1/12 Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Yeah, thanks for the link. Thought his goal was well taken. He really wasnt looking very good besides the goal and the flick that lead to a 5 on 2 at the end. His first games in a number of months though, so i think its expected that he start a little slow.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

I don't think Bayern are used to playing with a speed forward and so don't look for the early release. That can change pretty quickly, though, once they get in synch. Van Bommel, for one, used to hit long distance lasers to Beasley's feet when they were both at PSV. They just need to incorporate LD into the team.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQuhNCQYtiw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQuhNCQYtiw[/ame]

theres a better view of landon's goal at 5:12. the clip before that shows landon hitting the crossbar off a nice header

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

that was LD's header afterall.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Well, yep i guess he did head that. Nice little flick of his, with that said, he had a decent game for only 45 mins.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

i mean, he hit the post and scored a goal. if this was a big game, he would have been heralded as some sort of hero. he was fine.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Hmm... I don't know about that... I don't think you can get alcohal in Saudi Arabia.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

between the header, the goal and the nice flick leading to the fast break, not a bad 45 minutes of action.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

After watching the game and the highlights, I'm still not sure how Toni didn't score.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

While watching the live stream, I remarked that Landon's goal looked a lot like one he scored against Chivas. And Al-Wahda wear the same colors as Chivas...

Just tell Landon he's playing against either Chivas or Mexico every week, and he'll light up the Bundesliga too!

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Or that it's a friendly...wait, it was.

Donovan would be MVP if the world cup were a friendly.

Oops, sorry. that was the old Lando, not the new one.

The new one is hard as steel.

Is it hard for anyone else watching our best player on what can easily be the most hated team in continental europe? It hurts to cheer for this team, but what can you do?

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

I thought the only people that hated Bayern Munich were non-Bayern Bundesliga fans or Real Madrid fans....

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

this was always BS. He had a great WC in 2002. This is common wisdom among Bigsoccer shut-ins, but nonsense for everyone else.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Um I have to agree with Crismerz, I think very few people hate Bayern outside of Germany. In fact a lot of the Europeans that I've met actually like Bayern.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

I'm with you.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

As someone who DOES hate Bayern, yes, it is annoying to root for Donovan to do well in that shirt. Still, I haven't heard or experienced re: Bayern being particularly hated across Europe.


Despite their success, it seems to me that plenty of people are very anti-Real Madrid, which isn't that surprising given the arrogance of the institution in general and the extremely close ties to Spain's nasty past.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Real Madrid was Franco's team. He may still be dead but the club lives on.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

I know, and among my Spanish friends you can still see a clear difference between who tends to like RM and who doesn't based on their political orientation.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Castellians vs Catalans. You will not find a lot of Real fans among Catalans. My Catalan friends will root against a non-Spanish team to beat Real.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

That is usually how it works in all of Europe between rival clubs.

As far as Castellians v Catalans, I was in Barcelona during the Spain - France WC game in 2006 and many locals people were indeed cheering for France! Truth is, unless you are a Real Madrid fan or support the club, you wont see many Spaniards cheering for them no matter who the play...nationalities aside.

Same for Bayern in Germany, Manu in England, etc, etc...

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Ironically, the guy most critical of LD's 2002 WC was Klinsmann, IIRC.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

it is at a very very different level in Spain. The Franco-ists were very close allies of Hitler and overthrew a republican government. They murdered many Catalans and made the use of the Catalan language illegal. There was never a calling to account, like there was in Germany or even South Africa, with their Truth and Reconciliation Commission. So the feelings of Catalans about Madrid and Real Madrid, a symbol of Franco, is on a completely different level than a typical Euro-rivalry. If I am from Eindhoven, I make not like Ajax, but Ajax is not closely associated with fascists and murderers.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Yes, I am not debating this at all. My point was, it is common to find an Englishman or German, or Italian cheering for another nationality if his club's rivals are playing that team.

Re: Donovan:FC Hollywood vs Al-Wehda 11:30 AM CST

Tough love

Very nicely taken goal by Donovan, particularly the shielding to set-up the shot.

It's a little late but I finally got the photos of the Al Jazira - Bayern match up... u can check them out on the matchday thread here.. they continue onto the next page too...

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=907666&page=20