Donovan is burnt-out. He admitted that eight years of soccer might be enough. That is too bad since he is one of the best we have on the USMNT just now, and probably in the hex if he's still playing after another season in MLS or the EPL.
Oh I am certain there have been some, or a spear, Bow and arrow and crossbow as well. If there is a will I am sure there is a way.....but there is always a human involved. No weapon has ever jumped up and thought, Immagonnakillyanow!
Well, with any reasonable luck tonight Donovan will be permitted several months to heal and rest before taking part in a Hex game, so time will tell on his genuine interest in continuing.
Is he taking a break from the nats? I hadn't heard that. I could understand not wanting to travel to russia after a long season he's been injured. If that is the case, I wont read much into it. If it's more, please do tell. I have a buddy that fell out of his tree stand onto his broadhead. It happened to his his belt instead of his gut. Dude was lucky lucky lucky. He could have sat there bleeding to death and nobody would have known. Oh, and it was caused by his human failure to secure the stand properly.
That's how I interpreted the comments initially. And then the fact that Klinsmann hasn't even spoken with Donovan about his status for the Hex, kinda tells me that Landon's intentions are to take a break from the national team as well.
Gotcha. Could be. I still think it's largely posturing, with a sprinkle of "sick of travel and injuries" thrown in. I'm going to be surprised if he is stateside after January.
Really? If your boss was the boss of the US National (insert your major occupational skill here) and he had the audacity to have watch some dude rip a phone book, you'd tell him he's an idiot and quit? Then I'm going to guess you are not the highest paid (insert your major occupational skill here) in the US. Seriously, if LD is tired of the game, I get it, he's been doing it a long time, but the USMNT has also provided him a very nice forum to develop his "brand" and his game and I really can't imagine Jurgen suggesting he do yoga and eat bean curd is the force that drove him from the team. I mean, come on.
We all put up with BS at our jobs. We put up with it because we like the work and/or we need the money too much to quit. If LD has decided he doesn't want to play, it's because he's lost his love of the game, not because of BS from JK. After a short break, I'll bet he'll find the love again and be ready to play.
i overheard this conversation between LD and God the other day: LD: god? G: yes, landycakes, LD: God, not you to?!? G: lighten up, it's a joke. LD: Ok....here goes: Will I ever lover soccer again? G: No. LD: Really? Why not? G: Because you had to ask.
Putting on my sports psychologist hat here... Donovan is mentally tired because of his nagging and serious injury. That takes a lot out of a player both mentally and physically. The will to work to recover to get back to playing again, and then be relegated back to the injured list can be quite taxing. I think Donovan's persistent playing through injuries may have caught up to him and his body and mind are both tired of fighting these battles. As for Clint looking frustrated and saying "we need (Donovan," I think that says more about Clint's dependency on Donovan on the field w/the USMNT than anything.
I also think this has something to do with tactics. JK plays Donovan on the wing ans asks him to defend and attack. People on this forum seem to expect that out of him as well. You won't get that out of guy with Donovan's mileage consistently. I say we put him in the middle as a second striker with either Dempsey/Gomez/Altidore as our striker. Play a Jones/Williams, Bradley behind them. If you want some guy out on the wings to attack but also to defend equally, give that job to a Shea or a Gatt or a Zusi, not Donovan. In an ideal situation when we have both Chandler/Cherundolo and Johnson as fb's we shouldn't have to worry about lack of skill on the wings.
Last night Landon showed why 1) He's still one of the better counter attacking players in the world 2) USA needs the width and class he provides in the final third.
Folks may want to look at his performance last night before overthinking this one. I still contend he's looking for meaningful soccer. He was on fire last night.
Donovan's performance last night shows.... with just a good game in the US shirt... and he'll be back like he forgot his car keys.
It isn't that JK and BS posters expect Donovan to defend when he is on the wing. It is that when it comes to meaningful matches, he takes responsibility defensively and exceeds whatever expectations there are for him defensively. I don't think it is possible to appreciate the work Donovan does unless watching him live, particularly in big matches. Not unusual for the USMNT to all of a sudden find themselves under pressure from a counter and then see Donovan making a 60 yd sprint like shot out of a cannon to track back and help slow things up. How awesome is it to have a player with the attacking ability of Donovan assuming that kind of responsibility defensively especially for the US, a team that is far from a defensive juggernaut? And then to still have the fitness to make a difference late in the match in attack? The downside in a tournament is that he winds up logging too much distance for the US. In WC2010, he did not have a great game against Ghana and he seemed to have a heavy touch. I suspect that his legs were a little heavy from the previous matches and distance covered. Of course, same for Bradley and other players. Donovan is an excellent SS with LA. Keane and him have a great understanding. In international play, SS has not worked out all that well for him. It seems too easy to mark him out of the game and too difficult to get him the ball running into space which is where the opposition hates to see him. I suppose it is worth giving another shot at SS but I would be concerned that you have a less effective Donovan along with a less effective wing with whomever replaces him. Donovan has unusual fitness and if he stays healthy, be prepared to be surprised at what he will be able to do for the US when it counts.
I know you don't watch MLS, but if you watched the two LA vs. San Jose playoff games you'd understand why this is a very wrong opinion. Landon hasn't nearly as effective in the center of the park as he has been as a wide player since pretty much 2002. This has been an absolute. He's best when he has space to run, can cut inside and either pass or shoot. Teams were able to bottle him up in the center when he had a lot less mileage on his body, and it would be that much easier to do so today. Again, watch the first leg of the most recent playoff series if you don't believe me. Then watch the second leg. Night and day difference. What really needs to happen is Jurgen needs to just come to the realization that we don't have natural wingers than can play at the international level. He further needs to realize that just because a guy is good at one position (DM) does not mean that they will be good as a winger (Danny Williams). Once he figures this out he needs to develop a system that is going to put our best players in a position to succeed. Bob Bradley did a pretty good job of that from an attacking perspective, but we lacked on the defensive side of the ball. I think if Jurgen were willing to marry his defensive tactics with Bob's offensive tactics, we'd have a pretty solid foundation to work from. The dedicated DM right in front of the back 4 was a good move. Jurgen took it two steps too far when he started playing with 3 DMs and 1 striker.
Dempsey and Donovan have played together in 4 games this year. Donovan has only played in 6 games in 2012. And only in two qualifiers. Dempsey has played in every qualifier this year, so I think he knows which players make the team tick.
That's almost exactly what Susaeta said in his "Bob Klinsmann" thread, which has probably been the single best idea for this team I've ever heard. Last night's game in San Jose is one more bit of evidence in the "Donovan's time isn't up yet" column, particularly when he plays that wide attacking midfielder role.
I've been saying it since the day after Jurgen's press conference when he got hired and said he was going to create an "American" style of play. Of course, that statement ignored the fact that we already had an American style of play. It just needed to be tweaked on the defensive side of the ball.
I don't care about MLS. I watch Donovan on the wings with the national team just disappear from games.
I'd take a disinterested, half-injured, bored, depressed, sick-with-the-flu Landon, over 90% of players in the USMNT pool, in a game that is significant and "must-win."