Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Look no further for a true choke and defining moment. At least LD's was saved...
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Come on get REAL, we americans LOVE stats. Look at his NATIONAL TEAM stats, and MLS stats. I hated Donovan in San Jose, But i love him in LA. People just want him to be as good as Maradonna and Pele, but MOST players will never be that good. He is a Great player, and all of you know it. Everyone f's up, if you have not you are a 1 year old.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Or choosing to appear in that water fountain photo (and no, that's not an invitation for somebody to post it yet again).
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I hope it doesn't affect him too much. I was just beginning to like the guy after his play through the rest of the match. I just finished another thread, probably in the wrong forum about how he'd won my respect despite the miss last night, where he'd never been able to before. I think he'll be fine, and it seems to me like he's about to get really really good. He just seemed different last night and I hope he knows he played one hell of a match regardless.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK we were saying that during it. cannon moved off the line way early for almost every attempt
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=458477&root=mls&cc=5901 "When Pachuca's Marvin Cabrera rattled the crossbar with his attempt in the fifth round, it set the stage for Donovan, who had buried several clutch penalty kicks for the U.S. national team earlier this summer. But on this occasion, Donovan put the ball right in Calero's wheelhouse, allowing him to make a diving save to his right, albeit at a comfortable height.Usually I slow myself down and take a look at the goalie," Donovan said. "But in that moment I just panicked a little bit. And that's the worst place I could have put it. If I put it low, maybe it sneaks in. That's the disappointing part." I'm not arguing this is THE defining moment, but I would say it's A defining moment. No one can deny he's a talented soccer player. But a star athlete, a legendary athlete the likes of a Jordan or Jerry Rice WANTS the ball in the pressure moments...they want the ball because they want to win more than anybody else. They are not shaken by the pressure because all they want to do is win...I've heard this time and time again in interviews with Bird, Magic Johnson, Jordan, etc. These great players are great because they have the athletic abililty and ALSO an incredile desire to win. Landon, as he admits above, is impacted by the pressure. And while he surely wants to win like all other 10 players on his team, he doesn't want it more ...he doesn't want it so bad that he wants to be in that pressure situation...players who want to take that PK don't "panick". That was as bad as a PK gets...soft, waist high, and at the midpoint between the post and keeper...those are the easiest shots for a keeper to block. It was a scared PK. It's the equivalent of air balling a a game winning freethrow. And that's fine if your just some player, but LD is the leader the US soccer. This was defining in the sense that it defined landon's inability to handle pressure. We saw it when he passed up the shot against Italy inside the penalty box in the World Cup. We saw it when he hid from the ball in his Champion' League match. This PK was handed to LD on a platter and he hit it horribly and then confessed that he was intimidated...He's fast as hell and a smart player, but I for one wouldn't want him to take a game winning PK for the US nats in the next world cup.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Well, that's only because Landon has never faced DC in an MLS Cup Final. But more seriously, I like the redefinition going on here. Because of Pachuca's quality, this is now bigger than Landon's play in MLS playoffs. Look, ask the fan of any MLS team, would you rather your team won the Superliga in 2007 AND 2008, or the MLS Cup in one of those years, and 99% of them would say they'd rather win 1 MLS Cup than 2 Superligas. But that doesn't factor into your equation because it upsets your agenda.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Personally, my favorite is cheese with crackers. Although PB&J on saltines are pretty delicious as well. A player who takes pk's is bound to miss, at some point. It's how he rebounds. Me thinks there will be plenty of other defining moments in his career. Paul
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK LD is clearly one of the fastest and most talented players in MLS. Surely, when you're faster and more skillful than 99% of the players in your league, you are going to score a lot of goals in regular and post season. But when the challenge and pressure is on Landon, when has he risen to the occasion? Shown that he just wants it more?
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK If you don't know that, you have no concept of the recent history of MLS. If you want me to be your cybertutor, pay me.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Additionally, Donovan plays in MLS. He's not going to face FC Barcelona in the champion's league final or take a PK against Boca Jr's in the Copa Libertadores. Taking a game-winning PK against one of the best clubs in Latin American soccer in the inaugural SuperLiga with the Beckham media paying attention, the the chance to redeem the season for your team and storied MLS coach, to make a statement about MLS by defeating Mexico's best club...that's about as big as it gets for an MLS player. IMO, it's way bigger than an MLS Cup final.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I don't think the world tuned in to mlsnet.com for this one, but hey maybe they did. If they did they would have seen a very nice moment for Chris Klein, a very sad one for Beckham, and then a joke of a PK shootout with both keepers leaving the line several seconds early.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Yes he said it: Here's the article http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/grant_wahl/08/30/superliga.final/index.html
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I thought Landon was the best player on the field (goalkeepers excluded) until the pk.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Ahem. Perhaps a more defining "moment" for Baggio would have been when he put Italy on his back against Nigeria and Bulgaria to get Italy into the final? Or perhaps his willingness to play the final and take the kick despite injury? With never a word of excuse after? Or, after the "disgrace" of his miss , leading Italy to the top of its group at France '98 with key goals against Chile (by PK, no less) and Austria? To "define" Baggio by the miss against Brazil is just...too bad for you. You missed out on something truly memorable. As to Donovan, I tend to agree that this was a defining moment. He'll have more. It's a shame he missed, and more so because the AR didn't make the keepers stay on their lines. Does anyone know whether the players alerted the referee about the early movement by the keepers? Or did they just play it out, as "what's good for the goose...?"
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK All this talk of LD being a world class player... All this talk of LD being tired.... All these excuses.... I know he played a full 120 but I'm reminded of a BA quote in a WC that LD did miserable in... "Fit players recover." He should have had enough in him to bury that PK. Instead he hit it with his purse or a saggy tampon right to the Pachuca GK. It was u-10 quality and it was representative of LD when pressure situations reach a certain point.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Platini, Zico, Maradona, etc. All players who have missed crucial PKs in World Cups. Anyone who has ever taken a PK in a competitive match, to say nothing of a professional game, understands what a crapshoot it really is. Donovan missed. It happens. Still should not take away from an exceptional performance on his part. Practically carried the Galaxy after Becks went out. And this coming from someone who has never been a big Donovan fan.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Uh, [R] anyone? If the mods aren't going to fix this, then what's the point of the policy?
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK LD missed a freakin PK... Arguing that he is a shoke master or he was too taxed to bury it are both pretty silly.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Settle down Betsy, no one is "delet[ing] the whole rest of the damn resume" - we're talking about blowing A defining moment in his career (ala Karl Malone). You're the one carrying on about his WHOLE career. Help me remember, what are the challenges he's risen to many, many times? Particularly the high stakes games where he handled the pressure of a very intense moment - like a PK in a final, against a great team, where it's all down to him? I'm not arguing with you, but I just don't remember another PK with this much pressure around it... he scores, his team gets a $1 million, win the inaugural trophy of what turned out to be a much more competitive event than most probably thought, caps a beautiful comeback, carries the torch for his injured superstar captain, etc. How is a SuperLiga trophy with a $1 million prize against perhaps the best team he's ever faced in a title match and "iffy" prize? You don't have to LOVE or HATE Landon to see that he wilted under pressure in one of the big moments in his career - perhaps he's had a lot of them, but since turning 'pro', I'm having a hard time remembering a bigger clutch moment... Does it erase his career? No. I'm not saying that - I'm saying that he blew "a defining moment in his career"... not THE defining moment in his career. The worst part is how he faced it - he "panicked" by his own admission, which I think is the opposite of the truly memorable players in their sport... they relish those moments.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Actually, I'd rather win the SuperLiga - it's harder to win against a better opponent. Ok, so how many "trophies" has Landon played for? 4-5? How many did it require him to win the game on one shot? All of those, would be defining moments. He blew this one. Some he might have made. What makes one trophy worth more than another? What's at stake + quality of competition? However, sinking PK's in friendlies or in WCQ on a relatively secure walk to qualification isn't the same as a title game against some damn good competition (likely the best team in the North America - Pachuca). Why is not a big deal to beat a team as good as Pachuca in a tournament with $1,000,000 on the line? I don't get why you are so afraid of admitting that LD choked at a big moment in his career?
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK let's be serious here ..... Donovan is an incredibly skilled player with phenomenal fitness - playing in "Land of the Soft People" ... he choked - but he is still one of the USs best players .... as he proved in Germany (Leverkeusen) and during the WC - he does not have the killer instinct. Donovan could have converted for pride and $1M ..... remember Dempsey last year - he goes to Fulham and scores a goal against Liverpool which paved the way for Fulham staying up in the Premiership - how much was that goal worth in television revenue? $50M or $100M? Landon will be a starter on the nats - but I for one would not bet on him to deliver the goods at the critical point in the critical game ..... he is just soft. When is the last time he got a red for a brutal tackle or has been busted up for retaliation? He does not have the killer instinct when all the marbles are on the line. He shows up against the TriColores and shows up for qualifiers and during some other games - but he no shows elsewhere when it counts the most. he has proven once again that he is soft - and all future coaches of his need to keep that in mind until Landycakes proves otherwise. Enjoy the sunshine and beaches Landon.