TT Answered

Lots of good guesses, but for the second time in a row the MNT bloggers have stumped you! (don't know why we are so proud of this - must have been the whoopin' we've been taking for the last year ...)


To review, we asked what two U.S. records were broken when the U.S. opened qualifying last time around, the 3-0 victory on June 13, 2004 against Grenada?

Many of you accurately said that Kasey Keller set the record for most wins for a goalkeeper by collecting his 38th career victory. Kasey has added another 15 since, increasing his career total to 53 victories.

The second one apparently was a little trickier. Amy had us scrambling when she first guessed most shots in a game, but it turns out that the 34 shots against Grenada is only the second-most in team history. The most shots taken came against Canada in the semifinal of the 2002 Gold Cup, where the U.S. peppered Lars Hirschfeld with 36 shots. The game ended 0-0, with the U.S. advancing by winning 4-2 in the penalty shootout. Thanks to Peter Hirdt from Elias Sports Bureau for bailing us out on that one!

The correct answer - and one with an obvious tie-in to the current proceedings - is that on that day, Landon Donovan became the youngest U.S. player in history to reach 50 caps. At 22 years and 98 days old, he surpassed Chris Henderson on the list of the fastest to hit the half century mark.

Here's a bonus random connection to four years ago. We all know Landon reached the 100 cap mark last Sunday against Argentina. Four years ago, the U.S. went in to World Cup Qualifying with then-captain Claudio Reyna having achieved the same milestone. Like Donovan, Reyna reached his 100th cap in the last tune up game before World Cup Qualifying, going all 90 minutes in a 4-0 victory of Honduras in Foxboro, Mass.

Thanks for playing!