Incidentally, Charlie Davies' tweet spells Gooch as "Guch" - have we been spelling it wrong the entire time? http://twitter.com/CharlieDavies10/status/2515899745
they really butchered it. Really, I dont know how busy they are, but freaking read your scripts ahead of time, if you dont know the name, ask somebody. And it wasnt even the main show. Whoever was doing updates during "First Take" screwed it up. They talk for less than 2 knutes every 20 or so, and they had one name to learn new (the others being such hard names as "Lebron James" and "Ryan Howard".. come on...
This is pretty stunning. Makes me harken back to when Timmay was with the Metros. We all had an idea he was going to Europe but when we all heard Man U our jaws were dropped to the floor. I remember at the height of the rumors he got called into a friendly match for the US vs Mexico and made a big save in the first couple minutes, the crowd (an me in the living room) went crazzzzzyyyy. Can't wait to see Gooch in black and red
This is exciting. It is huge for Gooch and for US Soccer. Hopefully this can result in more US players getting signed by big squads. It is impossible to overstate how important the Confed Cup was for the USMNT and its players.
You mean after the '94 world cup. It would be something if Padova had picked up Lalas after the world cup in France. Alexi didn't play a single minute.
Clarification #1: Standard Liege shut out Liverpool in the first leg of the CL qualifier with Oguchi Onyewu unavailable to play because of a red card he had earned the previous season against Zenit St. Petersburg. Standard Liege came close to clobbering an over-matched Liverpool by 2-3 goals that game (one PK saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Reina, one shot palmed back from behind the goal line by Reina, and other opportunities). Clarification #2: Tim Howard was chosen to start by Manchester United in the prime of his playing career in 2003/2004 at the age of 24. Howard went straight from mid-season MLS/MetroStars to start for Manchester United. That was when there were a lot of US players in the Premier League. He immediately beat out aging/annoying Fabien Barthez for the starting job. Barthez never played another game for Manchester United. Howard played in the Community Shield opener against Arsenal and then went on to start 24 out of the first 26 games of the season in the Premier League and 31 out of 38 Premier League games overall. He was voted into the PFA team of the season. He had he had good company --- Lauren, Terry, Campbell, A. Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Vieira, Pires, van Nistelrooy, and Henry. This was the year that Arsenal didn't lose a single game with "rookie" Jens Lehmann in goal. Lehmann joined Arsenal that same month of July 2003 and replaced David Seaman in goal. Apropos center backs --- Howard initially gave up 15 goals in 20 games before slumping to allow 13 goals in 5 games. He then started to get benched regularly --- but it was a superb start. Quiz: guess precisely when Rio Ferdinand started to serve his long suspension for failing to be available for a drug test? Center back Ferdinand just had a wedding that cost 5 million pounds. This all may explain Landon Donovan's recently renewed interested in playing in Europe after his strong Confederations Cup performances. Why no US player until now is playing for a top-rated Euro Team Clarification #3: Tim Howard drove a BMW in MLS and in the EPL that initial year. Onyewu likely will need to purchase an Audi.
Thank you. He also failed to read that I was discussing field players. Otherwise I would have said Howard, Friedel, et al. Goalkeeping is off the radar and like comparing apples to oranges when comparing to field players. Sure you have to be a knowledgeable soccer player to play in goal at that level, but being a field player takes a different sense. Fundamentally shot stopping, snaring crosses, and reading through balls doesn't change, whereas playing styles as a field player can vary greatly. And to nitpick, 24 as a goalkeeper isn't exactly prime maturity age as a goalkeeper. Some are good enough at that age (Cech, Akinfeev, Casillas), but seasoning certainly helps. It's why Man U went after Van der Sar, Buffon remains a hot commodity among transfer rumors, and Shay Given was a major asset to Man City.
Charlie has a bit of street in him, but not much. He's from New Hampshire. He was fairly well spoken (for an athlete) when I interviewed him.
Finally, a reason to watch a few Series A games on FSC. Never was quite able to get into them before now.