Somehow D.C. United got shut out of the Wizards’ “Welcome to D.C.” video for John Wall, which featured Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg and Adam Dunn from the Nationals, Donovan McNabb and Fred Davis from the Redskins and Alex Ovechkin from the Capitals, all doing some form of the John Wall Dance.
But that didn’t stop me from asking Wall about the U.S. and the World Cup.
“I want USA to win,” said Wall of Saturday’s round of 16 match against Ghana. “I was happy the other day. I almost broke the lamp in my room when they hit the goal, because [Jozy Altidore] made the assist and [Clint Dempsey] bricked it, and [Landon Donovan] basically scored the last second. I was nervous. Soccer’s a tough sport. You’ve got to be in a lot of shape, you’ve got to take beatings, because you get kicked and ‘bowed in the mouth and I don’t understand why they get yellow and red cards. I’m just happy. Anything for my country, I’m gonna support them and just hope that they win.”
Wall actually played goalie as a kid. Now standing 6-foot-4 with a 6-10 wingspan, there’d be few coaches that wouldn’t mind having him in net — except for the fact that his leaping ability and quickness would easily make him better-suited for forward.
“That didn’t work,” Wall said of his goalkeeping experience. “I got hit in the mouth and broke a tooth. That was the last of me playing goalie. I give credit to them goalies because these guys are more experienced and really on the top level you can be, kicking the ball hard so imagine if I tried to play goalie. It wouldn’t work.”
