Landon Donovan and his LA Galaxy were playing on the road at DC United this weeked, and someone help up a big banner that said, “Landon in Germany: Worthless.” And that’s a fairly accurate assessment.
So Landon went out, and he scored two goals, and he shut the crowd up, and he brazenly waved his arms encouraging them to boo some more. And that’s great, he took the heckling, and he bounced back, hooray for him. Really.
But here’s my problem. The criticism of Donovan is that he can’t do it on the big stage. He was borderline invisible in the World Cup, and he did bomb in Europe before deciding to come back home to the MLS where he feels more comfortable. The knock on the guy is that he won’t accept the challenge and play against better competition. He won’t leave his comfort zone to make himself better.
So his answer to that is what … to score more goals in an MLS game? Well, congratufuckinglations, pal, you did it. That stopped being a challenge for Donovan a long time ago. He’s the best player in the MLS. But that’s never really been the question, has it?
Martha Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 6:31 am
You said it. And the guy will only get more cocky, because he showed those fans by beating a bunch of average players. Yeah Landon, you’re the man. Just keep telling yourself that.
DookieStyle Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 8:57 am
Landon Donovan is the bane of the future of US Soccer.
Mark Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Landon Donovan, like many U.S. athletes, tends to perform better when he’s paid…a lot.
But let me re-emphasize that because I can’t emphasize it enough: Landon Donovan, LIKE MANY U.S. ATHLETES, tends to perform better when he’s paid…a lot.
If there’s a problem, it’s that we train our athletes to perform well when you need the big bucks, but the rest of the time…whatever. Hypocritically, these athletes are then told, “Well, you should play hard for national pride too.”
It appears that the U.S. can’t have it both ways, unless both ways are to be emphasized from the start.
tieguy Says:
August 28th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I’m utterly sure he was paid more in Europe than in MLS; it didn’t help him muhc. It is a convenient crutch to blame US international play on the pay scale, but it clearly is not the issue here. (And I might add that K seems to be doing a good job getting very rich NBA players to play hard D in Japan. Play good D? Not yet. So, again… I call BS.)
Mark Says:
August 29th, 2006 at 12:31 am
No, it would be a convenient crutch to blame Bruce Arena for everything.
I think it doesn’t matter who’s paying Landon, he’ll take it over national pride every day. That’s just what is instilled in American athletes. Give Coach K credit where credit is due: he’s a good coach, and more importantly, he has players who want to play for him. This came AFTER a couple U.S. debacles though, and I can’t say for certain that some of these players just wanted to know what it was like to play under the teaching of such a great coach (some made the team precisely because they were coached by him).
Even less evidence exists that choosing to play on the team isn’t mostly about money. Anyone see Kobe on the court right now?
Mike Says:
January 20th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Speaking of the best player ever, the ranking on rankopedia.com has Pele first, Maradona second and Zidane third. No American in the top 20!