Thank you for the kind posts. I will leave you with this.
As far as the warning to critics, I will say this. This is not my first rodeo. I did not post as some emotional mother but as a former college player and coach who has a deep love for the game. I would expect comments like this to be posted for players like Beckham and Messi for three reasons. 1) They are men 2) They are professionals 3) They are paid a large sum of money in return and its their job.
If we don't allow young players to make mistakes and crucify them when they do they will never learn. We learn through our mistakes. As far as the goal haunting him forever. I assure you it will not. Johan will process the mistake, learn from it and move on. For ghosts will drag you to an early grave. Johan has played for the US National Team. He CHOSE to play for the T&T team. It was not a decision he took lightly. He knew he would be making a choice. He wore the jersey with pride and left his heart on the field. He loves his teammates and the coaching staff. It has been a great experience for Johan. As the Dynamo coaches said today, unlucky goal - looks like it took a bad bounce on the turf but a great performance. He is young and will only continue to improve. He works very hard and loves the game! They are a great group of young men and we look forward to the next opportunity. Never stop supporting the next generation of young players - for with positive coaching and fans - these boys will get there. It's only a matter of time. See you in 2 years......
I want to nominate this as one of the most sensible posts EVER - on this forum. Great read.
Young Johan future is indeed bright, as he clearly has a solid core of people around him - that put his best interests first. "Moms" your points are well articulated and spot on ...hats off. We should all look forward to and support Johan and all our (committed) youth players, once the don the red, black and white.
If you watch the game, Johan continued to do an excellent job after the mistake -- other players would have self destructed under the spotlight. On the play itself, he gambled a little..expecting a cross from that position and was just a half step too slow adjusting his feet to the shot. Happens. GK is a lonely position as your mistakes back there can have immediate effect.
What is more alarming to me, is the fact that our field players could not link 2 - 3 passes together!! What are we doing about that? ...these are NATIONAL team players, that cannot retain possession of the ball..which, in this "Barcelona" era -- looks bad and is hard on the eyes to say the least. Better team won on the night, as the Panamanian players were more composed in possession and we able to create space and time for themselves. TT were relying too much on "moments" of individual ability and less on collective/constructive team play.
But again, to keep things on perspective...these are young, amateur players that need our support - they must be saturated with information that will enhance their psychological, technical and tactical development .... which relys on being in a training environment that is conducive to learning.
When I read some of the interviews from the training/technical staff (including the senior staff) ... their points are poorly articulated and not consistent with what you should expect from a "teacher/instructor" .... so they must be evaluated as well.
Maybe in order to pry Johan away from the US setup .... we should offer Michelle a role with our technical staff? From the looks and sound of it --- would not be a bad package deal.
Cheers.