Tag: Landon Donovan

Fox unveils full 2022 World Cup broadcast team, including Darke pairing with Donovan

Darke and Donovan will team up after the former called the latter’s iconic 2010 World Cup goal

Fox Sports has unveiled its full broadcast team for the 2022 World Cup, which includes a broadcast-booth reunion of Ian Darke and Landon Donovan.

Darke will make his Fox Sports debut, though it will be the eighth career World Cup for the venerable British commentator. Donovan, meanwhile, will be make his broadcast booth debut after previously working for Fox as a studio analyst.

Donovan and Darke will be forever linked together after the former’s iconic goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup was soundtracked by the latter’s iconic call.

“It’s a pretty neat pairing with all the history those two have together,” lead host Rob Stone told Pro Soccer Wire. “It’s always great to have two legends working with you. Ian has been doing this for a long, long time and is just one of the classiest voices in the game. And I think Landon right now still goes down at least in my book as the greatest U.S. men’s player ever, and to have somebody of that caliber and the things he’s witnessed and done on this stage as part of our team only makes us stronger.”

USMNT great Clint Dempsey and USWNT icon Carli Lloyd will also be making their World Cup debuts for Fox, as the pair will serve as studio analysts.

Speaking about Dempsey and Lloyd, lead studio analyst Alexi Lalas told Pro Soccer Wire: “It’s not just because they are big names, but because they’re good, and because they’re opinionated. And that’s what we want. We want it to be discussions and we want it to be debates and we want people that are knowledgeable and have a history, and come to it with their own ideas.”

As they did during the 2018 World Cup, John Strong and Stuart Holden will anchor the lead broadcast booth for Fox, putting the pair in line to call the final as well as several other marquee matches.

Aside from Donovan-Darke and Strong-Holden, the other three announcer duos will be JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones, Derek Rae and Aly Wagner, and Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton.

Stone will once again be the lead host, while Kate Abdo will also handle hosting duties, including for the network’s “FIFA World Cup Tonight” recap show.

As Fox previously announced, former NFL star Chad Johnson will join the network’s World Cup coverage as an analyst on “FIFA World Cup Tonight.”

Lalas and Stone are looking forward to having Johnson on the team in spite of, and perhaps even because of, his lack of a soccer background.

“It goes back to a responsibility of finding interesting and entertaining and even provocative voices out there that are part of the game,” Lalas said. “We welcomed him with open arms because he thinks about the game in an interesting way. He has a history in the game, whether people know it or not, and he’s incredibly entertaining.”

Stone added: “Sometimes, it’s really beneficial to have that outside perspective as well. Yes, the guy cares about the game and loves the game but he’s going to be looking at it much more like a fan, like, ‘What did I just see and why did that happen?'”

Fox announcers for World Cup 2022

Play-by-Play/Match Analyst
John Strong and Stu Holden
JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones
Derek Rae and Aly Wagner
Ian Darke and Landon Donovan
Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton

Studio Analysts
Alexi Lalas
Carli Lloyd
Chad Johnson
Clint Dempsey
Eniola Aluko
Kelly Smith
Maurice Edu

Studio Hosts
Rob Stone
Kate Abdo

Reporters
Jenny Taft
Rodolfo Landeros
Geoff Shreeves

Feature Correspondent
Tom Rinaldi

Rules Analyst
Dr. Joe Machnik
Mark Clattenburg

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Ben Chilwell has no idea who Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey is

Christian Pulisic was in disbelief hearing his teammate’s lack of American soccer knowledge

This one may be tough for American soccer fans to swallow.

Chelsea left back Ben Chilwell has said he is unfamiliar with not one, but both of the men widely considered the two greatest U.S. men’s players of all time.

In a segment for Complex alongside USMNT star and Chelsea teammate Christian Pulisic, Chilwell revealed he does not know who either Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey is.

The nerve!

In the segment called “GOAT Talk” Pulisic was asked what his favorite World Cup moment of all time was and answered, as many USMNT fans do, that it was Landon Donovan’s dramatic late winner against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup.

“I don’t know who Landon Donovan is,” Chilwell said.

“You don’t know who Landon Donovan is?” Pulisic replied in disbelief.

“Is that bad? Is he like a big player” Chilwell asked.

“He’s probably the best ever American!” Pulisic said.

It would get worse though! Pulisic was asked his opinion on the greatest American player ever, and after explaining that there was a debate among fans between Donovan and Dempsey, he answered that he would pick Dempsey due to his history playing alongside the ex-Fulham and Tottenham forward with the USMNT.

“I couldn’t tell you who that is,” Chilwell said of a player who spent seven seasons in the Premier League.

Thankfully, Chilwell is able to name at least one American player.

Asked who his American GOAT was, Chilwell had an easy answer.

“I don’t know a lot of American footballers,” Chilwell said, stating the obvious, “but I know one who plays for Chelsea. His name’s Christian. He’s a pretty good footballer.”

Watch Chilwell and Pulisic’s segment on Complex

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Landon Donovan and his USL team fight against homophobia and racism by forfeiting matches

The San Diego Loyal walked off the field on Wednesday.

The San Diego Loyal, a team in the USL that’s coached by USMNT legend Landon Donovan, is in the middle of a playoff race.

But that didn’t matter to them when it came to fighting racism and homophobia that they’ve had to deal with in their past two games.

On Wednesday night, an opponent allegedly said a homophobic slur that was aimed at Loyal player Collin Martin, who is openly gay. Loyal players eventually decided to protest by walking off the field and forfeiting the match against the Phoenix Rising.

Cameras captured Donovan speaking about the incident with officials, along with Rising coach Rick Schantz, in which Donovan said, “We have to get this out of our game.”

Donovan explained the players’ decision further:

“They were very clear in that moment that they were giving up all hopes of making the playoffs, even though they were beating one of the best teams in the league, handily. But they said that doesn’t matter. There’s things more important in life and we have to stick up for what we believe in. And so they made the decision to walk off.”

Both Schantz and the Rising released statements, with the team saying it was investigating the allegations, which a player denied:

The Loyal had just played in a game last week in which LA Galaxy II defender Omar Ontiveros used a racial slur aimed at a Loyal player.

The Loyal forfeited the point it got in the tie from that game, while Ontiveros was suspended by the league and cut from Galaxy II.

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