I don't really feel that Wynalda is a bona fide "media" type. But yeah, he does just invent his own scenarios when it comes to LD, such as "I've seen him leave practice many times" - which flies in the face of what's reported and talked about by teammates and coaches, both former and present (Gonzalez, I think, saying LD was/is the first to arrive and last to leave - he has even been praised for staying late and working with the reserves and younger guys). And Eric implies that LD left practice basically because he thinks he's too good - when in fact, LD might have had to leave practice early to go promote the game on ESPN (I knew of that to happen once); or perhaps LD was going in for PT or something. Eric always "reports" things with a negative connotation to it. These are just examples. [Sorry, I'll stop now - I've hijacked this thread long enough on the subject of Wynalda. Just say I've lost the respect I had for him when he played on the Nats.]
You mean people with an agenda only pay attention to things in a manner that would show their agenda to be true....interesting.
For some reason, I have a feeling that you're meaning me, that I have an agenda. I don't - you brought up Wynalda's take on LD; you then asked if what he says might be correct; I responded that I put no credibility in Wynalda's take, really, on anything, but especially LD. I brought forth examples of why I feel this way. I answered you inquiries and now I'm done.
Back to LD... He's been injured. Now he's back. His club team is in the MLS playoffs. I watched him play on the left side versus Seattle recently. He was still playing delicate one touch balls under pressure, and it appeared so easy for him, like he was two steps ahead of the play (which he was). Keane up top was a madman whenever the ball failed to find him. Beckham was running his balls off defending with slide tackles in his own penalty area, sending driven balls to anyone who looked half-open 60 yards down field. Landon just seemed psychologically flat, and totally willing to let others play with their emotions on their sleeves. The guy needs the break he says he needs.
I watched this match as well... Donovan is playing through a painful injury right now, and this match was not meaningful. He essentially used it as a tune-up for the playoffs, with his priorities of: 1) regaining match fitness, and 2) not getting injured. It looked to me like he played at about 60%. He looked more like 80% on Thursday against Vancouver, but still not all the way back. I suspect he's going to need time off to heal and to mentally refresh himself before we see his intensity back to the levels we saw mid-season.
One thing about Landon that sometimes gets overlooked is that he is always candid. He never gives BS answers. He's diplomatic, but he always says pretty much what he thinks. So, when he says his body is telling him he needs a break, and that he has lost some motivation, I think that's all there is to it. There's no hidden message and looking for one is just a waste of time.
I wasnt talking about you at all. I think journalist type people just make things up for their own good.
Sure, but athletes make shit up and sound like a mean 8th grade girl talking about another 8th grade girl.
I just gotta say I hadn't seen that motivational speaker til now. That is hilarious. I bet it was beneficial. All the players got to bond over making fun of that and having a good laugh. Also, it was probably pretty nutty to see a dude roll up a metal pan! As for LD... I think he's going to be fine. He's gonna go chill on a sandy beach somewhere. Maybe he'll go to the canaries and post up with a bunch of scandinavians and british and reflect on how he's happy he's not somwhere where its cold. Then he'll rest his legs and not be injured. AND THEN his whole body won't hurt everytime he plays so soccer will return to being enjoyable rather than painful. Because the whole no pain no gain thing really just aint true sometimes.
I'll put it this way. I have a friend who is very closely related to one of the more prominent players on our national team. I'll leave it at that and I don't really give a shit if you believe me or not. Its the truth.
Feats of strength? Is the airing of grievances next? The phonebook tear is a well known sideshow trick, by the way. Basically, when you've perfected the technique, what it comes down to is ripping the individual pages one by one in very rapid succession. If you really want to cheat, putting the phone book in the oven at around 200 for a couple hours beforehand does the trick as well. This thing above is pure lunacy.
What a convenient pose to take. You know when squads dont like the manager in other countries they talk about it in the media and say it on record LOUDLY not subtly. We have seen it in all the top countries. maybe the lads need to directly challenge the manager in the media like they do in brazil, germany, france and netherlands. maybe its time for that to happen. because the supposed this friend of a friend of a cousins roomate crap and pulling out phrases and sentences is a waste of time. stand up for what you believe in and call him a worthless coach in the media if you really believe it. otherwise it means nothing. no conviction in their belief. sad.
That worked really well for Altidore. Let me bring you back to reality now. You talk about all these other countries where players speak out LOUDLY in the media. Those players grew up and lived in a culture where soccer was their NFL or NBA. The are the superstars, and they are the prima donnas (sp). All of our players grew up in a world where soccer was an afterthought. Non of our guys have egos. Not one. Its not in their nature to go on an ego-trip and call people out in the media. And when you're talking about one of our more important players, he can't say anything at all, no matter how respected his opinion is, because of who the old coach is. When the biggest ego in the locker room is the coach, and he's pretty much shown that if you bruise his ego he's going to drop you from the team, you keep your comments in house.
Hahahah. he cowardly took a tweet down. Those players in the other countries said in interviews out loud...the manager is crap over and over again. It has precedent. Eric Cantana has done it. Brazils players did it with Dunga. The french national team has done it for 2 coaches now. Dutch teams are always getting angry with the manager in the media. Putting a tweet up then taking it down like a little girl doesnt speak to a strong condemnation. it speaks to fear of speaking your mind. something that was just praised recently.
I have no problem with the players publicly condemning the coach. I mean if Jurgen is so terrible we should be hearing nothing but how incompetent he is. Which I know the day he was hired your doppleganger put this editorial out. http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2011...fired-usa-jurgen-klinsmann-coach-usmnt-soccer ooooo---big original ideas you got there.