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Donovan: "Tonight's About Celebrating" For USA
Despite heavy hearts about injured comrades, the USA players are excited to have accomplished their mission of finishing in first place in the CONCACAF hexagonal.
Oct 15, 2009 3:03:09 AM
WASHINGTON D.C. -- After the United States Men's National Team dramatically came from two goals down to tie Costa Rica in both team's last match of the 2010 World Cup qualifying cycle, Landon Donovan discussed what the finale meant.
"Tonight's about celebrating and being proud of a good long road that we endured," the U.S. star said.
For Donovan and the rest of the team, getting on the pitch was a welcome distraction from the drama surrounding the fatal car accident involving Charlie Davies and two other passengers.
"It was a hard week for everyone," he said. "It was a hard week for us and it was a lot harder for the three parties and their families involved. To have an opportunity to play and to hopefully inspire was nice. It doesn't probably help a whole lot but it was a nice night to do something special."
The Americans had a couple golden opportunities early, but failed to capitalize and watched as Costa Rica took a 2-0 lead. The U.S. midfielder was surprised by the team's inability to finish.
"Yeah, I mean it's hard to think that you wouldn't score with that many chances on a night like tonight," Donovan explained. There's no excuses but sometimes technically we weren't good enough, sometimes maybe a bad bounce, sometimes maybe the field being a little wet changed a few things, but I think we needed to do a better job just hitting the target. I think if we would have hit the target a few more times, we would have scored."
Eventually, the U.S. broke through after Michael Bradley powered home a rebound given up by Ticos goalkeeper Keilor Navas. Then, with just second remaining, Jonathan Bornstein latched on to a corner kick delivered by Robbie Rogers and gave the Americans a draw. For Donovan, it was a deserved result.
"To put as much as we did that was quote-unquote a meaningless game, we deserved to get something out of it, so we're all excited," he said.
The Americans once again earned a point after falling behind in a match, meaning 11 of their 20 points in the final round of CONCACAF qualification came in this manner.
"I think tonight kind of embodied what we're about," Donovan said of Wednesday night's comeback. "Nobody can fault our reaction and I think that says a lot about us, not only as a soccer team, but as people."
It was a night to remember for the U.S. team, but the news wasn't all good. Oguchi Onyewu tore his left patellar tendon and will be sidelined for three to four months after undergoing surgery to repair the injury. Donovan, however, believes the team's starting centerback will recuperate just fine.
"Gooch is as athletically gifted as anybody and if anybody can recover, it would be Gooch," he said.
Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.
"Tonight's about celebrating and being proud of a good long road that we endured," the U.S. star said.
For Donovan and the rest of the team, getting on the pitch was a welcome distraction from the drama surrounding the fatal car accident involving Charlie Davies and two other passengers.
"It was a hard week for everyone," he said. "It was a hard week for us and it was a lot harder for the three parties and their families involved. To have an opportunity to play and to hopefully inspire was nice. It doesn't probably help a whole lot but it was a nice night to do something special."
The Americans had a couple golden opportunities early, but failed to capitalize and watched as Costa Rica took a 2-0 lead. The U.S. midfielder was surprised by the team's inability to finish.
"Yeah, I mean it's hard to think that you wouldn't score with that many chances on a night like tonight," Donovan explained. There's no excuses but sometimes technically we weren't good enough, sometimes maybe a bad bounce, sometimes maybe the field being a little wet changed a few things, but I think we needed to do a better job just hitting the target. I think if we would have hit the target a few more times, we would have scored."
Eventually, the U.S. broke through after Michael Bradley powered home a rebound given up by Ticos goalkeeper Keilor Navas. Then, with just second remaining, Jonathan Bornstein latched on to a corner kick delivered by Robbie Rogers and gave the Americans a draw. For Donovan, it was a deserved result.
"To put as much as we did that was quote-unquote a meaningless game, we deserved to get something out of it, so we're all excited," he said.
The Americans once again earned a point after falling behind in a match, meaning 11 of their 20 points in the final round of CONCACAF qualification came in this manner.
"I think tonight kind of embodied what we're about," Donovan said of Wednesday night's comeback. "Nobody can fault our reaction and I think that says a lot about us, not only as a soccer team, but as people."
It was a night to remember for the U.S. team, but the news wasn't all good. Oguchi Onyewu tore his left patellar tendon and will be sidelined for three to four months after undergoing surgery to repair the injury. Donovan, however, believes the team's starting centerback will recuperate just fine.
"Gooch is as athletically gifted as anybody and if anybody can recover, it would be Gooch," he said.
Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.
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