Legendary US player Clint Mathis decides to retire
The maestro, Clint Mathis has announced that he will retire from soccer after he plays his last match this Saturday. The legend from United States of America has stated that he will depart from international soccer after playing his last match for the Los Angeles Galaxy against Real Madrid.
The 33 year old Georgia born has had many club changes in Major League Soccer. While having started his junior career from AFC Lightning and South Carolina Gamecocks he started his professional football career with Los Angeles Galaxy. After that he changed 8 clubs in a span of ten years and is back again at Los Angeles Galaxy for whom he has 71 caps in which he has scored 16 times.
His rise to fame came in 2002 at the FIFA World Cup. The former national team’s player was a star in the tournament in Japan and Korea and the reason for that was not just his outrageous mohawk but the attacking midfielders aggressive and astounding performance.
After achieving the legendary triumph of 2002’s Gold Cup the Yanks had an amazing success at the World Cup where they thwarted Portugal in a 3-2 victory and then circumstantially, thanks to a draw and a victory, the Star and Stripes went ahead for the second stage.
The Yanks were charging on as they defeated arch rivals Mexico 2-0 but further on tragedy struck when they encountered Germany in the quarter finals. Though USA lost the match just 1-0, the match happened to be one of the most controversial matches in history as USA was denied a penalty.
This year round he along with the skilled US striker Charlie Davies failed to make it to the team. Davies excuse was his terrible car crash while Mathis too had some injury problems. In the 2010 World Cup the team gave yet another good performance right from the qualification process.
They drew their opener against England, 1-1, and then drew up with Slovenia 2-2 as well. Their last group stage match was against Algeria which went on till the last moments; Landon Donovan scored in the dying moments to qualify them for the Round of 16 where they were defeated 1-2. Donovan also proved to be the hero back in 2002.
The present coach of Los Angeles Galaxy Bruce Arena has stated, “I have had the pleasure of coaching Clint with both the national team and in MLS with the Galaxy and Red Bulls and we will miss having his presence with the club for the rest of the season. In his prime he was as good a goal scorer as our country has ever produced, as evidenced by his incredible goal against South Korea at the 2002 World Cup. We will miss Clint and are indebted to his contributions to MLS and U.S. Soccer”.
Mathis’ name rose to fame in Los Angeles and New York before he started his career in Europe. He helped in achieving an MLS Cup in 2009 and the 33 year old was immediately sought by Los Angeles after Mathis played brilliantly. He was in good form and no one expected that he would be making an exit this early. Also generally in MLS players play till their latter days.
One reason for his early retirement can be because of his injuries. He has been troubled by injuries all his career but in the season of 2010 he was extremely disappointed with the dilemma.
Mathis stated, “It has been an amazing and exciting ride, full of moments and people that will stay with me forever," Mathis said. "I cannot thank everyone who has been a part of this journey with me enough for all that you have done to help me enjoy such a fulfilling life in the sport of soccer”.
Tags: