Christian Pulisic, born on Sept. 18, 1998, turned 19 on Monday. In the first 18 years of his life, he has already been called the greatest American soccer player of all time. But how does he compare to Landon Donovan at the same age?
When the United States began their Gold Cup campaign last Saturday I was in a bar. I was there to watch this game, but somewhere around the 30th minute I started to drift. I was like a pass from the American midfield — serenely floating here and there without any purpose or sense of direction.
Dom Dwyer’s opening goal sent the bartender on a rambling ode to Sydney Leroux that lasted until tonight’s match against Nicaragua, a week-long sonnet on unrealized love.
Landon Donovan posted a video of his son Talon scoring a goal in his backyard, and little Talon looks like he's on the fast track to the USMNT. His dad posted the caption, "He's going to kill me for this when he gets older. Oh well."
The United States has appeared in 10 FIFA World Cups, including the last seven straight. Out of those 10 appearances, they've fallen at the first hurdle on five occasions. The most notable exceptions include the first-ever World Cup in 1930 when the side finished third in the 13-team tournament and their run to the 2002 quarterfinals in Japan and South Korea.
In 2011 FOX bid more than $400 million to secure the US rights for the 2018 and 2022 Men’s World Cup (as well as the Women’s 2015 and 2019 World Cups). [Note: Telemundo also bid over $600 million for rights for those tournaments as well.] Now just over a year away from the kick-off, FOX appears to have chosen their three-man announcer booth to headline the network’s World Cup coverage.
When you limit your playing career to Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain (and represent the English national team for 14 years), you're inevitably going to play alongside some of the world's best players. What's more, if you're a really great passer of the ball, which David Beckham was, you're going to provide a few classy assists for that talent.
Every club that’s had an extended run in the Premier League is a perfect example for the transitive property (If a=b and b=c, then a=c) that affects modern football:
Landon Donovan is officially retired, forever this time, he promises, and to celebrate he jumped off a food truck into a crowd of USMNT fans.
So this happened last night. #DontWorryWeCaughtLandon #AONB4 pic.twitter.com/kckrAHVtGh
According to ESPN, Real Salt Lake and another team from the MLS Eastern Conference have entered discussions with Landon Donovan over the 34-year-old continuing his career in 2017.
Donovan made a shock return for the LA Galaxy in 2016, appearing in nine matches for a Los Angeles squad that had been left depleted in attack following a serious injury to Gyasi Zardes and the questionable fitness of Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard.
Of all the big name, designated players on show during Sunday’s Western Conference semifinal between the Colorado Rapids and LA Galaxy (Tim Howard, Jermaine Jones, Steven Gerrard, Giovani dos Santos and Robbie Keane), it was the least-celebrated DP who made the biggest difference: Swiss attacking midfielder Shkelzen Gashi.
Gashi scored his 10th goal in MLS, and it was an absolute stunner. With the Galaxy enjoying a 1-0 aggregate lead following their victory in Los Angeles in the first leg, Gashi’s 36th minute wonder goal evened the score for Colorado.