We asked Tim Howard for his input, but he's still thinking about it.
1. The Steven Gerrard Own Goal™
Steven Gerrard is one of England's top players. The Three Lions are built around, fittingly, three key players: striker Wayne Rooney (more on him later), defender and captain Rio Ferdinand (who's out with an injury) and midfielder Gerrard. He's the catalyst and captain of his professional club, Liverpool, and for England he'll be asked to do the same. But he's not without his faults. Gerrard has given up what amounts to an own goal so special that it should be trademarked under his name. This isn't in a normal own goal, where a defender accidentally puts the ball in his own net, although as seen here Gerrard has a knack of doing that in a big game:
No, the Stephen Gerrard Own Goal™ is way better. He gives the ball up directly to an opposing player, who promptly scores before Gerrard can have his head in his hands:
This one has a great soundtrack:
He also did it at Euro 2004 against France, but sadly there's no Youtube clip of it.
Come on Steve, do it for America. You've got a lot of fans here.
2. See Bob Bradley Smile
Bob Bradley is the head coach for the US. He's done a great job as far as we're concerned. He's been at the helm for one of the biggest wins the program has ever had, defeating #1 ranked Spain last year at the Confederations Cup, ending Spain's record setting run of 35 straight games without a loss, and then the team nearly toppled Brazil in the final. On the heels of that tournament Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu moved on to top flight European teams and Landon Donovan got a stint in England. His use of backups and role players has gotten American players more international exposure, which is a great thing. And the team has done really well. There are better coaches out there, but there's not much farther they could take this team. Bradley's getting results. If only he would enjoy them a bit more. The man never smiles. It's like Medusa caught a glimpse of his eyes and only his face turned to rock.
Happiness is Bob Bradley's default position.
So here's hoping the team does something that makes him smile. (Hint: ice cream always makes people smile.)
3. Wayne Rooney Act Like A Child
Sit down and shut up you wanker.
Wayne Rooney is a world class striker. He's also a little baby. It seriously is a major concern for England, who rely heavily on Rooney for scoring. The US players will be doing everything in their power to get Rooney going on a temper tantrum, and they may well succeed. We hope they do.
4. Jozy Altidore, Topless
Jozy Altidore likes to score, and he likes to take his shirt off when he does. Problem is, you take your shirt off, you get a yellow card. So we don't like that aspect of his scoring, but we'll make an exception in this case, because it'll be huge, as was the one above against Spain. But since yellow cards are bad, we suggest this celebration should young Mr. Altidore find the back of the ol' onion bag...
5. Many Stanky Legs
One of the biggest challenges that faced Bob Bradley was finding a pair of strikers that can really play together (hey Bob, here's an idea: go with a 4-5-1 formation). Jozy Altidore is the top striker by default, but finding a dance partner for him has been tricky. Until last year, when Charlie Davis broke through and established a great repore with Jozy, along the way busting out the Stanky Leg to celebrate his goals:
Then tragedy struck. Davies was a passenger in a car crash that killed another passenger and left Davies with a lacerated bladder, fractured right tibia and femur, a fractured elbow, facial injuries, and bleeding on the brain. It's kind of amazing he's alive. The injuries ended his season, and he did an amazing job recovering but was deemed unfit to play in the World Cup. Widely popular with fans and teammates, they've taken to showing their own Stanky Leg as a tribute to Davies:
Yeah, it's a lame celebration, but you love it.
This was amazing. I love the Stanky Leg.
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