Stole this one, haha!

3/27/2013 12:25:23 AM

Mexican pissants: umad?

3/27/2013 12:25:31 AM

@GrantWahl: Press section getting hit with objects from above. Female NPR journo hit in the back. Here we go.

Yeah. They mad.

[Edited on March 27, 2013 at 12:27 AM. Reason : Pray4aimorris]

3/27/2013 12:27:16 AM

INCONCEIVABLE!!!

US atop the table with Honduras at 4 points now

3/27/2013 12:27:47 AM

NO POINTS!!!!!1!

3/27/2013 12:27:55 AM

lol mexico

3/27/2013 12:29:00 AM

Bitch ass mexicans and their manager trying to gang up on the ref. FUCK OFF!

Omar Gonzalez > mexico

Chicharito is a one trick pony. If doesn't get perfect service for a header or tap-in he is useless. Can't do anything with the ball at his feet at all.

3/27/2013 12:29:52 AM

Godspeed aimorris

Team WOMA will send a search party for your body

3/27/2013 12:31:01 AM

Neither team won, but one team gets to go back to the US...

3/27/2013 12:32:28 AM

didn't see the match, but checked out the final score

sounded exciting

3/27/2013 12:33:38 AM

aimorris is on his way back now

3/27/2013 12:34:14 AM

Do you hear the people sing?

3/27/2013 12:34:29 AM

Mexico is all

3/27/2013 12:41:02 AM

Wow I didn't realize the US had a 0-13-2 at the Azteca. Def. would have altered my bold pre-match prediction. Omar freaking Gonzalez was a rock! Chandler and Gonzalez will be solid. Beasley had his ups and downs and overall did well enough to see it through in a tough arena. Its a draw but a damn good one at that.

One thing I really liked is Klinsmann trying to go for the win. Bradley would have never put in Johnson or Shea in that situation. I love that tenacity. Anyone deriding Klinsmann has to admire that, the US is at a delicate precipice and Klinsmann truly can lead the way.

Don't think we will hear back from aimorris though lol

[Edited on March 27, 2013 at 1:25 AM. Reason : .]

3/27/2013 1:24:06 AM

he's too busy being a TV star

3/27/2013 1:28:17 AM

we need a report from that guy. i feel like someone's mom who wants them to check in on friday night "just so i know you're okay."

3/27/2013 2:19:52 AM

U-S-A!

I got hit with a beer post game but it's all good because we got that point

3/27/2013 2:30:43 AM

Glad you survived. Props on the '98 kit.

3/27/2013 2:52:50 AM

Are we still in the "Golden Age" of Mexican football or did that only last one summer?

Anyway, Besler seemed to always be in the passing lanes and positioned correctly while Gonzalez was just a beast.

3/27/2013 8:25:43 AM

hopefully this kind of play from young guys spurs the experienced ones to work harder, and realize they aren't safe at all if they don't earn their spots.

3/27/2013 11:04:49 AM

Nice work USA ! Love seeing those central americans whine.

3/27/2013 8:59:34 PM

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2050289/index.html

3/28/2013 9:11:35 PM

good. I'd like to see him suit up for us in qualifying and one more WC. I know he won't make it back in right away after the hiatus but I still think he's a great asset to the team.

[Edited on March 28, 2013 at 9:18 PM. Reason : ]

3/28/2013 9:17:35 PM

I'm over this whole diva act

be part of the team or come out and retire

I'm tired of the waffling

3/28/2013 9:27:34 PM

i agree, but to me that article is saying he definitely wants to return unless I'm reading it wrong.

3/28/2013 9:29:07 PM

A motivated Landon Donovan is an asset to almost any team, even at 31.

3/28/2013 9:32:07 PM

^exactly. I wasn't the biggest fan of the hiatus but I still think if he is finally in the right mindset he is a big missing piece in our team right now. We've gotten results the past few games but haven't looked good; that will only carry us so far.

3/28/2013 9:34:39 PM

QUIT FUCKIN WITH ME LANDYCAKES

3/28/2013 10:05:01 PM

Here's some video my brother took of Azteca. http://vimeo.com/62918650

Most of the AO took buses and got there about 10 minutes before kick off. We took the metro with like 15 other people and got there almost 2 hours before the game. Everybody was real cool and talked to us in English pre-game. Everybody wanted to take pictures with us too - I'm probably in like 20 pictures with Mexican fans before the game.

Even during the game wasn't too bad. A group of like 30-40 New York supporters were in front of us and they were pretty damn lame. I bet they spent half the game turned around gesturing and singing towards the Mexican fans. The crowd answered our USA chants with Mexico chants for a little bit but by the second half, the crowd was pretty dead. We didn't get stuff thrown at us until the final whistle and it got worse because idiots were throwing shit back and baiting them to throw more. And you can see in the video, we had a path cleared for us to walk out and the same idiots were throwing shit back and openly baiting them to throw more stuff at us and of course I got hit with a full beer in the side of the face.

Anyway, the AO got on their buses and the rest of us stood around and waited. The riot cops decided to put us on their bus and it took us like 30 minutes just to get around to the other side of the stadium and then they took us about 10 minutes away to the nearest metro stop. It was still full of Mexican fans from the game and they didn't say shit to us. Most were still as friendly as they were before the game.

Mexico City rules. Azteca was really awesome and it's not as bad as people say it is if you're smart about it.

3/29/2013 7:50:54 AM

That sounds really awesome actually.

3/29/2013 8:29:14 AM

it does.

Also, I felt compelled to watch this great video again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgZ7mgBVZA

3/29/2013 8:54:47 AM

^ My finest contribution to the internet

3/29/2013 10:55:25 AM

Landon Donovan hopes to return to the national team.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/landon-donovan-hopes-to-rejoin-united-states-national-team-returns-to-los-angeles-galaxy-032813

Hopefully he gets a call up again.

3/30/2013 1:47:54 AM

Good thing no one posted a story about that and all of the thread regulars didn't comment on it.

3/30/2013 2:03:05 AM

If the US knows whats good for them, Donovan should be shown the door and made sure it hit him on the way out. The man is a joke, USA needs to move on.

3/30/2013 9:37:03 AM

No, if he's playing well at club level and can contribute for us, then bring him in.

But he doesn't have a spot waiting for him, in my opinion, and I think Klinsmann's too. There certainly shouldn't be any more talk about captain and leader for him though.

3/30/2013 9:44:06 AM

Look, after playing soccer professionally for the past 13 years, and being the man on the U.S. team for most of that time, he needed a break. i don't see anything wrong with that. He needed to get away from everything and reflect on the purpose of his life and what he wanted both long term and short term.

Soccer is a game, nothing else. We have elevated games in our society far beyond what they actually are. For him to not be totally devoted in every way, shape, or form shows maturity in my opinion. Now that he has had a chance to get things together, I envision him coming back better than ever.

Sometimes you just need to step back and take a breath.

3/30/2013 10:11:18 AM

take a break, find yourself, whatever.

You can't be a leader of a team and do it at the time he did it. You just can't. If I was a teammate, I'd feel let down that he chose to do it at the start of this final round of WCQs when we needed him the most.

3/30/2013 10:26:14 AM

^ Exactly. Also I don't get the take a break argument. Professional athlete, getting paid millions. When you are working 40 hours a week for 50 years, no one gives you a break. These guys get a summer holiday and live a life of luxury. Taking a break is a ridiculous concept in sports. Play or GTFO.

3/30/2013 10:44:27 AM

I understand the leadership aspect and agree he shouldn't be a captain, but he hasn't really had a lot of drama in his overall career. It's not like this is ochocinco or something. He hasn't been some on-and-off-again committed player overall. Before the break he was a consistent leader for a long time and is our all-time leading scorer with like 150% of the goals Wynalda scored and more than 2x the assists of anyone else. He has 144 caps to Dempsey's 94 and Howard's 85. I'm willing to at least give him a chance to earn a spot back on the team...

Sure, I didn't agree with the hiatus really, but I don't see any reason to completely shun the biggest contributor to US Soccer over one extended break. Especially right now: We have no reliable scoring threat on this team besides Dempsey. How far is that going to take our team? Some people want to shun our all-time leading scorer and play-maker when our team can hardly produce a legit goal to save their lives?

Besides goals by Gomez and Johnson against Antigua and Barbuda (who gave up the most goals/had the 11th/12th worst goal differential in 3rd round play so that's not much of a trophy) we have no live-action goals by an active player other than Dempsey against any decent opponents (We had one good set-piece goal by Gomez against Jamaica). That just isn't going to cut it long term. Sure, it may get us out of CONCACAF, but it's not going to cut it if we want to have any chance of winning a few games at the World Cup.

The US can't keep living and dying by relying on world-class goalkeepers to keep us in games while Dempsey picks up a hustle-goal. Look where that got us against Ghana. One PK isn't enough to beat Ghana.

I respect everyone's opinion in here and I'm typically pretty quiet in this thread because others usually already express the same thoughts I have, but I just have to disagree with the negative view toward's Landon in this case that seems more knee-jerk emotional than anything else.

[Edited on March 30, 2013 at 11:22 AM. Reason : ]

3/30/2013 11:05:56 AM

agree on all that. Wazza is the only one saying we should let him go for good though. And he's a bloody Brit Manc lovin' wanker.

Win or lose, I want players that want to play for the US to play for the US. If you're unhappy or need a break, then I don't want to have to beg or plead with you to play for us. So take your break, do whatever you have to do, but I only want him back if he's doing it because he wants to.

That's why it annoys me when fucks like Bruce Arena say shit about us going backwards when we have players born outside the US playing for our national team. You think Jones, Boyd, Johnson, Chandler, or anybody else with a loose citizenship issue would spend hours flying to our games and playing in shit conditions with less than 1% of a country's population behind them just for fun?


also, I haven't commented on the actual game in Mexico yet. Edu was fucking garbage. You Jones haters need to take a look at that game and realize how much better we are with him in the lineup.

3/30/2013 11:32:48 AM

Quote :

"Win or lose, I want players that want to play for the US to play for the US. If you're unhappy or need a break, then I don't want to have to beg or plead with you to play for us. So take your break, do whatever you have to do, but I only want him back if he's doing it because he wants to."

truth and especially the quoted part. I do still think he still needs to re-earn his spot and prove he is worth it and dedicated going forward. And you're right, I guess there aren't too many people on here who wouldn't like a top-form Donovan back, but I have seen a lot of people online in general that are saying we should just forget him and I just disagree with that, so when I saw a couple posts here I think it just pushed me to /blog

[Edited on March 30, 2013 at 11:43 AM. Reason : ]

3/30/2013 11:39:34 AM

My problem with Jones is his mistakes. He seems a little better lately in terms of his positives, but he turns the ball over and makes costly mistakes at the wrong times in midfield. Of course, I guess the real question is do we have better options.

3/30/2013 11:40:32 AM

I wasn't a huge fan of Jones at first but I've really come around on him. His dumbest mistakes are usually stupid ass fouls, like that foul in the corner against Costa Rica.

I just think he brings something different than what we have. I wish we'd play him as a straight up DM and let Bradley run more of the offense. I think I read MB was 57 of 58 passing against Mexico. It really sucks Holden has had so many injuries because a Jones/Bradley/Holden midfield would fucking own.

3/30/2013 11:48:08 AM

I have always liked Jones. Bradley is more effective because of Jones. Agianst Mexico the link between attack and midfield (usually Bradley) was missing because Edu is garbage and Bradley had to cover for him. The US is a better team offensively and defensively with Jones. Jones, Chandler, and Gonzales can be effective defenders for the World Cup.

3/30/2013 12:01:50 PM

Quote :

"If the US knows whats good for them, Donovan should be shown the door and made sure it hit him on the way out. The man is a joke, USA needs to move on."

Dumbest. Statement. Ever.

The guy wanted a break from playing a game and/or doing his job. Regardless of how you see it, this isn't fucking Soviet Russia. He's not an indentured servant to feed your penchant for soccer. He is a free fucking human being. We do put athletics on a ridiculous pedestal in this country. And the argument "well I can't just quit my 40 hour job" is horseshit and non-sequitur. This guy has enough money and talent to quit his job and re-earn it at any point if you're going to argue on the topic of merit. And that's what we're talking about. Not a reserved roster spot. He's going to have to earn his place again.

And to say he's a joke is even more pathetic. The man WAS our national team. The face. The best player. The leader.

3/30/2013 1:09:03 PM

^ There is enough evidence out there that suggests Donovan is far from a leader. From his personal life and to his teammates at LA Galaxy. Clearly has a ego and acts like he is better than everyone around him. To be fair, he is the best player the US has ever seen but how about being humble about it? I guess this is where Europeans and American's differ. If you quit on your team you have to deal with the consequences. He was obviously never going to just get a spot but the fact that he quit when his team needed him is ridiculous.

Also taking a break argument shouldn't be valid in sports. They retire when they are 35-40 and don't have to work for another day in their life. Training 3 hours a day and playing a sport that you are supposed to love gives you that much stress? I don't believe it. Yes sports are put on a pedestal, these athletes should be thankful for that or else they would be sitting behind a desk just like everyone else.

3/30/2013 6:35:30 PM

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

He doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to.

If he can earn his spot back, he can have it. Fuck this "loyalty or else" bullshit.

3/30/2013 9:11:03 PM

He's certainly talented enough to get a spot. We need some serious scoring talent on this team, so I don't care if he takes a two year hiatus to play minor league baseball, but when he's ready to come back, and if he's still better than the guy in front of him, then he plays.

3/30/2013 9:34:29 PM

^This! He is still one of the best players ever in US soccer history. I would put him in the lineup over a lot of the guys who have been getting caps in the midfield and at forward. I think most of the hate towards him comes from people who are fans of the EPL and are just pissed that he didn't even have any interest in playing for their favorite bandwagon team (Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool) and chose to play for LA instead.

3/30/2013 10:30:49 PM