US 1-0 Algeria

Diane Scavuzzo
Posted: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 4:16 pm

US 1-0 Algeria | La Galaxy, Landon Dononvan, World Cup Soccer, Southern California Soccer, president Clinton,

Landon Donovan and his U.S. team celebrates his World Cup winning goal
U.S. is now on Top of Group after Landon Donovan Scores Winning Goal Against Algeria
Needing a Win Against Algeria to Advance Through Group C at World Cup, DONOVAN Delivers Scoring the Winning Goal. America Advances for Only the Third Time Ever in the World Cup.

 
Many American fans were left with the feeling "will the goals ever come?"  When England scored and made their World Cup changing goal - the intensity to win was increased for America.  There were endless plays that failed to produce a goal for the U.S. team.  Altidore crossed the ball to Landon Donovan, who saw Clint Dempsey sprinting forward and sent him the soccer only to result in Dempsey's attempt to score being blocked by the goalkeeper. After hair raising near misses, the energy filled the World Cup field when LA Galaxy's Buddle came on  - there is a magic between Buddle and Donovan on the field and it can be felt around the globe.  
 
Then, the magic happened and Donovan saved the U.S. and scored.  Americans who were not familair with Landon Donovan a few weeks ago and couldn't have recogized his picture out of a line up, now were jubliant chanting his name. Soccer has officially arrived in the U.S. and Americans have become ethusiasitc soccer fans as our country moves on to the second round of the World Cup compeition.  To the surprise of many, America is ahead of England and it is time for the team referred to as the 'Underdog' in the World Cup to stand up and rightfully sieze its place in the world of soccer.

Former President Clinton was at the game, cheering for the U.S. and told the team that "As someone who cares about our country" he said, "you made me proud to be an American."   Jonathan Bronstein, originally an AYSO Southern Californian soccer player was quoted as saying "Sureal" to have the former President say this to the team.
The U.S. team and American fans around the world celebrated
All Photo Credit: Ben Queenborough ISIPhotos


U.S. Soccer Team Quotes:
U.S. Soccer President SUNIL GULATI 
On the team’s persistence: 
“It is so trite to say, but so true—the American spirit came through. In the 91st minute, in a game that you have to score, where you’ve been frustrated the whole game, when you’ve had an injustice done in the last game, to a lot of people saying these guys aren’t good enough—and then going out and getting it done. They didn’t stop fighting the whole game. To come from being down 2-0 in the last game, to give up a goal early against England and come back, that’s the American spirit.” 

U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach BOB BRADLEY 
On the multiple scoring opportunities for both teams: 
“It’s a match where both teams need to win, so it turns into a very wide open game. Algeria is a very good team, skillful and well-organized, but the game now takes on a different tone just because of the need for both teams to win.” 

On the frustration at missing so many good scoring chances: 
“You think two things: when you’re in the game long enough, there are times when that happens and you just say ‘it’s not our night.’ But the real thing that you do as a coach is you keep trying to think of what’s going on in the game, are we still creating chances, how many changes do we have left, what else can we do to keep giving ourselves a chance to get the goal? In the end, it’s just the efforts of the players that make the difference.” 

On what makes this team so special: 

“It’s a lot of things. In this last cycle, guys have grown, taken leadership roles, as a team we’ve grown stronger, we’ve had experiences where we’ve been hardened. Landon said the expression ‘the part you can control.’ We believe that in soccer sometimes you can’t always control a call or a bounce, but you can control what you’re all about as a team, what you put into it, how committed you are to giving everything in the game. I think that has become the special quality of this group.” 


Bob Bradley on what’s made Landon Donovan the player he’s become in the past year: 
“Without a doubt Landon has grown in so many different ways. From the soccer end, he mentions the low after the World Cup in 2006. But there was also the challenge of taking a bigger role, being more responsible as a leader. I think these kinds of challenges came at a good time for him and he’s never shied away from challenges. If you look back to 2002, he’s young and being in your first World Cup is pretty exciting. 2006 now is, for him, one where he learned a lot. But to have the chance then to come back in the prime of your career, there’s a special feeling when you play on a team where you know people are really counting on you. Your character, your personality is really at the core of how that team does. Some players play their whole careers and never experience that. When you have that, it takes time to get a feel for what that’s all about. But over these years, both on and off the field, I think the fact that he’s grown and matured and accepted these types of challenges has made a huge difference.”