While Jozy Altidore’s goalscoring record for Sunderland will always torment him like a black spot, a piece of low-hanging fruit for doubters who refuse to recognize his enormous talent, those who’ve followed his career of late will know that it’s his troublesome hamstrings which remain his personal Kryptonite.
When we last reported on Charlie Davies back in April, it was to celebrate his remarkable recovery from a 2009 car accident that could’ve claimed his life. The subject of an ESPN documentary entitled “The Unrelenting Charlie Davies”, the New England Revolution forward was looking forward to a successful 2016 MLS season.
It’s been over two years since Julian Green introduced himself on the largest of international stages with that fantastic goal against Belgium in the World Cup round of 16. Now, it finally looks as though he’s ready to progress at the club level with Bayern Munich.
The story arcs that football provides us with are both fascinating and absurd. Who could’ve guessed that, come 2016, Brad Guzan would be doing battle with Victor Valdes to be named the starting goalkeeper for Middlesbrough?
Guzan, the 31-year-old Illinois native with 50 USA appearances to his name, is expected to join the newly promoted Premier League club on a free transfer following Aston Villa’s relegation.
The New York Times has won more Pulitzer Prizes than any other news organization, which makes their July 12th publication of Jay Caspian Kang’s “The Dark Side of American Soccer Culture” that much more dumbfounding.
Landon Donovan has returned to the public spotlight with a couple of high profile appearances in the last week. On Monday, Donovan took part in Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities by participating in a celebrity softball game. The USA’s all time leading scorer hit an inside-the-park home run that showed off the 34 year olds still electric pace.
Jordan Morris is enjoying the finest form of his professional career to date. On Saturday, July 2nd, Morris scored a highlight reel equalizer against Toronto FC in MLS regular season action. It was the American striker’s sixth goal in 16 games in his rookie season.
Tim Howard’s presence in MLS was clearly felt during his return on Monday as the American goalkeeper registered a shutout in the 0-0 draw between Colorado Rapids, Howard’s new club, and the reigning MLS champion Portland Timbers.
Howard’s debut electrified Colorado’s fanbase — the club typically averages 14,978 spectators per match but had a season-best 18,759 attend Monday’s July 4th matchup.
Rapids fans were keen to see Howard and Jermaine Jones, both returning from Copa America action with the United States, take the field together for the first time for the club.
A quick disclaimer: producing live sports is a really, really hard job and it's a testament to the competence of the FOX Sports crew that mistakes like the ones they made Tuesday are rare enough as to be newsworthy. With that said, let's now make fun of them for screwing up.
The USMNT's loss to Argentina was depressing for a number of reasons, one of which was that FOX Sports seemed to be about as on their game as the USMNT, which is to say not very.
Lionel Messi scored his 55th goal for the Argentina National Team, surpassing Gabriel Batistuta and becoming Argentina's single all-time leading scorer in a 4-0 victory over the USA.
Honestly, it was not as bad of a blowout as we thought is would be.
Ezequiel Lavezzi opened the scoring in the third minute and Messi broke the record with a free kick just before halftime. Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the second half and that was it.