Landon Donavon showed that his fine goal against Mexico last month was no fluke, as he absolutely destroyed a solid Ecuadorian team today, scoring a hat trick (and he could have had a penalty kick that wasn't given). He scored his first goal early, corralling a deflection at the top of box and clinically finishing past the keeper. His second, in the 65th minute, was a Landon classic, a speed run from a good through ball that he just rolled inside the post. His third, a mere minute later, was an absolute screamer to the top corner from about 25 yards out. Landon is absolutely on fire so far this year. He now has five goals in 2007. If he can keep this form into the summer, with the arrival of Mr. Goldenballs, the LA Galaxy and MLS should be fun to watch. Landon seems to have decided that the best response to criticisms of his piss poor 2006 World Cup is to become the player that his potential has hinted at for so many years. Anyways, the haters (SoC included) are having to eat some serious crow at the moment. SoC is officially putting the "Landycakes" moniker in the trash can.
Besides the outstanding play of Donovan, a few other things stood out in today's match:
Benny Feilhaber, a walk-on at UCLA who now plys his trade for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, got his first cap today, starting in central midfield. He looked a bit uncertain at first, but when Michael Bradley came on at halftime to partner him, the US was able to basically dominate possession in the midfield. Both players are young, but very promising, two-way midfielders. Hopefully they will develop into vital cogs for the national team as it prepares for this summer's tournaments and World Cup qualifying. Very, very, excited about both of them.
Elsewhere, wingers Damarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey showed why they have been having trouble getting onto the field for their Premiership teams, Manchester City and Fulham, respectively. They both drifted in an out of the game for long periods, and didn't really offer much in terms of quality crosses from the flanks. I think both are good players, they just need some playing time to recover their confidence.
In general, though, today's match offered way more positives than negatives, and those who like to take potshots at US Soccer with regularity, like me, look somewhat stupid. But if it takes the entire blogosphere bitching about their play to get them to play well, then I say lets keep at it. Next up is Guatemala on Wednesday night in Dallas.
We also bitch about our Australian Soccer team too. With their recent early exit from the Asean Cup, you wonder about our National team too.
More bitching too.
Posted by: turbulence training | 29 August 2007 at 07:44 PM
Yep, Landon Donavon is one of the best!
Posted by: burn the fat feed the muscle | 14 September 2007 at 09:51 PM