While I respect him, I disagree with his starting lineup. Bob Bradley pulled Ricardo Clark after only 30 minutes, essentially admitting that he got it wrong. Maurice Edu and Benny Feilhaber should be starting. They proved their worth against Algeria by possessing the ball well and controlling the midfield in conjunction with Dempsey and Donovan.
The goals were bad. Clark was dispossessed and Howard was completely out of position. The second goal was more of the same. When overtime hit, the U.S. abandoned the strategy that got them the first goal.
Below is Nike's 2010 World Cup commercial. By now you have either seen it or at least seen some variation of it. It is spectacular. We blogged about it not too long ago when it first came out. The theme of the commercial is to write the future. Basically saying that you can become a hero or a goat in the World Cup. The potential is endless since there is no bigger stage in all of sports. However, apparently the potential is endless for everyone not featured in the commercial as everyone in commercial seems to be cursed.
Here is the commercial:
Let's run through the players:
Didier Drogba: The commercial starts with Ivory Coast's striker Didier Drogba. One of the best strikers in the world and arguably one of the best in the Premier League. Love him or hate him, he's really good. He was on the Chelsea team that won the Premier League this year. Two weeks after the Premier League ends and right before the World Cup, he breaks his arm in one of Ivory Coast's warm up matches. Granted, he still manages to play in Ivory Coast's three games, but he never had quite the impact people anticipated. On top of that Ivory Coast was just eliminated today. Drogba is done.
Fabio Cannavaro: In the commercial, Drogba's shot is stopped by a sweet bicycle from Cannavaro. It leads to Cannavaro being hailed as a celebrity and some pretty catchy tunes being made about him. Not to mention some pretty flexible ladies paying their respect as well. As mentioned on this blog and as everyone knows, Italy bowed out in the first round. Pretty embarrassing for the returning champs. Not only did they bow out, but their defense was rather suspect throughout the entire tournament. Cannavaro is not only the foundation of that defense, but the captain of the team. You can't blame him for everything, but he's the leader of that team, and that team, especially the defense, never showed up.
Franck Ribery: The commercial then jumps to Wayne Rooney making a pass which Ribery intercepts. Ribery was of course part of the French team that was a complete and total embarrassment during the World Cup. No need to repeat everything. Not that Ribery was the one causing all the headlines, but still part of the cursed team.
Wayne Rooney: Quite a bit of the commercial is centered around Rooney. Probably because he had an amazing year in the Premier League where he carried his team to a strong finish barely behind Chelsea. I'm pretty sure Nike, and the whole world for that matter, anticipated he would do the same with England. But he's been a complete non-factor thus far. There was so much hype and promise for England coming into the World Cup and it was supposed to be Rooney at the helm of the ship and leading the team to glory. Instead the England ship looks more like it's slowly leaking and heading towards it inevitable sinking. Maybe things will change. England has advanced, so he still could write a different history. Thus far though, he looks more like the player in the trailer park than the one being knighted by the queen.
Spain: There is a brief moment in the commercial where three players from Spain throw down a newspaper. The players aren't really highlighted in the commercial so you can't really say they are completely cursed. Yet even their small contribution to the commercial has clearly affected their play as they lost their first game. Good thing they were smart and barely participated.
Landon Donovan: Speaking of small participation, there is a brief clip of Donovan throwing down a newspaper as well. He's been anything but cursed this World Cup. But he's American and Nike is an American company. Thus any Nike curses don't impact him or other American players. It makes sense just like this whole curse makes sense.
Ronaldinho: After Rooney, there is some action by some Brazil players before the ball goes to Ronaldinho. He didn't even make the final Brazil squad. He was cursed before the Cup even got started. Should have been a warning sign to all of the other players. Instead, they were too busy cashing their endorsement check to even notice. Cha-ching! Right Cannavaro?
Cristiano Ronaldo: I'm pretty sure the best part of the commercial is Homer Simpson saying, "Ronal...doh!" Pretty good. Not sure who gets credit for that, but its clever. Anyways, Ronaldo is really the only one where things are up in the air. He hasn't played bad, hasn't played great. Portugal pulled off a tie against Ivory Coast and Brazil and pummeled North Korea. It's still uncertain if Portugal is any good. Regardless, Ronaldo hasn't been much of a factor at all. The commercial has somehow inflated his already enormous ego. Every free-kick Portugal receives, no matter how far away it is from goal, Ronaldo lines up just like he does in the commercial and he always takes a shot. He's clearly trying to "write his future" just like Nike wrote the commercial. Unfortunately, he has yet to put his free-kicks on target, let alone score.
So Drogba, Ribery, Cannavaro and Ronaldinho are all out of the World Cup. Their history is written, and it wasn't a pretty one. Rooney and Spain have a chance to salvage their history even though the start was pretty bad; horrible for Rooney. Ronaldo is the only one that has been decent. But maybe that will change too. Everything changes in the knockout rounds.
Regardless of the finish, of the six players highlighted, four are already finished. Maybe one of the two will write a glorious future. But if the curse is real and they follow suit with the other players, doomsday is right around the corner.
Posted by Matt
Posted on 10:56 PM
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Landon Donovan of Everton (and the USMNT) gets our Weekly Salute for his outstanding performance against league leaders Chelsea. I wish that I had seen this game live so that I could have done an analysis as in-depth as this one. Donovan was again playing out on the right wing, wreaking havoc on Chelsea's defense. He kept Ashley Cole pinned back for most of the evening until he took him out by breaking his foot! Now, I'm not saying Donovan did it on purpose but having Ashley Cole out injured for three or four months would go a long way towards helping the U.S. take out England in the World Cup this summer. Back to the game, Donovan was cut down in the box, drawing a penalty, that Louis Saha summarily missed. It was a terrible penalty by Everton's forward and the announcers discussed whether or not Donovan would take PK duties in the future. Donovan is generally very good at penalties but recently missed a big penalty. Next, Donovan put a perfect corner kick into the path of Saha, who buried it into the back of the net. Overall a great performance. Well done, Landon.
Landon's highlights are at 3:51, 5:19 (perfect pass), 5:49 (draws a penalty), and 7:34 (Cole walks off injured).
Well, whether you like the name of our award or not, Landon Donovan was yet again the best American player last weekend and gets our Weekly Salute for his service overseas. Not that he had much competition. Tim Howard is really the only player that you could argue deserved it over Donovan, but he wasn't really challenged in goal (more on this in a bit).
Donovan didn't have an assist like last week or have any direct involvement in any of Everton's 2 goals, but he had a great game. You really needed to see the entire game to appreciate how well Donovan did. Not the greatest player on the field, but definitely proving that he deserves to start and can compete with the best talent in England. Donovan played so well that the Everton coach intentionally subbed him in the 90th minute so that the fans could show their appreciation for his performance and cheer him as he came off the field. The reception was so good that Donovan is already considering extending his stay with Everton to the end of the Premier League season (May) instead of the start of the MLS season (March). Speaking of the fans, after the game Donovan said:
"I've been made to feel so welcome and when you're welcome like that you don't want to let anyone down," he told the Liverpool Echo. It's a sharp contrast to how I felt last year when I was at Munich...
"The atmosphere [at Everton] completely surpassed what I thought, he said. "I guessed if we scored a few goals or were winning they'd be loud, but it was from minute one. They really push you on."
First of all: I'm really curious about his German experience. I still don't understand how it was so bad that he was completely turned off to the idea of playing soccer in Europe.
Second: How did he not know that English fans were this loyal and dedicated to their players? I've never been to a game in England, but I've been to one in Spain and seen a host of games on TV. Even I know that English soccer fans are insanely loyal to their team and that they cheer for their players all game long. Did he really not know this? Did he think that the crowds were the same as the MLS? Doesn't every casual fan of soccer know that the English crowds are this committed? Isn't that half the reason people want to become professional soccer players? To get paid millions, date supermodels and be literally worshiped by the fans?
Anyways, I may never quite understandLandon Donovan, but I am happy to see him playing extremely well and hope that he continues to play at such a high level during the World Cup.
As far as the other team on the field Saturday, Manchester City looked terrible. Everton was playing some of their best soccer of the season, but Man City looked lost for most of the game. It wasn't a good sign when Roque Santa Cruz went down with injury and is out for a month. Robinho came on as his replacement, but his performance was so uninspiring that Roberto Mancini (Man City's coach) subbed out Robinho before the end of the game. A team only gets three subs a game so it's rare that a coach will use a sub on a player that already subbed in. But considering Robinho was invisible for most of the game, bringing on any warm body was an upgrade. No need to worry about Man City though, they recently purchased Patrick Vieira. Despite being in his mid-30s and unable to crack the starting 11 on his previous team, he is the perfect powerhouse to fix Man City's offensive problems (I wish sarcasm was easier in writing).
Anyways, I know the second half of the season just started, but if Man City wants to finish in the top 4, they have to look a lot better than they did last weekend. They got blitzed and overwhelmed by Everton and never really threatened. There is still a lot of soccer yet to be played, but they are on the outside looking in right now and don't have too much room for error.
Landon Donovan has arrived in the English Premier League to play for Everton and is the American National of the week (we really need to get a better name for this award). The star of the US Men's National Team (USMNT) started his Everton career off with a nice assist on a corner kick. It seems that David Moyes, Everton's manager, has been watching the film on Donovan. He put him out on the right wing and had him run at Arsenal's defense. Donovan's speed gave the opposition trouble all night. It was an impressive debut for Donovan and after pointing out his missed penalty kick and calling for Clint Dempsey to be the next Captain of the USMNT (by the way, why didn't anyone argue for Tim Howard as the next captain?), all credit to Landon for impressing everyone on the night. A strong showing over the next three months will go a long way toward increasing his confidence as he plays for the USMNT at this summer's World Cup.
A few days ago it was confirmed that Landon Donovan will be loaned to Everton for the rest of the Premier League season. This would be a bigger deal if Donovan hadn't just agreed to a 4 year contract extension with the LA Galaxy. This isn't some sort of attempt to try and show that he, an American field player and the best player in the MLS, can compete with the best in the Premier League. All this is, is Donovan wanting to stay in shape before the World Cup. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing, just disappointing in the typical Donovan fashion.
An article on Soccernet discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of MLS players heading off to England or other leagues prior to the World Cup, or in general. The main disadvantage is that some of these players might just sit the bench and never get a chance to prove themselves and bolster their resume prior to the World Cup. It might just be better for them to stay in the US and train constantly with the National Team. The article fails to mention that just practicing with some of those teams is probably better training than staying at home with the national team. However, gambling on Europe means you can't play the politics game and work your way onto the national team by seeing the coach every day and being his best friend.
Regardless of what these other players choose to do, this scenario doesn't apply to Donovan (the article acknowledges that and is basically focusing on other players that are thinking about heading overseas). Donovan has a guaranteed spot on the national team-he may even be captain. He just doesn't want to make the permanent move to the Premier League-which I'll never quite understand. I understand that Liverpool, England (home of Everton) isn't quite the same as living in Manhattan Beach, CA (current home of Donovan). However, Donovan can permanently play for a top club in the Premier League, but instead chooses to miss penalty shots for the Galaxy in the MLS. Which I suppose is fine; to each their own. People don't always want to be at the top. They would rather just stay in their comfort zone. There are plenty of people working in Tulsa, OK at the local Community Credit Union that have the resume and brains to succeed at an investment banking firm in New York, but they never make the move.
Anyways, I don't mean to be too harsh on Donovan. He is from Redlands, CA and an outstanding soccer player. He just isn't the guy that is going to step up and carry American soccer, even though he could. Well, he actually might, so long as no one tells him it's his responsibility to carry the team. In the Confederations Cup last summer Donovan played extremely well when he played outside midfield/forward and all of the scoring pressure wasn't on his shoulders. I 'm glad he is "interning" in England for a few months as I think it will help him prepare for the World Cup. In the end though, Landon Donovan is just happier staying in Tulsa. Which is fine, you can be elite in Tulsa, but never the greatest.
Penalties always end up as a mind game. Landon Donovan lost the mind game in the MLS Cup this past weekend. There are a few rules to follow in penalties. First, never rush the kick. When the ref blows the whistle, take a few seconds to breathe and focus or you'll rush the shot and blow it. Second, the safest shot is to the lower left or right corner. If you aim high, you risk hitting it over the bar and when the kick means a Championship, you go with the safe shot. Finally, ignore the goalkeeper. He is there to intimidate. Donovan misses on all three counts:
I can't help but compare his miss to Roberto Baggio's in the 1994 World Cup Final. It was way over the bar and gave Brazil the match.
There are some serious questions to ask about his ability to cope under pressure next year during the World Cup in South Africa. Do we want him taking penalties for the US next year? Donovan has generally been very good at penalties so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Over the bar is a shot borne of arrogance.
