Also on Tonight’s Broadcast, Music Legend Dolly Parton Performs and
Letterman Rides a Mentos-and-Coke-Powered Rocket Car Down 53rd Street
In his first talk show interview since returning to the United States from the World Cup, U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan talks about his team’s thrilling run in the tournament and gives his thoughts on certain aspects of the sport, on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Tuesday, June 29.
Letterman congratulated Donovan on his and the team’s World Cup performance and for “bringing the country together.” About the team, Donovan said, “I thought we did a great job. I think this time was a little more special ‘cause I think we really felt the love back home and that made it really, really special for us.” Letterman later asked Donovan about players on the field pretending to be injured. “It’s ridiculous, huh?” replied Donovan. “We try to get them to stop but what can you do.” “Is that part of the culture of the sport?” Letterman asked. “Around the world in a lot of places, yeah,” Donovan said. “I think people saw at the end of our Ghana game, it seemed like every two minutes, someone was down on the ground rolling around.” “And the objective is,” Letterman asked, “the advantage they’re trying to gain is what, more time?” “Waste time, yeah,” Donovan said. Letterman laughed, “Yeah, so they can rest.”
The host also remarked, “The other thing is, I’ve never seen a competition where more balls cross the goal line and into the net that seem to have been disallowed or balls that were counted that shouldn’t have been counted. I mean, is that also part of the culture, that you may plan to score eight or nine goals that’ll be disallowed.” Donovan said, “I don’t know if we’re scoring eight or nine goals but, no, for us it’s difficult because we know how fast the game is, and as a referee, you can’t see everything. So you either need more eyes on the field or you need some sort of instant replay…It sucks to put that much into something you’re doing and then all of a sudden, it’s taken away from you.”
Letterman also asked Donovan if there’s “an American bias, that the judges, FIFA and the soccer authorities didn’t want America to do very well. Am I right about that or wrong about that? I guess you can’t answer, can you?” Donovan laughed, “No comment. No, I don’t think there is, but like I said earlier, it’s a tough job to be a ref and you can’t always blame them.” Letterman persisted, “But they’re crooked aren’t they.” Donovan joked, “You’re bent on this, huh? I don’t think so, but you can say what you want. I’ll get fined for it, so.”
Later, Letterman and Donovan participated in the LATE SHOW “World Cup Challenge,” where they took turns attempting to kick soccer balls into windows of passing taxi cabs on Broadway. Donovan’s entire interview can be seen on the LATE SHOW tonight (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Also on tonight’s show, music legend Dolly Parton talks to Letterman and also performs one of her classics, and Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz who, four years ago, gained fame demonstrating geysers created by combining Diet Coke and Mentos, tried out their latest contraption – the Coke Zero-and-Mentos-propelled rocket car, which an excited Letterman got to drive down 53rd Street.
The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Matt Roberts, Jude Brennan, Maria Pope, Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.