Back when the year started, and Landon Donovan scored on a penalty kick in the national team's first game, I told Luis that Landon was going to PK his way to Eric Wynalda's scoring record. Well, ok, none of the three goals versus Ecuador were penalty kicks, and neither was his great break-away versus Mexico, but Landon is pretty deadly from the spot.
Of course, as soon as the penalty was called, I felt bad for Pat Onstad. I mean, he knows how good Landon is at penalty kicks, plus he knows that Landon knows his tendencies as a goalkeeper better than any other GK in the league.
16 comments:
Its official LD has a slight case of Nate Jaqua in him.
That was the most ridiculous "WHIFF" from Landon I have ever seen in international soccer. It was pure comedy. I still can't stop smiling when I think of how embarrasing that is. Anybody who has ever played forward will tell you that is a nightmare one gets recurringly. You just hope it never happens to you as a player.
Also, I am loving Bradley and Bradley. In fact, I wonder if Bradley would have taken this team to Germany what could have been different. Just a different attitude and a clear sense of how to attack.
I think the hope was Jaqua would learn from Landon but it may be that the affects are going the wrong way, at least on that play.
Query: why would Bradley not sub out his yellow card carrying players ASAP?
I want to see Mexico and USA at full strength.
BBSC.
Point proven. Hejduk just received a yellow.
BBSC.
How big does that huge "WHIFF" from LD weigh right now.
This is not to pick on him but you know what, if you want the glory you live w/ the burden. Certainly, LD showed he is not world class w/ that huge miss. Dempsey, Johnson, need to step up as well.
The collective play of the team is excellent but we have to finish.
That's what I thought at halftime: start taking out the guys who have yellows.
Part of me thinks have the attitude of "Let's win now and worry about the final when we get there" but you're up 2-0 at halftime. I think that would come into play if you were down 2-0.
That's bad for the US, not to have Hejduk available for Sunday... if they win, of course.
Unbelievably horrendous red card for Bradley. Can't imagine Dad's going to be anything but pissed at that.
No supper for you, young man.
On a positive note, Rico Clark now has a chance for playing time on Sunday, and A.C. should be happy for that at least!
Canada equalized, but it was called back on offside... not sure if it was a legit call.
LB:
I am a supporter of both the US and Mexico but how in the world is that goal offside? I think Archundia blew the call.
This is completely unfair to Canada, Archundia was right on top of the play and chose to blow his whistle at the most critical part of the game.
I love Bradley and Bradley but they both fell apart at the end. Coach pretty much botched his subs and his kid made a critical mistake. We'll see how Clark looks on Sunday, this is his big break.
Yup, Canada got screwed. That was a legit goal but the refs missed it.
Good assist by Gooch, though... oh, wait.
Can't say I'm confident about the Gooch-Boca central defense pair. Both have looked very shaky in this tournament.
Lol. Assist by Gooch.
I will say that Gooch-Boca will be stretched w/out Hejduk. I saw him save a couple of good chances for Canada.
Still, Gooch-Boca is better than Maza-Magallon. I insist that Magallon is the worst player in the entire tourney.
I'm confident in Rico, it's not as if he didn't have a good game against Mexico before. But this isn't the way I wanted him to get the start.
The U.S. could have put the game away multiple times, but Landon's whiff will stand out - partly because he's Landon. Yet without his assist and PK, the U.S. team doesn't have a lead to nearly blow in the 6th minute of stoppage.
At least M. Bradley can join the U20 training and get a little more in sync with his teammates for that tourney.
As I question Bradley lack of subs being up 2-0 against he does it again. Why does insist to wait to sub his defenders until the opponet scores? Remember the Chivas USA v.Houston game last year in the playoffs? Bradley waited so long to make his move that Houston scored right at the end of the game with Chivas USA still with 3 subs unused.
Sorry about the last post I'm having keyboard issues. Bradley has a bad habit of waiting too long to make his subs in crucial games. He really has to do better on his in game adjustments. I would have thought he would have learned his lesson against Panama when we were up 2-0. But appparently he didn't our defenders were obviously tired and under increasing pressue. I also don't understand him choosing Bornstein over Spector. The final should be interesting. The Copa America maybe sad unless our MLS defenders can improve our backline's shakyness.
l.b. said...
"Also, the victory would be the first over the United States on American soil since 1999 and thus would start to tip the regional scales in Mexico's favor."
Mexico's going to have to win about 3 or 4 more in a row to start tipping the scales bueno. One win will not make up for a decade of domination.
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