It wasn't a good day for Fulham on Tuesday, what with a first-half beatdown at the hands of Stoke City. The Cottagers nearly fought all the way back from a 3-0 deficit though thanks to a ridiculous goal from U.S. national team star Clint Dempsey.
Here is the goal:
Fulham went on to lose 3-2.
Wat did you think of the goal? Starting to like the idea of Dempsey moving up to play forward for the national team?
Share your thoughts below.
Here’s the Harkes goal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_is9XU2yeA&feature=PlayList&p=D61F07C0C888195E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=25
The thing that scares me about putting Dempsey on top, is who is going to provide him service??
Man what a goal, hope he does that in June.
Unfortunatly the quality of play will be a little better leading up to any chances.
What was that, foosball ?
All I hear is MLS stinks, wow.
dempsey is such a bad ass.
Have always wanted to start a soccer site with archived games you can stream. So many classic games the next generation will probably never see. From the earliest known footage up to now.
I hate seeing guys selling games on DVD for $10+. Soccer is a rare item, still, and fans should be open to helping others spread the cause. A DVD costs 50 cents now a days, sell them for $1, earn the 50 cents and be happy you helped a fellow fan.
Fantastic striker, Dempsey is in the form of his life at the moment. And look where he scored, sitting behind the striker who laid it off for him. Sound like a potential Jozy-Dempsey move in South Africa?
We will see how his work rate matches up when he plays for the Yanks again. I’ve been very disappointed by it for the past year but he has a nice eye for goal and a decent positional sense so playing him right behind Jozy may work.
Let’s hope, in that case, Holden can find playing time abroad and Beasley keeps injury free and inform. Wonder how a formation like this would work:
——–Jozy——–
–Donovan–Dempsey-
-Benny–Bradley–Edu
Boca-Gooch-DeMerit-Spector
With Donovan and Dempsey attacking diagonally to compensate a loss of true wingers as well as having the center three spread out during attack and contract during defense.
Of course a bit late in the game for changing formations…
How touchy you are, SBI.
You identify academies (rightly) as the answer. We’re all waiting for that day. But until then, most of the players who go through the college ranks will amount to nothing in the pro ranks. You guys mention the same 5 or 6 players who are successes out of the tens of thousands who have gone through the system. The whole college ball experience stunts a players growth and is actually harmful. PS–Hats off to any of you who can actually watch a college soccer game.
(SBI-Who’s touchy? I’m offering an opinion that’s clearly different from yours. To say that the college game is more harmful than the alternative, which is to stop playing soccer, is pretty laughable. Proper academies would be ideal, but they aren’t an option yet. In the meantime, college soccer is a necessary, though flawed alternative. To suggest that the American game would be better off right now without college soccer is a joke, and doesn’t become anymore true no matter how many times you rattle off your theory.)
You mean “wunderbar”?
Just watched the goal again, for the first time with sound on… (watched it w/ no sound 6 hours ago) and i’m flabbergasted. That goal was f’ing sick… hands down. Dare I saw world class ( a little lucky so I don’t want to say world class) but hands down SICK. It wasn’t so much the technique or the class, but the audacity, bravado, and ferociousness in which he struck the ball. That was an American f’ing goal, and we need all of our players to be that daring
the idea that players arent doing well because they arent motivated by at home fans is completely laughable…
That was disgusting!!… Clean up on isle 5!
ALL I GOTTA SAY IS GOLAZO. GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
hes in the perfect spot! plays 90 mins a game for a quality side and great manager! getting caught up in the marquee names is a terrible idea for him. i would agree in that i think he’s talented enough to play wide for a team like liverpool he would still be getting rotated minutes and fighting it out with riera, kuyt, benayoun and babel. same with man city with bellamy, robinho, petrov and ireland. he could go somewhere and get paid more and be at a fancier club but he wouldn’t come close to the playing time and experience he gains from being on a more moderately successful EPL side, proven through the clutch goals he scored saving relegation and quite the habit of burying clutch goals for the US
Castillo? Really? Dude has played 1 game for us and as far as i’ve heard from his club play at Tigres, he has been mediocre at best for them.
Anyways, in other news, am i the only one excited to hear that Max Bretos will be in the booth at ESPN now?? YYYEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!
beautifuuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!
Altidore needs to improve his ability to hold-up the ball. In the Hull City games that I’ve seen, it seems like everytime the ball was sent his way, he couldn’t bring the ball under control and hold it up. It was always a turnover or a bad touch that eventually led to a turnover. I’d rather start Ching with Donovan / Dempsey / some healthy in-form speedster up top. Bring Altidore in as a super-sub … unless he really improves his hold-up play, ball control, and first touch.
Dude, he was offside. It was a great strike. Great positioning, great way to get some space for the shot.
BUT
to get the space he came from an off side position.
AND
Yes, I am lobbying every message board for Jozy and Clint to get the start up top until CD9 is back.
That is what is missing from the American player. Heart and the will to go forward. Too many soft kids in the youth ranks. Dempsey has more in common with guys like Essien or Tevez as guys that struggled to get to the top. Then say a Beasley or Donovan. The best players have come from the worst backgrounds.
Yeah, Arena really wanted to cover his left flank.
For those who want to trash Jozy for not scoring. Does anyone remember when Clint was playing up top as the loan striker in the gold old Lawrie Sanchez days? Remember how lost and listless he looked most games with all those long balls and meaningless headers? CLint didn’t succeed right away at Fulham. It took time. He’s playing on a much better squad than when he first showed up. Quality makes a big difference.
Bradley’s goal was in a scrimmage though.
Sorry, but if you’re over the age of 13 (and I’m being lenient) you should be able to answer this question yourself… A little thing called copyright violation. USMNT and MLS Ives could probably get permission… but Euro leagues… yea not happening. Come on MAN!!!
Well, Ives, that was likley the farewell post on the topic as Rojas is the biggest Osorio loser of them all, I feel. That said,I felt it needed commenting upon.
Fair point about the pastinhg, but I thought it was funny & thought you might enjoy it. Yopu must admit – it WAS funny.
My top targets for abuse now that we’ve MOSTLY De-Osorio’d the team are:
1) Overrared Freddy Adu
2)DC
3)Chicago
4)Euro Snobs
5) Bloggers who defend coaches too vigorously. 🙂
Happy New Year.
Best attacker, probably. Best player? Eh.. I still think Danny Murphy and Brede Hangeland are duking it out for that honor.
I do agree losing him would be a blow to Fulham, but that’s a small club that couldn’t really afford to pass up getting a solid return on their investment in Dempsey.
I think Dempsey has reached his peak at Fulham. If he is going to progress as a player, he needs to be playing on a team with more talent. I think he could fit right in with a team like Liverpool, Man City, or Tottenham and not miss a beat.
Perhaps Fulham agreed too soon to EJ’s loan. Saw a report where Zamora was sent to hospital, which sounds pretty bad. Just poor timing for EJ….
Ives- any chance of getting a goals video archive on your site? There have been some great YA, USMNT and MLS goals over the years – would be great to have a collection all in one place…
I like your theory. I have been saying for a few years now that Dempsey is Fulhams best player. I mean he can do just about anything for them on the offensive side of the ball. He is skilled, good in the air, and even played well with his back to goal tonight. In fact im surprised that he has not been targeted by transfer rumors at all since he has been there.
You’ve got to include JOB’s strike for Ajax (against Vitesse?), as well as Stewart’s strike against Ajax. If anyone can find video of either one….
That was an amazing goal, and I hope to see one of those in a USA jersey this summer. Dempsey should deffenltly be played in a CF role behind the head striker for the US. I am so excited for the world cup, like I have never been. The US has most of its players doing well right now. If Davies, Onyewu, and Jones where healthy and ready to go for the team, I think this team would have the best shot to beat England and have a shot at the quarter-finals. Right now I am saying a second place finish in the group and going out in the round of 16. I will be watching every game though in my new USA Dempsey jersey as soon as the new World Cup jerseys come out.
Isaac, nice line-ups.
Can we get you on the bench to whisper tactics & strategy to BB in SA? He needs a little help in that department.
WOOOOOWW!
hendrix, wow you’re a mind reader, that’s almost as amazing as Clint’s shot.
What’s Clint thinking now? Wait he’s probably sleeping…..so what’s he dreaming?
damn!!
DON’T TREAD ON THIS!!
Hahahaha
Edu for Clark and I’m with you.
Not perfect quality but check out 3:50 for the goal…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQS_nS6fJYo
clint is the best. i love watching that guy play!
i’m not saying its a great system, but hard to argue with Gooch, Holden, Davies, Dempsey, Edu etc. a guy like dempsey never gets a chance at Fulham without college and then the MLS, there can only be so many Jay Demerits (who also played college ball), how else will our guys get discovered that aren’t over hyped or didn’t go to Bradenton
I can’t think of a bigger impediment to becoming a quality pro player than the college soccer system. Any player who makes it after playing college ball is doing it despite the system, not because of it. Clint is the exception that proves the rule.
(SBI-You’re lost on that one my friend. If college soccer didn’t exist there wouldn’t be an alternative for plenty of quality prospects, and if not for college soccer, several key U.S. players wouldn’t have reached the heights they’ve reached. Don’t you get that college soccer is a flawed yet necessary surrogate for an actual professional development system? Blaming college soccer for what it isn’t is just so silly. It’s better than the alternative (which doesn’t exist yet), and until MLS teams develop real academies, it will continue to be the best system for the largest majority of players. No, not the elite talents, but for pretty much everybody else.)
what’s not to love about Dempsey, he also proves that college can produce talent, you learn to work hard in college, your coach plays more of a father figure role and cares about you as a person, i think Adu could’ve used a guy who actually cared about his development, he just goes from place to place b/c no one has the time to help Adu if he can’t step in right away and make an impact, the college system has flaws and isn’t the solution for everyone, but most of our stars played at least some time in college (Holden and Gooch for two years, Bocanegra for 4, Davies, Edu and Dempsey for 3 years)
Win
Fan-*#@ing-tastic. I’ve always been a fan of Dempsey at Fulham. This reminded me of Glen Johnson’s goal for Pompey last season. Maybe Dempsey can play right back for Liverpool 😉
Imagining some dude in a DC United t-shirt celebrating so much he scared his dog made me laugh so hard my mom came in the room and told me to shut the [expletive] up.
I assure you, he was sitting for rest.
this was one of those goals where I scared my dog celebrating.
Zoinks!!!!!
I know I said in my lineup similar to his that Donovan shouldn’t do all that much defensive work, but with Landon on that side, I get the feeling he can step up.
Bocanegra would get torched out their against england, we can’t start with him, he’ll be guarding lennnon, that will be a long day for him.
Casey is not even Playing.. LOL!!!!!!!
the dude is in his off-season and you think hes more match fit than jozy? . Besides Casey is a one-game wonder. Its kind of like the Macarena. Great song but nobody knows who sang it.
Yeah, all well and good, but Ives, I can’t believe you didn’t do a piece on the Red Bulls letting go og Juan Carlos signing,Jorge Rojas.
(SBI-William, cutting and posting whole segments of other people’s work is a no-no. I mentioned Rojas’ departure on Monday. And what happened to you ceasing your beating of the dead Osorio horse once his signings were gone? Find a new hobby please.)