An Uncertain Donovan

I, as a fan, know why he's a no-show.

He says he needs a break. So he is taking one. (Beyond that, I do not really care about the "why" or details as to his personal reasons for his break from playing the game. If/when he comes back to play, I'll remain a fan of his. If he never suits up competitively again, I'll remain a fan of his and his playing career.)

That's good enough for me.

(I may be an outlier, but certainly there is no homogenous group of "Landon Donovan's fans.")

 

It's not his fault that the system has not produced anyone capable of taking his place. He's done ALL he could to improve it, being the public face of the league for years, the symbol of the success of the system, and staying to make the sport grow.

When you mention "one-man team," ManCity/Tevez 2010 comes to mind. Or Liverpool/Suarez 2012. USA/Donovan is not far behind. He's irreplaceable, but that won't be totally evident until facing strong competition in the World Cup.*

* Assuming the USA even makes it there without him.

 

Is DSG Park not going to sell out on 3/22 because of LD's current indecision/break?

Is the LAG going to have trouble selling tickets and/or making money in 2013 because of LD's current indecision/break?

Believe it or not, those teams and businesses are bigger than any one player.

If the USMNT doesn't qualify for WC2014, it will not be because of LD's current indecision/break.

 

If we lose our next game he'll be back... He won't want to see us miss the world cup.

 

True that.

If it's good enough for you and others, good for you.

In any case, this is a soccer forum, where fans can chat about all manner of soccer-related topics. The potential demise of one of US Soccer's greatest careers is certainly fair game. What's strange to me is when people take their defense of Donovan's choices to the point of trying to shut down the conversation, by either dismissing it as a valid topic, or by slagging on individual posters.

 

I think you misunderstood my point; I'm not talking just about Donovan.

If fans didn't care enough to support the sport, people wouldn't get paid to write about it. There probably wouldn't be sites like BigSoccer either. In other words, yes, the fans matter, and acting like they don't is kind of short-sighted, if not disingenuous.

 

Just a thot: could it be that the reason Landon has said nothing, might be found in the title of this thread?: An Uncertain Donovan. Maybe he doesn't know yet, what he wants for his future. He is taking time off to sort that out. OK by me. YMMV.

 

I really think the National Team is doomed during the current cycle if Donovan doesn't come back.

If we had a very solid defense that could win low scoring 1-0 games, then we might not even need him. However, lets be real. The defense is below average, and we are going to need to win high scoring games.

Right now, I just don't see how these goals are going to be created. I see who can score the goals(Jozy, Dempsey, Herc and a few others), but I don't see where they are going to be created.

Donovan might have the goal scoring record, but lets also remember that he has the assist record.

When you lose your playmaker, you are going to have problems creating goals. Maybe Donovan doesn't play as a playmaker in a formation, but he plays the role of a playmaker for the USMNT, and Dempsey isn't nearly as dangerous when Donovan isn't on the field. Same for Bradley, Jozy, Jones and everyone else.

Maybe this is why I am upset that Donovan hasn't said anything. I believe that we are doomed during this current cycle if Donovan decides to retire from the USMNT. If he doesn't come back, I equate it to the death of the USMNT for the 2014 cycle. Regardless what he chooses, I believe we still will qualify for the World Cup. However, we certainly would not progress beyond the group stage if there aren't significant changes with no Donovan.

 

Sidenote: he was mistaken to be a symbol of the success of the system. He is not. The system sucks. He's just that exceptionally talented.

 

Maybe this is why I got laid off...

Seriously, I understand the "want" to know. But you can't demand it.

I'm just saying the fans recourse is to not buy tickets.

 

Are you suggesting the present-day New York media avoids PED allegations in baseball? Or am I misunderstanding you? The New York Daily News (my former employer) has an sports investigative team that works specifically on all the PED stuff to take it off the beat writer's plate. The San Francisco Chronicle completely changed the landscape with their BALCO investigation.

 

But in this thread, you should/could be talking just about "Donovan's Indecision."

Fans do matter.

But what fans think (or demand) about "Donovan's Indecision" are in fact the short-sighted and disingenuous items on sites like BigSoccer.

There is not much news or analysis in this thread. It reads more as speculation and complaints. But that's the way it is. If people aren't going to have "Donovan's Indecision" to complain about, they'd surely move on to some other item about which they can and will complain.

 

His coming back does not guarantee the US does not miss the World Cup.

 

The fans do matter. And the club has a right to control their PR and what they release to their fans. If it wasn't the case, PR wouldn't exist. As LD continues to wait, LA gets mentioned a lot in the press - that could be a deciding factor. Press show up for stories, that could be a deciding factor.

It is the club's choice, and they have to deal with the ramifications. Currently those ramifications include being asked about LD at every occasion. At this juncture, that's what the club is willing to put up with. The USSF PR team I'm sure also is prepped - the answers that the players give to media they are prepped for.

Asking for more than that because the fans are "owed" something doesn't factor into the equation at this time. If the US loses the next two matches (heaven forbid), and there's no decision yet, the media response will be very interesting. At that point the club still gets to figure out what their business decision is from a PR standpoint. Ideally that standpoint is forward looking and not reactionary. Which I suspect in the case of LA and the USMNT, it is. They are not in this business to alienate fans - soccer needs every fan it can get in this country.

Fans who understand that two way relationship and don't expect the information to just appear because they are "owed" the information most likely have a better grasp on their expectations around this topic. (Not pointing to anyone in particular in this thread, there are folks that have made interesting counterarguments).

This information will be released at a calculated time that takes into account the club's business dealings, LD's preference, their schedule, and yes, when it's most interesting for fans. I'm sure there's other stuff that goes in there too. Like when Bruce is available for the press. It is anything but arbitrary and demanding it because you are owed something isn't going to make it show up.

 

Fair points - in particular the bold. I share your concerns. This team has not learned how to create goals barring some good ones against Guatemala at home. Let's all remember this scary stat:

LD was involved in 75%+ of the goal scoring in the last qualifying campaign.
Our primary playmaker (defined by chances created) without him has been Michael Bradley. Who is not a CAM.

That should keep everyone up at night. We still do not have assists coming at a frequent/regular pace on this team. The adage of "As Landon Donovan goes, the USMNT goes" unfortunately still looks like it applies. The team just looks less confident and is lethargic. And Clint Dempsey saying "we need him" after Guatemala last year, well, that says a ton from a man who normally doesn't express that kind of statement. (By the way - interesting that he completely avoided press in Honduras, isn't it?)

And you are not alone with that thought:

To be clear - this isn't a 1 man team. Far from it. We have talent in lots of places - finishers, defending, speed, ingenuity, calm on the ball, etc.. The challenge is the area of consistent playmaking and creativity for the forward corps looks like a 1 man team. That's the rub.

I'm hoping some of the other players will step up - because we absolutely need more than that 1 man. And when he comes back, he's additive.

 

What?

Did the fans demand being deceived or did everyone who is interested in the story asked what "Bruce knows and when did he know it"?

Q- You have a new movie coming out. Who's in it?

A - Jack is.

Q - Jack Nicholson?

A - Maybe.

Q - What do you mean by "maybe"? Is Jack Nicholson in your movie or not?

A - I am not at liberty to say.

Q - So, you're willing to keep on deceiving the public?

A - I was brought up in the LA Galaxy PR department.

Q - Does this mean, "yes"?

Q : Hello .... where did you go? Hello ...

It seemed to me that there was a long time span between the time the PED's were sued and people began to write about them ... but I am glad to be corrected on the issue.

 

I really don't think you are much of a market for the USSF or anyone to be concerned about.

 

So Big Soccer as the means of the US soccer fandom to communicate their feeling and opinions is irrelevant to the USSF?

Is that what you are saying?

 

Sure, Big Soccer is irrelevant. At least it should be.

 

Fans are irrelevant?

Then, who pays for the tickets and the merchandise?

 

It's simple. If you represent BS (unfortunately you might) and if BS represented the fans and if the fans stopped buying tickets and merchandis and if the reason was that there wasn't enough information about LD's private life, then the USSF would try to provide more information. But the fact that that isn't happening shows that at least one of those IFs is not true.

Or more simply: Money talks, BS walks.

 

I love that this is how you think PR works. That would be one lame-ass PR department. And the LA Galaxy doesn't have one of those if history is any indication.

 

Well, no one knows what is happening in terms of the tix and merchandize and what are the exact causes of its variations. Certainly, in that regard, Beckham's absence will supersede my dissatisfaction with the lack of forthrightness by the LAG.

On the other hand, my position here seems to have support, with other posters wanting the USSF, the LAG and Donovan himself to come clean to the nature of his "sabbatical".

Obviously, some fans will accept whatever garbage is thrown their way too.

 

Again, money talks BS walks.

 

I think this says it all.

Teams need an identity. You can either be a defensive team that plays 4-5-1's and tries to squeak out wins 1-0 wins or you could be an aggressive attacking team that tries to score as many goals as possible.

As weird as it sounds, I think we do a horrible job at both right now. Our defense is below average on the world stage, and our offense just isn't creating goals. I don't doubt that we could be a team that controls possession, but you still have to create goal scoring chances. Meaningless possession does nothing when inferior teams bunker and you can't create anything.

Maybe Holden will return and be amazing, maybe Shea will turn into the player many think he can be, maybe young players like Pelosi and Gil give the team the spark and creativity that we need. However, right now we aren't very good. We are incredibly weak in two area's you just can't be weak in. We are really bad up the middle defensively(DM and CB's) and we can't create goal scoring chances.

I kind of view this situation a little how I view a very good baserunner in baseball. You can't steal first base. What I mean is that you can have all the quality forwards in the world, but if you can't find a way to get your forwards chances then nothing matters. Like in baseball, you can be fast as shit, but if you can't find a way to get on base, you can't steal bases.