aside from our performance in france.... a few things pop up in my mind... 1. keller's kick off of hermosillo's head 2. agoos pass back to keller vs. jamaica intercepted by deon burton... 3. hearing that ramos tore his acl. 4. hearing that mathis tore his acl. 5. agoos own goal vs. portugal (though it turned out not to matter) 6. hiring of sampson.
yup...forgot about that one....but to be honest, it was an awesome soccer experience in general...lot of passion in the stands and in the dc area in general....a 10 am start, drinking at 7:30 am...though the result sucked....it was a pretty good soccer game and honduras played out of their skin....we qualified anyway...if only stewart would've scored that pk.... i couldn't believe the amount of honduran support....
Recent was the whole 98 World Cup from the demotion of Harkes on. All time I think would be the way we got knocked out of 86 qualifying. We played a game in the LA area, Torrence I think, against Costa Rica with a real chance to qualify, but the game was played in front of a pro-CR crowd and we lost. This was with the USSF in real contention for hosting the World Cup ad it could have sunk that effort. The fed goofed on that one.
Happened early in the game, early in the hexagonal. We still got a point out of the game. It didn't really cost us much. This was worse. It cost us 2 points when we desperately needed all three, and came a minute after we had gone up 1-0. I have a problem with this. Blunders/Injuries should be seperate discussions. Blunders are avoidable mental errors that change the course of events. Injuries are much more tragic, often with noone to blame. I'll skip the rest of the injuries. Exactly. It didn't matter, it wasn't that "big" For the most part, the Sampson hiring turned out very well. Wow does Jeff get a lot of play. Didn't really cost us anything other than an "opportunity". I'm thinking either this play, or Agoos's pass to Burton. This lapse arguably cost us any chance in the World Cup. Once we fell behind, we never recovered. Especially when the goal was so awful. What debacle on the field? We were run off the pitch, they were the better team - yet we almost stole one, or even three, points. As far as "in the stands", that was a great day. The crowd, both US and Honduran, was rocking. No, it wasn't a "home" match, but man was it fun. ------ Off the top, I'm going with Mike Burns failing to keep the ball out of the net against Germany. Agoos against Jamaica is second. I've got a great list in ECG#13, but I don't seem to have a copy here at work...
WC94 when Tab Ramos received a knock out blow from the elbow of a Brazilian comes to mind. It was a terribly cynical play on the part of the Brazilians.
Re: Re: What was the Worst blunder/moment in US history? I'll take that list. But how about Hugh Dallas and the non-hand ball --- that's sure a blunder and who knows what might've been had we gotten a PK then.
One huge blunder that comes to mind for me is Eric Wynalda getting a red card in our first WC game in Italy. It really didn't set a very good tone to our first tournament in many tries.
Definately Goose vs. Jamaica. I think Keller almost took a swing at him after Burton scored. Just to pile on.....I remember another brilliant Goose moment...missing a WIDE OPEN goal vs. El Salvador from 5 feet out in the qualifier a few months later. I think a 'Worst Jeff Agoos Blunder' deserves its own thread.
Re: Re: Re: What was the Worst blunder/moment in US history? yup. though we had nothing to do with that...it was a low. also the phantom handball called against berhalter in costa rica.
I think Goose has deserved some flack over the years but, I also believe that he has been unfairly bagged since his poor showing in Korea.....sure, the international game has now pretty much passed him by but, the man did everything for the national team and solidified a backline when Eddie was still being getting his legs. Don't want to start a 'why goose sucks' war...I just think he is no where near as bad as he has been made out to be...
I thought the US team photo shoot before J/K 2002 was the worst moment. I mean, Landon at the drinking fountain... UGH!
Burns not staying on the post in WC '98. If you're talking moments that cost us, nothing can top this one. We overcame all the other blunders people have listed. Kellers kick off the Mexican's head, Agoos' back pass, Agoos' own goal, we overcame it all. But the moment Burns left that post, and a weak goal slid in, in the first game of the WC, everything went down hill from there.
ToddP, you are absolutely right. Goose has played a lot of minutes for the Nats and played a part in their success the past few years. I think he has made the most of his ability and I have no problem with the guy at all. HOWEVER, when I think of the word BLUNDER and US NATIONAL TEAM.....somehow most of the thoughts that come to my mind all involve Goose. I cant help it. Oops, 2 more blunders just popped into my mind....Jaime Moreno's goal for Bolivia after a 3/4 field race with the ball in RFK where Goose was sucking his wake the whole way. Totally exposed his lack of speed. The other, the handball against Costa Rica in KC in 2001 that the referee missed and it would have been a penalty kick in a game that ended 0-0.
oops. Forgot about that. Jeez, that was the Mathis handball that Wolff's scored on. Looks like we caught 2 breaks that game.
Burns When I firts saw this thread I immediately thought of Keller banging the ball off that big headed mex. That was a big blunder, looked like a huge mistake at the time. When I read the thread and remembered how Burns made the simple mistake and let that ball between him and the post I changed my mind. That was the biggest on field blunder I can think of. As we have subsequently learned he should have simply stuck his hand out.
As long as injuries are in the thread (which they shouldn't be, I agree), I'm suprised that "hearing Armas tore his acl." isn't on the list. Mastro stepped up big time, but at the time it was a major blow. I'll vote for the Burnsie at the post. How's this for a double header: US-Germany 1998, US-Germany 2002. I actually have both tapes, so maybe I'll watch these this weekend while I fold clothes.
How about "not playing a single international match for about 3 1/2 years in the 1960s"? And those WC 94 kits were a blunder, too.
To be fair, Costa Rica got a break when the linesman ruled that they cleared the ball off the line midway through the first half. I was really crushed when we lost to Iran. I was under the illusion that the Germany game wasn't going to set the tone for the rest of the tournament. Silly me.