It is true, I hate to say it, the US national team really is impotent without Landon Donovan. The guy can pass like no other player, he can pick out a forward streaking for goal and pass it where they can take advantage, score even. A happy Landon Donovan is a winning US team and lately it seems Landon's head has been full of thoughts of the after life, he seems to want this to be all over sometimes, like he's bored with it all. I really hope he comes back from injury renewed, having been away from the game sometimes reinvigorates the soul, that or he comeback with worse head issues about quitting the game. So yeah, we are not holding possession, we are not playing smart. Without someone holding the ball up, or constantly moving forward taking on defenders and the laying off a smart pass into the opposing box, we are doomed to never create chances. Part of what happened against Jamaica is lack of fitness in some players, we looked sluggish, but the other part is Jamaica improving their game and concentration. MLS is a wonderful league but is also benefiting the enemy in CONCACAF as many of these players are getting extremely fit and ready to roll in international matches against us. Somehow though our players in the US don't seem to be catching up with the rest of the region well enough. I look at Canada's De Rosario and I shake my head at how lucky they are to have him. We need more De Ro players, we need talented threats like Dempsey, players that are past the "potential" area and are into the "proven goal scorer" area.
No, we actually missed Donovan quite a bit. He's THE player who drives the attack. He's THE player who more often than not delivers the final ball. He's THE linking player in transition from defense to the forwards. His quick touches and off-the-ball movement are VITAL to maintaining possession, a quality that is often overlooked and badly underestimated by the Big Soccer crowd. He was sorely missed, along with Bradley. They are both essential.
Hard to do that when a decent part of them aren't being called up. I'm sure we'll hear more about absolutely positively having to send more of our guys abroad (past some favorites) so that they can play with schedules that take them out of form during the summer and get put into good fights by opposing MLS players in mid-season form though.
Losing it in defensive mid and more so in plain old defense, outside the 18 yard box. It was the guys behind beckerman, not beckerman's job to plug up these holes (missing bradley i guess)
we need elite players and we need depth at midfield. Or to put it another way. We need time. great soccer nations have 10+ players the quality of Donovan and Bradley. Neither of these players would crack the starting lineup of a top 10 country. But when these countries have injuries they are able to plug in players of this quality. When we have injuries we plug in players who are not international quality. So we from players who are able to cut it at international level to players who aren't. There are 5 or more players that Klinnssman keeps calling in who we already know are not quality enough. It's maybe about time to start giving other players a chance to see if they are.
i think unless an American is playing in the EPL, Championship, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, or Ligue 1, they should be playing in MLS. But who do realize that MLS makes this very difficult don't you?
MLS pays too little, $65k isn't a fair salary for a full-time soccer professional with a <10 year career.
yes that and there are more barriers to entry. A player cannot just trial with a team then try to get a contract from that team. Because of all the ridiculous regulations and the anti-competitive structure for player contracts, the league dictates who is able to play where. So take any of American players who are not worth DP money who currently play in Europe. They could not just negotiate with an MLS team and then join that team. Where they play is up to the allocation draft order (yes, even returning players or first time MLSers are subjected to drafts.) So it's a pretty easy choice for these players when the choice is to negotiate with any European club you want to or negotiate with MLS who will then determine which MLS team you will play for. Until we reform our domestic league you're going to see more players choose some of the lesser euro leagues over MLS. And i haven't even scratched the surface of how many barriers to entry there are for the young player who doesn't live near an MLS club. For this young player the choice is either College, where he will likely regress, or going on trial with clubs in Europe.
I've actually had dialogue with Gazidis about this and he said its purely the coaches who determine their tryouts for the most part. But the pay level is low and so is the training (USA has a small body of soccer knowledge), and the reputation is low.
yes but for a player to join MLS they must go through the allocation order. Clarence Goodson couldn't say "Hey Portland . i want to play for you...lets negotiate a contract." If Portland was 5th in the allocation order they would have to trade up to #1 to then be able to negotiate with the player. If i have this wrong someone correct me.