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Clive Charles is missing the point(s)
CANBERRA -- The U.S. men had just tied Cameroon 1-1, capping a disappointing night here at Bruce Stadium, and as I was chatting with 18-year-old American striker Landon Donovan in the media area, coach Clive Charles walked by and put his hands on Donovan's shoulders. "Landon, you were 10 seconds away from getting on the field tonight." Donovan didn't say anything. What can you say when it's clear that your coach has lost his marbles? Here's the deal. In Donovan the U.S. has a gem, a kid who may be the game-breaking forward that American soccer fans have been longing for for years. And he's not just a player with potential, either. Donovan was voted MVP at last year's under-17 world championship. He's on the first team at Germany's Bayer Leverkusen, the defending Bundesliga champ. He scored two goals in the do-or-die game that qualified the U.S. for the Olympics in the first place. In other words, he's ready to do some serious damage at these Olympics. And yet Charles hasn't played him. Not a minute. In two games. Two ties that could have been victories had Charles inserted the most explosive goal-scorer on his team.
It's a spectacularly foolish waste. At the postgame press conference, I grabbed the mike and asked Charles, "At the end of the game you had some players who looked tired and frustrated, and yet you didn't make a single substitution or even have anybody warming up. Why not?" This was Charles' response (and I'm not making this up): "You're used to college soccer. This is the real game." Huh? What did that mean? Perhaps he was calling me an amateur. To which I say, I'm a college basketball writer. I've been verbally attacked by Bob Knight in a press conference. You, sir, are no Bob Knight. The truth is, I watch very little college soccer and am accustomed to the professional club and international levels. Levels, I might add, where coaches can affect a game directly in two ways: 1) By choosing their lineup, and 2) by substituting wisely at just the right moment. Happens all the time. Remember the final of Euro 2000, when not one but two subs scored goals for France? I was there, Coach. And if that's not the "real game," then I don't know what is. Actually, Donovan almost got into the game. With the U.S. down 1-0 in the 64th minute, Donovan was peeling off his sweats after he had warmed up. Then Josh Wolff earned a penalty kick, Pete Vagenas converted, and Donovan sat back down. For good. Even though the U.S. clearly needed a spark in the final minutes to push for the win, Charles did nothing. "I was thinking about putting Landon on," Charles said, "because we were creating opportunities and he's a very good finisher. But it's a matter of where you're going to put him. The team was playing very well. I didn't want to alter the midfield, so if I was going to put Landon on, it would be up front. If I was going to put him on up front I'd have to put him on for Josh Wolff because we needed a big guy up there, Conor [Casey], as a target. As I was thinking about that Wolff [drew the penalty], and two minutes later he made a great near-post run and nearly scored, and I thought, 'I'm just going to leave things as is.'" Unbelievable. In fact, Donovan could have replaced Vagenas, who had little effect on the game other than his PK. But he should have come on for Casey, who by that time wasn't a factor as a "target" and who was so tired that he would later push a point-blank shot from five yards feebly into the arms of Cameroon keeper Daniel Bekono. I'm sure Donovan would have buried it had he been in that spot. As I watched, it was hard not to think of what would have happened had the Chicago Fire's Bob Bradley gotten the Olympic job instead of Charles, a switch that nearly happened last year. Bradley recently said that he would like to see Wolff and Donovan in a tandem up front. It's obvious that while Casey hasn't played poorly in this tournament, the U.S. doesn't have to have a "target" player when two wickedly fast forwards would be just fine. So I leave Canberra with mixed feelings about this U.S. team. It has some awfully good young players like John O'Brien, Chris Albright, Ben Olsen and Wolff. And it may yet become the first U.S. men's team to reach the Olympic second round. Thanks to Kuwait's 2-1 upset of the Czech Republic, the Americans can still advance, but only with a win over Kuwait on Tuesday. But I also know that this team is capable of reaching the medal round, that the coach could have tried harder for the win, and that the U.S. could have earned six points in its first two games instead of two. Landon Donovan knows that, too. Several minutes after the game had ended, Donovan sat alone, silent, on the American bench. The team had already gone back to the locker room. An Olympic official finally had to rouse him and move him along. It's a shame, really: a talent wasted and a team that, if it's successful, will be so despite the actions of its hopelessly mistaken coach. Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl is in Sydney covering the Olympic
soccer competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read
Wahl's behind-the-scenes reports from Down
Under.
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