I think Troy just got fined. He should still be eligible to play on Saturday. I don't think there was any mention of a suspension. Corrales also should be eligible. I don't think USOC matches and MLS matches cards/suspensions merge. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.
Troy got a red card, leading up to the shirt-waving display that earned him the fine. I believe the Open Cup is separate from the regular season, such that Corrales will be able to play, but Landon and Troy won't... Me too.
That's right. I complete forgot about Troy's red. Yeesh, it must be my head spinning with all these other fines/suspensions in the league!!
I've noticed this as well, and I really hope the suspension cures it of him. Even the most biased, untalented ref cannot counter a team that is actually playing well, and the fact is that the Quakes are just not playing well. The time Donovan spends playing the refs is time that he is not playing soccer, and there can't be any doubt that a goal is far more valuable than making a ref second-guess his foul-calling ability.
Well that's a [insert Landon-esque word here] attitude. Maybe you should change your handle to "LD" or something -- your comment doesn't reflect well on "SJEarthquakes". ...never give up...
I think we will see the usual LD-less line-up: --------DeRo--Ching -Corr--Eke--Mulrooney--Mullan Dunni--Agoos--Cochrane--Waibel -----------Onstad But I agree with the sentiment about DeRo playing out wide. Things have looked particularly ...confused... (or should that be dazed?) when he and Ching have been up top. I think the easiest thing to do would be to swap DeRo and Mullan. However, I'm not sure that this is the best idea simply because then we have two players playing out of thier usual positions. No. I prefer that the DeRo out wide experiment be limited to games when we can play LD and Ching up top.
Why is teh MLS like that. I thought that was the best part of the game. My brother who is not a Quake fan saw the game and said, "I think I am going to be a Quake fan from now on." People love the action and the all the profanity in sports. I think that is what makes a sport interesting. I just think that the there should be more crap like that going on. But why did they not suspend him like that same week or the day after. Just makes no sense to me.
Some of you are really missing the point here. Poor reffing doesn't hurt Donovan, or anyone making the bigger bucks in MLS. Poor reffing hurts the guys struggling along on 24K because of the bonus' earned for making the playoffs. That was really why he blew up. Incompetence hurts the lesser paid players. Look outside the box.
Well it sucks that Donovan won't be playing, but that will force our players to STEP IT UP. I for one, take the announcement as a grain of salt. I hope Donovan learns his lesson and never does it again. I am still going to be yelling and chanting in the stand on Saturday because our teams needs to win. I hope everyone else in the stadium will be doing the same. We must Never Give Up!
Maybe some of the first-timers who bought tickets in hopes of seeing Landon and Freddy together will have a great time anyway and will be motivated to come back again because they will realize how much they really want to see Landon play too. <trying to put a positive spin on a really unfortunate situation>
LD earned it. No question. I just think MLS needs to unchain refs from issuing yellows for dissent. Allowing players to mouth off just undermines their authority, and makes the game more difficult. Landon's suspension is as much a product of the referee not issuing a yellow to control the behavor. That is not to say that Landon is not at fault, he clearly is, but a good referee allowed to do there job (and MLS strongly discourages refs from issuing yellows for dissent iirc) should be able to stop those incidents before they start.
I agree with most posts here. This suspension is a necessary message to LD, to the rest of the players and coaches in the league, and to the referees. LD -- and the rest of the Quakes -- were and are among the most passionate in the league. I love that about this team. But the passion must be positive or it can twist itself into disrespect and harm the game.
Is this real? I mean, I've seen it written a lot, but I can't imagine that there is any overt, active policy from the MLS about this. It seems like a ridiculous policy for a league office to enforce -- do we actually have anything more than hearsay or poor officiating to support this claim? Could it just be that whatever evaluation process you have to go through to eventually become an MLS ref has the byproduct of producing refs who are overly willing/able to take verbal abuse from the players? Regardless, I remember watching the game and thinking that LD deserved a card. I wonder if a yellow would have stopped him? I like to think so... Anyway, hopefully our Quakes will save their dirty language for the opposing team (and Thunder-fans ...j k....) in the future. Otherwise, we get to see how well our team can do a KC impression (I think Landon-less SJ and KC are very similar -- hard-working teams with no stars who give everything).
He did get a yellow right after the tying goal. That didn't stop him from flipping off the assistant 1minute later after the final whistle, on live TV. I'm fairly certain the finger is what earned the suspension. Rightly or wrongly, the league tolerates a whole lot of F-bombs.
Let me see here. You're behind (from playing poorly, yes), and working your butt off. You finally break through with a well-earned goal that gets you back into the match, and a total idiot in yellow calls back the goal, because YOUR Team was fouled. He gives you the ball, and takes the goal off the board. Your reaction? Apparently it's supposed to be, "gee Mr. Referee sir, I disagree with the call, but I won't make my feeling obvious, and I certainly don't want to make you look bad." Yeh, Donovan deserves what he got, and his absence hurts the team, but this isn't a game at this level. It's a business. And this wasn't a judgement call like a PK or a dive, it was a CLEAR AND OBVIOUS AND UNEXCUSABLE MISTAKE by the referee. I have zero problem with playing with passion, and Landon's reaction came from that. Don't we hear and see too often professional athletes going through the motion, not caring, due to the length of the season? I don't think it's realistic to ask a player to act like an angel and turn the other cheek when faced with gross incompetence. They are working too hard at their job and livelihood. And I sure as hell don't want to watch the chosen one Adu fake to his right and go left every time (all to Handel's Messiah Chorus). Go Quakes.
This might be an excuse for his behavior in the immediate aftermath of the called-back goal, but he should have regained his composure in the approx. 30 minutes between then and the final whistle.
I will say this though, hopefully Donovan got the ref-bashing out of his system before the Nats travel to central america. What would be worse than this is if Donovan got thrown out of a Nats match (although he has been careful about that).
Very good point. For one thing, if anyone paid notice, Donovan was not protesting to satisfy his own ego (as I am sure a lot of dorks out there believe), he was beefing on behalf of the team.
Unfortunately for this brand of thinking, we in the United States, and I am referring to all Americans, do not readily snap to attention, click our heels and salute to someone who comes walking in simply because that someone is wearing the badges of authority. Respect for authority is something earned, not granted, in this culture. I leave it to you all (y'all as our Texas friends say) to judge whether MLS officials gain that respect.
I remember that - Landon hit Walker so hard in the ribs that Walker fell to the ground grabbing his face. The thing that bothers me about the this is that they waited almost two weeks to announce the suspension. Obviously this was to help boost ticket sales. Maybe it takes a day or two to review an incident but two weeks give me a break. Landon must feel like he got one of those mailed tickets for running a red light - two weeks after it occured. Where's Judge Dansler when you need him.
Sorry, but give a guy a yellow and let him know that if he keeps mouthing off hes going to get a second, he may not like you, or think your a good ref, but more often then not hes going figure out that your word is law on the field. Or he will be off it, and everyone else will get the picture. So maybe its not a matter of respecting a ref, but his authority. A ref who allows consistent verble abuse of himself basicly looks weak, and encourages the players to disrespect him further, both in terms of verble abuse and in his ability to control the game.
Oh, putting up his middle finger is sooooo much of a help for his fellow players. It sure beats, say, not getting suspended, or, say, not disapearing for 20 minute stretches during games. No, refs get automatic respect on the field because that is the nature of the game of soccer. If you don't like it, don't play. Of course the refs sometimes suck, but sometimes it rains or sometimes you have to play on bad fields or all kinds of unfair things happen. Can you actually imagine what the game would be like if refs were bullied by prima-donna players?