It Had Become Exhausting To Root For Them; (The Good, The Bad, Bob Bradley and Landon Donovan)

Nice post. We blew a chance here for sure- Such a (comparatively) easy path to the semis may never present itself again. We were good enough to make the semis with this draw- We just couldn't seem to get out of our own way. Cherundolo, Demerit and Bradley were mostly excellent- No complaints there. You're right about Donovan to a degree- I guess it comes with the territory of becoming a higher profile player. Maybe people just expect too much from him?

We entered this tournament with our lead striker being a 20 year old kid that scored 1 goal in league play all season. Was Jozy our top choice? That's the problem: He was the best of a very thin field. Hind sight is always 20/20- it would have been nice to see Buddle get more chances, but it's hard to second guess Bob on this. I may only be saying it because we lost- I don't know.

I'm definitely emotionally spent after all of this. It feels like it was a long deep run- but maybe that's because from a fan standpoint so much of it was frustrating and agonizing. 2002 was a far greater accomplishment- At least soccer wise.. It seems like more people may have been paying attention this time though.

 

Rooting for this team may have been exhausting, but that doesn't take away from the excitement of it. I'm gutted right now and depleted of energy, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.

Landon fading this game has nothing to do with the goal versus Algeria. He took the team on his back in the second half against Slovenia and still followed that up with a decent performance against Algeria, goal or no goal. And he scored three goals this world cup.

With the defensive options available it was always going to be dicey on that front.

 

My problem with Landon is he's rarely a complete 90 minute impact player. The type that all game long can raise hell on defenses. He does it at spots but not all game long as his talent could suggest. I think that's what is keeping him from being a world class player. Dempsey is more skilled, but sometimes you wonder if he had that "it" factor. Howard is class and at times world class but his problems can weigh on his amazing skills as a keeper.

Jozy is the future, sadly not the now. Bradley is rugged and plays so hard. His talent leaves a lot to be desired. Torres and Holden are useful players who Bradley didn't use and Edu was underused. Probably the best player v. Ghana.

Bob is what he is. He knows his style and how to implement it in the game. The problem is, his line-ups, coaching skills, and stubbornness gets the best of him. I hope Rongen takes over for 2014.

Overall, I was okay with the USA performance. We never seemed out of any game and show resolve. Waits for the Gold Cup and U-20 WC in 2011.

 

I'm not sure what more LD could have done in this WC to be honest. I recognize that he hasn't always been there, but this WC I thought he brought all he could.

The next cycle he will be in his 30s. And with no youngster in sight that looks ready to follow in his footsteps, I am a little worried.

 

When I heard before today's match that Donovan said it wouldn't be a "failure" if the U.S. lost today, I knew he wasn't going to come out hell bent for leather, and he didn't. Several of his passes were off the mark, he gave up too many balls, and he didn't play smart (didn't play out wide enough where his speed could be best utilized). In contrast, I thought Dempsey played an excellent game today and left it all out on the pitch. He created the one goal we scored with a tough run in the box, and his first touch was the best of any of our players. In fact, at times, he looked like the only midfielder we had who could actually match the Ghana midfielders. Why Edu didn't start in Clark's place is a mystery.

 

I've been saying that Donovan wasn't a top 5 performer on the team.

Add Benny as a sub, and Donovan drops further.

 

I'm not convince that this is such a bad thing. I think the US has more concentration when they play better sides; besides beating a top side gives you a better boost going forward. I think we would have fared better playing Germany this time around.

 

Well, at least we did better than Italy.

 

So what? We're better than Italy. We should've gone farther.

 

It was an emotional rollercoaster, it was exhausting but it was fun and exciting.

 

it was unfulfilling from a soccer point of view,

but it was fulfilling from the level of excitement, exposure, and
support the USMNT finally got in the media and from across the country.



if the public and media continue to uphold some kind of elevated attention/value/importance to soccer through the next couple years,
then it will feel like it was all worth it.

 

I was exhausted after the Algeria game. So many bad thoughts, and then elation. I was drained in the Ghana game. Longest 30 minutes of my life in the extra time. Now it just sucks, don't feel too well right now. I just feel that we should have had a lot more. A lot more.

 

If Mike Segroves still posted here, he'd tell you to jump in the Gulf of Mexico, light the water, and die in the fire.

Man, I miss that guy.

Seriously, dude, take my advice. When EVERYONE who knows ANYTHING about ANYTHING has a completely different opinion about a player than you, you're the one who is wrong. Not the whole rest of the world. I don't know if he pissed in your cornflakes or ********ed your girlfriend or ********ed your mom or ********ed your mom's girlfriend, but you've got to get some closure on this thing.

 

As my friends and I were driving away from the viewing party today, I turned to them and said: "I'm gutted right now. But God it feels good to have the stress off my back."

I've been a sports fan my entire life. I've endured a lot of despair, a lot of agonizing defeats. I've sat in arenas and watched my teams blow national championships.

But I've never felt quite like I feel tonight -- this sense of relief that at least I don't have to go through this anxiety anymore.

Because you're right: This team made this World Cup a lot more difficult than it needed to be. That's what was so frustrating. We've put up with this from previous U.S. teams in different ways (it used to be the reliable red cards), but this was different, somehow. Mostly because I know how good we can be. Those early goals, always scrambling from behind, just fractured the experience every time. We had to watch every game in frustration, knowing that we weren't getting to see the U.S. play its game plan, or ride the confidence it could have had, or even just play soccer with a little bit of frikking freedom.

So yeah -- it was a really nerve-wracking couple of weeks. I'm despondent that we lost. But some poor battered corner of my brain is sitting here trying to thank me for finally relieving it of the anxiety.

 

So he's not Lionel Messi.

If you watch this world cup, there are very, very, very few players who are impactful for 90 freaking minutes. And the few that are, have some exceptionally good teammates to go along with them.

How is he going to raise hell on defenses for 90 minutes, when he himself has to do quite a bit of defensive work? Every team we play against focuses on LD and yet he still, somewhere along the way, manages to create for this team and score goals. If we had some forwards to finish a few of his creative passes in this game, we'd be heading to the next round.

Donovan gave it his all this tournament.

 

So crazy that Donovan has more goals than Messi, Rooney, and Christiano combined!!! So is he that poor?

 

Two of them were PK's and we all know he isn't those players. But his talent level is very high, you watch him and you think, "Why isn't this guy world class?" That's my point, the talent is there but the consistency to wreck havoc for 90 mins isn't. I am happy he knows his strengths and weaknesses as a player but the ability is there for Landon. It's those weaknesses that kill him. Paul Scholes proved that you do not need amazing skill to be one of the best in the world. Just one elite trait and very good at everything else. Donovan is missing the killer instinct.

 

I guess everybody thinks that it is OK for the defense to give up early goals and Donovan or Dempsey will save them. It is very hard to score in the world cup and Donovan can't play a great game all the time. You just can't give up easy goals all the time and early ones and that is what the U.S. team did.

 

2 of donovan's were PKs?

Only one was a PK. The other two were in the run of play.

 

And penalty kicks are easy, especially under today's circumstances. Yeah, so he scored 3 goals in 4 games in the World Cup. Tell me this - who served up Edu on a platter on a disallowed free kick? And who put Dempsey in 1 v 1 on the Slovenian goalie and who put Altidore in 1 v 1 today and wait a second I am supposed to be criticizing Landon? Oh yeah, very poor performance overall. He is not the #1 player in the world; thus he is a miserable failure.

 

Yep. I'm right there with ya.

 

As with many of you, I'm emotionally spent. They were exciting to watch, but difficult to support. It's astounding that they spent a total of 2 minutes leading a match. 2 minutes! You can't make it to the semis with that kind of stat.

At the end of the day, we performed as we were supposed to--no better, no worse. Everyone expected us to get to the 16. Except we were supposed to lose to Germany, not Ghana. It'll be a footnote in the long run.

In any case, I actually think it was a very positive World Cup. It would have been WAY worse to go out at the group stage. Plus, we all got to feel the tremendous high of Donovan's late goal. For me, that was the World Cup final.

Against Ghana, we didn't deserve to win. You can't expect to win with a penalty shot. They outplayed us from top to bottom, save a portion of the second half. My hat's off to the Ghana squad; I hope they represent Africa well. Ghana is the 8th poorest country in the world, and they deserve something to cheer about.

We have to keep some perspective, too. We actually did quite well given the talent levels of our players. Bradley leaves much to be desired as a coach, be he knows how to get a lot out of his players. Especially when people like CD9 are nowhere to be seen. How far did we expect to go with Findley and Bornstein in the STARTING lineup? We should be happy we made it this far.

One great positive is that our performance (and heart) inspired the whole country and much of the world. Even better than reaching the semis is getting more people excited about the sport. Once the sting fades, we'll be happy about this World Cup.

 

The guy scores 3 goals in four games and you're gonna piss on his face? Only in America...

 

Donovan with 5 WC goals becomes the U.S. all time leading goalscorer in the WC. Only one was a PK, the last. Run of play vs. Poland, Mexico in 2002 and run of play vs. Slovenia, Algeria in 2010. Also created a goal for the U.S. vs. Portugal when his cross deflected of a Portugal player into their goal.