http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2007/09/honda-player-of-year-finalists.html {Sponsored} Player of the Year finalists Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra were selected as the three finalists for the {Sponsored} Player of the Year. The award will be handed out Oct. 5 in L.A. and I {Luis Bueno} expect it to be a landslide victory for Donovan. .... {LB makes the case for Feilhaber's inclusion in the group of finalists.}
This is in Spanish, promoting the {sponsored} symposium ... http://batanga.sportsya.com/noticia.php?id=157181 La décima edición del Simposio Honda, que se llevará a cabo el jueves 4 de octubre en el hotel Biltmore de la ciudad de Los Angeles a las 9:30 AM, tendrá a tres invitados de lujo: Bob Bradley, Decio de Maria y Alexi Lalas. Bradley, entrenador de la Selección estadounidense, hablará sobre: "Planes para crear una Selección Nacional más competitiva en esta Nueva Generación de U.S. Soccer". .... ********** De lujo, my ... uh, Bob will speak about "Plans to create a more competitive national team in this new generation of US soccer." [I'll let you guess what Lalas is going to speak about.] Dempsey won the award last year, and Sunil Gulati was one of the featured speakers. I wonder if those two have patched up their frosty relationship since then.
Here's the same basic info in English ... http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2007/09/soccer-speakers.html The annual Soccer Symposium will be held on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles, the day before the Soccer Player of the Year is handed out. Every year, the symposium attracts some well-known and influential speakers, and this year is no different. The lineup will consist of US soccer coach Bob Bradley, Mexico federation general secretary Decio De Maria and Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas. This sort of mirrors the 2005 lineup when then-US coach Bruce Arena, US soccer president Robert Contiguglia, Mexico U-17 coach Jesus Ramirez and Chivas USA owner Antonio Cue spoke. This year's release said there would be some announcements made during the speeches, and we could again see something reflecting 2005. In '05, Arena announced how the build-up to the World Cup would look like, where the team would train, some of the friendlies they'd play, etc. ... ....
http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-first-fixture.html Bob Bradley said here at the soccer symposium that the US will have a January camp at HDC and that they will play Sweden here three weeks into camp. Also he said that they will keep trying to talk to Guiseppe Rossi. ********** I assume the winner of the Player of the Year Award will be announced shortly (or did I miss it?).
LD?? boggles my mind... i swear he makes the list by default.... he is way to hit or miss to get player of the year like someone said above, timmy h wins it hands down
I assume LD 'always' wins this award because he's always available to collect it in person and drive off in the {sponsored} prize vehicle.
yes, he's probably the most talented player on our team currently, however, his play is too inconsistant.... he's either extrememly dominant or not even a factor..... where as Timmy always shows up with his game face....
But Landon hasn't been up and down this year for the national team. It's player of the year, not "of the career," and he has recovered well from a miserable '06. He's been awesome. He led our team in goals and we won our confederation's championship. All that said, Timmay is just as deserving, especially if they look at club form as well. Do they???
brazil?? sweden?? he's done well against concacaf teams and mexico but has .... god forbid someone doesnt think incredibly high of him.... his play is not consistant.... however, i have stated he is probably hands down the most talented, but as far as heart and determination, its truely off n' on.. but its my opinion, agree or disagree, im not the only one who thinks his play lacks consistancy
With all due respect, no USMNT player performed as well as Adu did in the U20 WC. LD will probably get it with all his breakaway goals but Adu and that U20 run was the most promising thing I've seen on the US soccer landscape this past year.
Donovan has consistently this year been among the strongest players for the USMNT. There's more to being a strong player than scoring goals. If you look at the player ratings for all of the games played this year, Donovan has been at the top or near the top for all games played. He has not had an up and down year at all. He's scored, he's set up goals, he's played different positions and learned how to play very effective defense. If he wins it, it's because he's earned it. Adu has to perform for the USMNT in order to win the award. Youth team performances don't count. Also club games don't count (that's the end of the year athlete of the year award, used to be Chevrolet sponsored). This is USMNT play only.
According to the Daily Mail it's Boca http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...all.html?in_article_id=485407&in_page_id=1779
Congratulations to him. There was another year where he should have won it & didn't, and he had a very strong year, as did both of the other candidates.
http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2007/10/landon-won.html Landon won Landon Donovan won the {Sponsored} Player of the Year today, an award he's now won four times. Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra were runners up and joined the event via telephone.
I take it back, sorry Charlie! Congratulations to Landon, a very worthy choice, IMO. You really couldn't go wrong with any of the three.
I posted this in a thread in the Galaxy forum, but sounds like some people need reminding: So far this year, Landon has set the record for most points in one year, 22, beating the previous record by Cobi Jones, with his latest point an assist against Brazil. He has tied the all-time scoring record at 34 with Eric Wynalda. He scored 9 goals this year in 11 games, after scoring zero during 2006, and he's logged 4 assists. I believe the 9 goals in one year also ties the record, but I can't find a source for that information right now. Donovan had an awesome year for the national team and led the offense to a win in the Gold Cup and throughout the year. If Dempsey or Adu or Altidore or Beasley had produced like he has, people would be falling over themselves to kiss their feet. He was the overwhelming, landslide choice of the journalists. I know a lot of you don't like him, but it's not like he didn't earn it. Boca and Tim had great years too, in totally different roles.
I'm sorry, but it's really hard to give someone credit for being a great goalscorer if nearly half their goals are penalty kicks.