By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Dec 23, 2013) US Soccer Players – Landon Donovan has contributed more to the success of the USMNT than perhaps any other player in US Soccer’s 100-year history. He holds the records for goals and assists. He is poised to play in his fourth World Cup this summer. Records aside, Donovan may have also scored what is the biggest goal in USMNT history at a World Cup or any other soccer tournament.

The goal came in the dying minutes of the USMNT’s decisive first round game against Algeria at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Americans desperately needed a win to advance out of the group stage. With the score tied 0-0 entering the 91st minute, the USA embarked on a play that became a regular highlight on US television and replayed countless times.

Nearly four years later, the goal remains an Internet phenomenon. For the first time in American soccer history, one goal meant so much to a nation continuing to grow its love for the game. It seemed, for a moment anyway, that the United States was no different than Brazil, Argentina, Italy or countless other countries where soccer is a religion. It was a collective moment where a nation could celebrate the success of its soccer team.

Donovan’s strike may have surpassed Paul Caligiuri’s epic goal in 1989 against Trinidad & Tobago that qualified the Americans for a World Cup for the first time in 40 years. At the time, soccer was not what it is today in this country. There was no pro soccer league. The National Team was seldom on TV. Caligiuri’s goal created no collective sigh of relief. There was no mass celebration in homes or bars across the United States. It was before the digital age where iPhones and YouTube became repositories for every human emotion and experience – no matter how big or small. Read More