Seems like a shot at Clark and Findley to me.....maybe Bornstein too? Although Bornstein played much better than expected so probably not.
If that's the case, it's inexcusable. The players were all saying before the game they weren't naïve going in and wouldn't underestimate Ghana. Perhaps he was just giving a cliché answer because he has no satisfying explanation..
Perhaps he means that the next time he makes up with his ex-wife, maybe he should wait until after the tournament, rather than inviting a major emotional distraction.
Well, in fairness he's probably got a good bit of pity cramming coming his way. Beats watching his national team fall apart four minutes into EVERY FREAKING game.
It means he only thought his balls dropped and he became a man. It was really just a lot of hot air. Donovan only did anything for about 5 minutes during the England game. 20 during Slovenia game. Maybe the same for Algeria. Today he didn't do much of anyhting. Some guy named Landycakes took the place of what Donovan thought he was going to be.
Yes Donovan was fine in this tournament, he dissapeared for about 40 minutes in the 2nd half of the Algeria game, outside of that he was pretty good most of the time. I have to believe he was being marked pretty well at all times by the other teams.
No one is clueless. Donovan was supposed to shine. Be one of the best, if not the best, on the team. He wasn't for the most part. We'll remember the goal sure. Geesh, and another PK. A PK drawn by a player that outshined him in Dempsey. Frankly, the team met expectations for the most part. But Donovan barely got us by Algeria. Who made that other run again? Today, it could be argued that Bornstein put in a better effort. That's never a good thing for USMNT success. For the WC: Donovan wasn't a top three overall player for us. Bradley, Dempsey, Demerit. Add Howard possibly. Edu. Dolo. He may be out of the top 5. That's just not good enough. (Almost Boca, who should have assaulted the guy outside fo the box, but didn't so we lost.)
by naive he means we lacked experienced. Clark showed a good example of that inexperience when he tried to take on two players in the center of the field instead of making the simple pass.
What does it mean? Just look at what people here posted. "We're going to beat Ghana and we'll be in the semi's blah blah blah. Basically some of his team thought they were just going to play Ghana like they did against sorry-ass Algeria.
Fine is decent. Landycakes is still a decent player. Donovan was quite too much for the whole WC. Other players are pretty well marked, and they manage.
Not to hate on any player, but did you see Bradley's run at Clark after playing the ball? Not much thought or space. Can't remember seeing if anyone was out wide for any square/drop support.
All those things he said in that comment was directed at Ricardo Clark losing the ball and giving up the goal at the start of the game, and that all the work everybody put in for so long was wasted by him in a matter of seconds.
he could have played the ball to anyone at the back or just booted it. There was obsolutely no reason for him to take on a player. I think the whole team was pretty naive though. We came out thinking we were going to control the game and Ghana just came in and ran the game for the first half hour.
No doubt that put the ball in row G would have been a great, most wonderful play. In hindsight. But I can't bear a second viewing just yet. Was there a forward or two prevent a straight play it to the keeper or CB pass? I'll look once I get another drink.
is this our biggest problem? the american media machine? think about it..the world cup is every 4 years so.. 94 world cup here..make it to the 2nd round..so just wait till '98.. wait..its '98 and we finished last??i thought we were gunna get better in 4 years..we suck then '02 #3 team in the world portugal home team S.K. and poland (who i believe topped their qualifying group) we are going to get destroyed..plus the games are on @ 2 in the morning so who cares! then we proceed to beat portugal, draw the home team then they give us a gift...into the 2nd round against Mexico!! beat them..get robbed against germany (penalty or not we would have prob lost in extra time) so in '06 we are gunna....not get out of the group???failure horrible soccer is dead in this country till this year..get out of the group every1 loves our team and we should get to the semis cause we are better than ghana and uruguay/south korea.. this is starting to become a rather large sample size..when we are the underdogs we get out of the group when something is expected we fail.
Naive. Donovan is talking about tactics and composure. Its a shot at Bradley Sr., the coaching, the team philosophy going into that match, and the lineup. We were naive about our forwards being able to enjoy a pace advantage on the Ghanian backline. Naive about believing a destroyer and Bradley would be able to control midfield without a 3rd player whom is much better in posession (Torres or Feilhaber). Naive that we could just hoof it long, and win the 2nd ball instead of patiently building with connected passing and tempo through the center then wide.