Landon Donovan showed with all three of his strikes why he is the best American attacking player ever. His combination of pace, technique, and raw shooting ability are really something new to American fans. We've had fast strikers, and opportunistic goal-getters, but not really the kind of player until Donovan who could first beat someone with his pace, then pull something special out of his bag of tricks, before spanking a sweet shot into the corner.

I know my prose may seem a bit too purple for some, but honestly, Mr. Donovan is in a class of his own in the history of American strikers, and as far as raw ability in the same level of comparative quality as seen only among the ranks of Claudio Reyna, Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller and DaMarcus Beasley.^* That's why his performance in Germany in 2006 was so disconcerting. We know Landon Donovan is a great player, but what happened to him when we needed him?

It's not a question that in any way questions his potential, but whether or not Donovan himself will do all HE can to help fulfill it. He's got a really good-looking group of supporting characters around him and on the way up, so with the potential to play in two more world cups yet Donovan has a very good chance of playing with at least one team with a more than fair chance of success at the World Cup Finals.

And of course that question is not solely directed at Donovan, but is also rightfully sent towards the rest of his veteran teammates, who seemed not only the recipients of more than their share of rotten luck, but also lacking enough quality when it counted in the end against Ghana.

All Articles Indexed for the Updated Topic: US MNT vs. Ecuador (March 25, 2007)

My arbitrary list of the class of the US Mens National team also includes Tim Howard, though I need to see him in a serious tournament like either of the two this summer before I'll consider him solidly there, Bobby Convey, Carlos Bocanegra, Pablo Mastroeni, Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu, Jimmy Conrad, Steve Cherundolo are there generally if healthy. John O'Brien, Eddie Lewis, Brian Ching, Taylor Twellman and Eddie Johnson join if health AND in form, likewise with Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan, Pat Noonan, Steve Ralston, Greg Vanney, Josh Wolff, Kerry Zavagnin and Gregg Berhalter.

Players who still have to show me more before I consider them regular call-ups and thus theoretically challenging for a spot on the field at some point: Freddy Adu, Chris Albright, Wade Barrett, Kyle Beckerman, Jonathan Bornstein, Bobby Boswell, Michael Bradley, Dan Califf, Joe Cannon, Brian Carroll, Conor Casey, Ricardo Clark, Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham, Brad Davis, Jay DeMerit, Benny Feilhaber, Nick Garcia, Eddie Gaven (who??), Cory Gibbs, Nate Jaqua, Chris Klein, Justin Mapp, Chad Marshall, Kyle Martino, Brian Mullan, Bryan Namoff, Ben Olsen, Michael Parkhurst, Heath Pearce, Santino Quaranta, Matt Reis, Chris Rolfe, Frank Simek, Jonathan Spector, and Zak Whitbread.