We know you watched last night's USA win vs. Honduras, but in case you didn't, or in case you just in case you want to see the highlights one more time, here they are:
What did you think of the U.S. goals? Did you come away impressed with Troy Perkins?
Share your thoughts below.
Mike —
Yeah. Cooper’s penalty kick against Panama really was ‘freaking absurd.’
The way he perfectly clanged the post beating a goalie who had guessed right in a major clutch situation was absurd. What a lame-ass, right?
Ives is on point for calling Cooper what he really is — a waste of size. Which Coop totally proved again last nite.
If it wasn’t for Brian Ching’s supersized heart Cooper would never score.
Posted by: Joe B | July 24, 2009 at 03:39 PM
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic….really. I’m not even joking like I switched between ” Ok, he’s joking” and ” Whoa harsh” like 5 times reading that statement.
” I like Cooper as an MLS player, and he’s got a good soccer brain. The problem is that he’s just too slow, and for some reason can’t or won’t play to his strength, which is his height. ” Josh
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Josh,
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Cooper isn’t slow. When you that big and awkward looking you look slow but he seems to get where he needs to be quick enough. Cooper’s strength is his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time so that goals like the one he scored last night look easy. His other strengths are the ability to put his shots more or less on target and his “selfishness” which I call a total commitment to putting the ball in the back of the net.
If size and strength were what it takes to score goals every single US centeback would be a great goal scorer. Think of this another way. The best goalkeepers often don’t make spectacular saves. Why? Because they read the game very well and are smart enough to get into position to make the save look routine. Bad goalkeepers often have to make spectacular moves to bail themselves out because they positioned themselves poorly. Interesting that Cooper’s dad was a pretty good goalkeeper.
If you think that goal he scored was easy you try reading the game well enough so that you are in the right spot to take that ball. I don’t know how good Cooper will eventually be but no one I’ve seen in the US team pool has Cooper’s nose for goals. Coaches tend not to trust this sort of thing because it tends to be feast or famine, so we’ll see about Cooper. But don’t underestimate how rare his skill is.