn't even sub him?
I'll have to go back and look for the tricks, but my first thought is that I doubt they could be more disrespectful than the U.S.'s overall performance.
I'm not easily entertained by bright shiny objects. I think it showed a lack of class and disrespect to his teammates. With his play in these two games, he didn't earn the right to do what he did. I'm probably in the minority.
Late second half. Harkes went ballistic for a brief second when Dempsey busted out the Rabona, and then suddenly Harkes felt like it was best to let it go. I'm torn, but I still have to say thumbs up overall. Look, doing what you've been doing has made you look like chumps on the world stage. Why not do what makes you feel good and live with whatever the consequences may be? Maybe he's frustrated and feels like his coaches have leashed him too much. I don't know. I do know that clearly this was a game Clint Dempsey used to enjoy more than anything else, and about 20 minutes into the game, his facial expression and body language read something quite different from enjoyment.