There have been more and more of them lately but today was truly a great day to be a fan of U.S. soccer.
A quick run through to the highlights all from the past 24 hours:
1) The U.S. women beat New Zealand 2-1 in a friendly at FC Dallas Stadium. My girl Alex Morgan (who's going to be in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue that drops this week!) saved the U.S. from a shocking defeat as she scored on a header in the 88th minute and another header in stoppage time. She has four goals in her past two games. The U.S. will next play on Feb. 29 (same day as U.S. men vs. Italy) against Denmark in the Algrave Cup held in Portugal.
2) It was another big performance by Everton teammates Landon Donovan and Tim Howard as the Toffees beat Chelsea 2-0. Donovan picked up an assist on Denis Stracqualursi's goal that made it 2-0 in the 71st minute. Howard notched the clean sheet.
3) Clint Dempsey scored in Fulham's 2-0 win over Stoke. It was credited as an own goal which is curious since Dempsey's blast went off Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen's hands, the crossbar, his back then in. It was all Dempsey as far as I'm concerned, he smoked the ball from well outside the box and it dipped at Sorensen, causing it to eat him up (in baseball fielding terms).
4) Charlie Davies made his return to French soccer after nearly 2.5 years out with injuries and playing in MLS. He came on as a sub in the 78th minute for Sochaux. On loan at D.C. United last season, he scored 11 goals in 26 games.
5) In likely his last EPL game ever, Thierry Henry added to his legend by scoring the game-winner in stoppage time for Arsenal, who beat Sunderland 2-1. It was a huge win too since it put Arsenal ahead of Chelsea and into fourth place (the cut off spot for Champions League).
Henry's final game on loan from the New York Red Bulls to the Gunners will be on Wednesday vs. AC Milan in a Champions League Round of 16 match. I wouldn't put it past him to get one more goal to the three he's already bagged. Furthermore, I have to give him and MLS credit; I guess he's not washed up and MLS might not be so bad if Donovan, Henry and Robbie Keane have all made an immediate impact in their returns to England.
Here's Morgan's second goal, sweet assist from Abby Wambach to head the ball to her. The crazy thing is I read both goals were headers and they both went off the post and in. Talk about being on fire.
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