quote from ridge mahoney's soccer america article: -------------------------------------------------- A few months before the World Cup, Sanneh's teammates at Nuremberg gave him the business. ''One day a couple of guys were laughing and I said, 'What's up?''' he recalled. ''They said, 'If I was 30 years old and had your speed, I'd be pretty disappointed with my career.' I said, 'What?' They told me, 'There are world-class guys who are billionaires who aren't as fast with a lot less skill.''' -------------------------------------------------- i think his late start in a non-footballing country might be an acceptable excuse. in any case his performance in the world cup blew away lot of higher paid right backs.
To go from making $500 a game for the rampage 6 or 7 years ago to making 900,000 euros a year in the BL isn't exactly a disappointment in my book.
what "billionaires" have sanneh-like skills? he was great in the WC but besides that never been to impressive with the ball. and what sanneh teamates, nuremberg teamates know anyone like this?
IMHO, Sanneh was our MVP in WC2002. Watching him move to forward in the Germany game reminded me how versitile Sanneh is. I would love to see him stay with the national team for another run because his experience will be a key in our next run.
He played for University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, which has a long history of decent soccer. (Bob Gansler coached there for several years.) Sanneh was a very good player in college and was often used as an attacking player. However, many of the alumni players would argue that Manny Lagos was the key player at UWM during Sanneh's time. Nonetheless, he was a very good collegiate player.
Mildly off topic, but did anyone else see that WC interview with McBride after he scored against Portugal. "I knew where that ball was going 'cause Tony and I did that a hundred times for the Milwaukee Rampage." I thought that was kind of neat, I mean this is the World Cup and everything and he is reminiscing about Milwaukee Rampage goals.
I caught that too. I was trying to figure out which was funnier- that he was telling tales of minor league American soccer on the world stage, or that the USA was beating Portugal with moves from the Milwaukee Rampage playbook. Oh, Portugal...so confident on the day of the world cup draw...so surprised on the early ride home... FYI, a billion lira is 511,420 US dollars. So, the average NBA player makes about 16 billion lira a year.
Is this online? Link? I thought Tony was our best player at the WC. And having been a Sanneh fan for years, I'd have to say that I was shocked, SHOCKED, by the high level of play. Pleasantly so. I don't know what it was, but if his epiphany was walking in to that conversation, well thank the gods for their sense of timing.
quote from metrogo: -------------------------------------------------- And he's not even that fast. -------------------------------------------------- he most certainly is fast. none of the world class wingers from the tournament were able to run away from him, whereas he left many of his markers in his wake as he tore down the right side on offense. he's "dave winfield" like. winfield never looked fast, but he stole base after base on mlb pitchers.
Sanneh is the man...period! Clearly our MVP in WC2002!!! I will be disappointed if no Premiership squad gives him a shot to prove himself. He deserves it.
contention... I gotta say Brad Friedel was our MVP. Without him there'd probably have been nothing. Sanneh was great, so were alot of our guys...but Friedel was brilliant! cheers
He's fast over distance, but he's not the quickest off the line. I think his teammates were talking about how if they had Sanneh's physical gifts that they would be superstars. Soccer is a skill game that requires thinking and for lots of US players it takes them a good while before they are good enough at those two things(skill,thinking).
I'm a little confused. Were Sanneh's teammates in effect saying, "I'd be disappointed if I were as skilled as you and making only 1 million a year, whereas other players not as good as you are making millions a year?" If that's the case, then I'm wondering if they're commenting on the fact that Sanneh's overlooked by other clubs because he's American. I'm just confused because I'm not sure if his teammates were complimenting him or insulting him.
Sounds like both. They're saying that he has great physical gifts, speed and skill. At the same time, they're saying that he hasn't managed to put that together, over the course of his career, into becoming that superstar that he could be.
LOL. I will say he doesn't LOOK fast, despite the fact even that I was watching him beat people that appeared to be moving faster. I told my wife it was as if somebody had superimposed a slow-motion film over a regular speed one. Those long strides are deceptive, I suppose. I will also say that I loved watching Sanneh in the Cup. He definitely brought his play up a level: It's interesting to think that it might have been inspired by comments from his teammates.
He isn't fast..... but he is fast for his size. Players with his size do not have his speed and dribbling skills. He could stand in the corner areas..... no one can move past him as if he was a brick wall..... when he gets the ball, he can move past the attackers with his dribbling skills.
That's my interpretation as well. And, IIRC, the article went on to say that Sannah was motivated by his teammates comments to step up his game last season and in the World Cup.
Exactly. People continue to under estimate him. Sanneh is one of the main reasons why DC United was succesful in the early years of MLS.