News: Drunken, Promiscuous College Roommate of Other MLS Teams' News Thread

I disagree. LD is not as good as he was a couple years ago and a half hearted LD is just taking up space.

Also, I really wanted to type coxswain.

 

Well said. And what's more, I think it could be even riskier than merely a guy taking up space.

I go back to those comments late last year when he basically all but called out some teammates in the program for possibly thinking he was faking injury, coasting, etc. Of course Klinsmann denied that, and covered for LD, but that is one helluva serious claim to level at one's teammates. Yes, there are certainly fans that think that, and probably some in the media, too. And yes Landon, God forbid, maybe even some of your teammates. I understand he's only human and he was hurting and for all we know still is, but come on, man!

 

I would agree with all of this...

If I believed this

I think we are in danger of not making it. Grave danger. After all, is there another kind?

I haven't seen very much positive out of the national team in many months to make me think we are going to get many points on the road.

 

Gross. You're gross.

Got to pick your battles right? Transitioning to a different style of play seems like a secondary concern to QUALIFY FOR NEXT WORLD CUP.

This is stupid. Landon Donovan isn't a "not only am I in, I'm all in" kind of guy. He's an enigma. He's unpredictable and non committal. He gets home sick. He doesn't have the "drive" all of us think we'd have if that was our life. Well tough cookies. He's one of our three best out field players. We need him far more than he needs us. Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.

Play your best players. This shit isn't complicated. You'd think Crew fans, if anyone, would have learned this lesson.

The above scenario is preferable to not qualifying.

Ah, I see. You are just miscalculating the risk of not qualifying and taking some bullshit nonsensical "principled" moral stand like you normally do. OK.

 

To me, it's simple: if Donovan's head and heart are in it, he plays (rather, I think he should) for the US. If not, collect a paycheck for the Galaxy and let the team continue its transition. An in form, motivated Donovan is a game changer for the US. But, as others have said, if he's not in it 100% then I wouldn't even bother.

Edited to say only LD knows where he's at we'll have to trust his judgement on this. The ball is at his feet.

 

On the Landon thing:

1) KC's insistence we don't need our best player to quality seems misplaced. We are in danger of not qualifying. Grave danger. This is always more of a struggle than newbies and fanboys seem to remember/think it will be. And the other 4 teams in the Hex contain no minnows this time. There are no easy points on the road. We've already lost Honduras, we've already lost in Kingston in the previous round. Azteca and Costa Rica have been houses of horrors historically. And Panama is no picnic either. We better not choke away points at home, or this is going to be real interesting.

The future is uncertain and the end is always near. You play your best team until you qualify, then fiddle around. You don't fiddle around while you are trying to qualify.

2) You actually think JK is changing the way we play in some meaningful way that LD can't adapt to? If you mean by playing somewhere between 3-5 DMs/CM types every game, with at least one wide right/left (or sometimes both), then you are onto something. But we have very little creativity in CM. Never a #10. Two 6s and an 8 lines up as one six and two eights is hardly revolutionary. And none of it makes a bit of difference to LD, who will be wide anyway.

 

What does this mean? What's a 6? What's an 8?

 

Seems to me you would call him in. Let him practice with the Nats and if he is better than the other guy he plays and if not then he doesn't

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squad_number_(association_football)#section_1

 

Thanks. I still don't get it.

 

Landon's just picking up where Beckham left off.

 

6 = DCM
8 = CM/ACM

 

Bingo. And to me that's the irony in all of this, he was the one who publicly questioned Becks' commitment in the first place. Not to say it wasn't warranted at the time, because it absolutely was.

So in a similar vein, did any US regular publicly challenge LD at any point last year? I'm not asking rhetorically, just saying I must have missed it.

 

I think Landon should have taken the whole year off. The guy is burned out and you can see it in his eyes. At times last year he had the "1000 yard stare." One offseason isn't going to be enough time to recoup his mental and physical fatigue after so many straight years.

 

Brazilian investor to provide $80M to build Orlando major league soccer stadium

!!!

!!!
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/brazilian-investor-provide-80m-build-orlando-major/nWRkR/

 

My favorite player of all times used to wear #6 back in the 80's. He was a CB.

 

That quote seems misleading compared to this.

 

This is obviously not a hard requirement in the modern game and is only loosely adhered to and only in certain situations anymore, but there are those still that make references to the positional #s (like was done here) for the purposes of discussing tactics.

You're "#10-shirt", certainly does not have to wear the #10. A lot of people understand what is meant by this even if they had no exposure to the full positional #s before because it is still used quite frequently to describe a playmaker and even today a lot of playmakers are awarded or request to wear #10 as a badge of honor, so people know what that means without knowing the entire 11-man schema. Similarly #9 is still in use, though not as much. And even though no one really talks about why, #1 is still the most common # for a starting GK.

No there is no rule that says any position has to be any #, but as evidenced here, you can still talk about player roles via a field # in a logical, if not literal sense based on this old-school numbering.

 

I wonder if Orlando can get a deal in place to beat out NYC2 for team #20.

Orlando would fill the need of a franchise in the Southeast. They've had good attendances for a USL team.

 

Unfortunately, they probably won't be a big draw as a "Southern team." In Southern minds, Florida exists entirely on its own, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of residual regional interest like there is for the Atlanta teams in other sports.

 

He clearly has not done his due diligence. This will not amount to anything.