http://www.espnfc.com/news/story/_/...-force-world-cup-rivals-not-play-well?cc=5901 This right up there with Klinsman's 'We are ready' quotes, keeping the controversy level at -1000 so far I guess is the plan.
It is World Cup year. Fluff pieces will only be outnumbered by attempts at pulling at your heart strings by documenting every speed bump any soccer player may have encountered in life.
Then the article after that: Altidore: "I will score 2 against Germany." Then controversy will begin.
Ha, I saw the LD headline on ESPN and chuckled. It's better if you say it in your head with your best Donovan monotone (Donotone? Monovan?). We also need some good luck. Looking back, we've profited from 4 own goals in World Cup group games starting with 1994 (if you count the Robert Green fumble as an own goal, which isn't technically correct, but it might as well have been). That's almost 1 every 4 games. Gimme some more of that and I'll be happy.
Never can post this clip too many times: Serving it up vanilla for reporters for too many years to remember.
Reyna falling down, Rico Clark's awfulness, Edu's non goal, probably more that I'm not thinking of right now.
I agree. ESPN users do not. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=listranker/bestmoviesresult It saddens me Bend it Like Beckham is the top-rated soccer movie on that list.
Ditto. I always felt that what Brek Shea really needed was a Crash Davis. Actually, Freddy could've used one himself. Learning to be a professional in the minors is one of the better aspects that baseball has going for it.
Just saw that the other day for the first time in decades. Laughed. Wouldn't really call it a "sports" movie, though. It's a teen sex comedy poking fun at rich people much more than it is a "golf movie" in the way that you could say Tin Cup is, say.
I actually love what Donovan is saying. I have been waiting for years to hear (read) a player say we can beat teams like Portugal, Ghana and Germany if we play our best. World Cup teams past did not have players come out and say bold stuff like that. They just could not do it cause they knew it was not true. Donovan truly believes this and I think the rest of the team and coaching staff believes this as well. I like the positive vibes.
I think they proved to anyone with the 09 Confed Cup that they can play well enough to beat anyone on any day, I dont think that is really a point of contention. The problem in my mind is consistency, how can they keep that level up through 4-5 games? Why do they always seem to either have a fast start or have a slow start and kick it on in minute 60? Why cant they have 90 good minutes? Thats the next level.
Consistency is a problem for many teams not just the USA. Even teams that have way more history and prestige than the USA struggle and look flat for long stretches. But possibly the slow starts should not only be attributed to our bad play but the good play of the teams we are facing.
I'm going to hijack this thread to drop some obvious meaningful insight of my own: Don't concede the first goal. US record in World Cup since 1990: When scoring the first goal: 4-1-0. When conceding the first goal: 0-4-13. South Korea in 2002 is the only match in which the US has surrendered a lead. The team fought back for draws against Suisse in 94, Italy in 06, and England and Slovenia in 2010. (Also Ghana in 2010, but that still ends in the loss column because of Extra Time).
And even then, my stat is deceptive because of how dreadful the US was in the 1990s at the World Cup. Take out those matches, and it's bad but not horrific. US record in World Cup since 2002: When scoring the first goal: 3-1-0. When conceding the first goal: 0-3-5. And only in 2 of those 5 losses was the team comprehensively beaten as was what usually happened in the 1990s, against Poland in 2002 and Czech Republic in 2006.