Landon Donovan Is Officially the Best
By: Laurie | March 2nd, 2008
Every once in awhile you see a line written by someone else and think, “I can’t improve on that. DAMN, I wish I’d written it!”
And so it is with this line by Kenn Tomasch of Kenn.com about the thirteen months it took for FIFA to certify Landon Donovan’s penalty goal from the Denmark game last January:
“And you thought Landon Donovan’s pre-penalty kick ritual took a long time.”
I’m a Landon fan here, but… Giggle.
For the past month Landon and the rest of the world have waited with varying degrees of anxiety to discover whether or not that Denmark goal counted in Donovan’s race to beat out Eric Wynalda as the US’s leading all-time goal-scorer.
If it did? Landon is the king. If not? He’s tied.
The good news for Landon?
FIFA, soccer’s governing body, said Friday it had recognized the United States’ 3-1 victory over Denmark on Jan. 20, 2007, as a full “A” international game. Donovan converted a penalty kick in the 44th minute of the Denmark match 13 months ago, but before Friday FIFA had not counted the game—or the goal. …
The U.S. Soccer Federation asked FIFA to reconsider, citing provisions in the contract for the game that said both sides would recognize it as an official game. On Friday, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke wrote to USSF secretary general Dan Flynn saying the match now counted.
“We are pleased to inform you that after some discussion with the (Danish Football Union), DBU agreed that the match in question will be moved into the list of official ‘A’ matches,” Valcke wrote.
So now Landon hearts Denmark in a big way. And Wynalda’s not only out of the booth at ESPN, he’s now officially out as record holder. Tough year.
But on the bright side, I get to share another video of Landon’s pre-PK ritual. So life is not that bad. (I couldn’t find a video that showed the whole thing. But you get the idea here if you watch the first kick. And don’t get the wrong idea. He doesn’t miss many. So the ritual must generally work, right?)
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Category: World Football
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Comments
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I’d say the ritual is to psyche the keeper out, or lull him down a bit, out of whatever excitement or adrenaline he has.
Or he just likes to pop a squat on the field.Posted from
United States
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If Landon Donovan is so great, why is he playing in such a crappy ass SOCCER league.
Posted from
United States -
LUEshi
It’s called sarcasm.
Posted from
United States -
Woohoo!
This means my favorite player now officially has a cap. Dennis Sorenson of Denmark played one of his only games in the Danish squad and on the field that game (and frankly the only one playing up to snuff in my opinion and yes I drove far out of my way to go to that game). He’s now capped. Thank you Landon Donovan!
Posted from
United States -
And a goal too as he scored that game. Yay, Dennis.
Posted from
United States
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