The worst thing that happened to Efra in LA was being praised by Zlatan. Or maybe the worst part was Efra believing it. Sometimes people mature a little later.
FWIW, I just looked up Strains stats with the Xolos and they have him playing on the left lane wing which is helping his assist total. All in all the Galaxy selling him was a good thing for both parties.
Now alum Markus Ferkranus introduced by the Brisbane Roar Welcome to Brisbane, Marcus Ferkranus 🦁The 21-year-old centre back arrives from LA Galaxy on a two-year deal ✍️Details 🔗 https://t.co/DNFq6LM9SO pic.twitter.com/w6zR6ZJINU— Brisbane Roar FC (@brisbaneroar) June 7, 2024 We also see why this particular Australian team might have been especially attractive to him.
Marcus will be paid to do a job he loves for a team that wants him. Good on 'ya, Marcus. Do us proud.
This was a good watch. I have to hand it to CBS Golazo , Kate Hebdo, Clint, Charlie, and Maurice. These "interviews", where its just talking on the couch have been really fun to watch, great insight from some of them. Some of my favorites have been Thierry, Jermaine Jones, and now Bruce.
Raul Mendiola scores for Central Valley Fuego in USL League 1 Leave it to the captain 🫡Raúl Mendiola nets the equalizer for @fuego_futbol!#AShotAtGlory pic.twitter.com/0p8nACzr9P— USL League One (@USLLeagueOne) June 9, 2024
I know it just happened but seeing Juninho involved in this get together was cool. (Funny seeing the lone Uruguayan sneak into the frame at the end) (Pec and Ronaldinho, Presenting Ronaldinho with a Galaxy jersey, Juninho involved) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ALDXtoB3r3g
Juninho is so cool. I love his bald head and glasses and cute smile in the locker room pics! ::fangirl posting::
Mike Magee reveals and Landon owns it Sorry @landondonovan 😂 pic.twitter.com/VGj2AFwWhs— Mike Magee (@magee18) June 18, 2024
Gavin Glinton for @USLChampionship Coach of the Week. 🚀Congrats, Coach!#OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/2gPL2bwFfB— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) June 18, 2024
Landon has an egghead shape so I totally can understand trying to fight the balding. It does not suit him to be bald. Having said that what people usually do is get the transplant and then cut their hair short so it kinda matches. I am laughing tears watching this. Looks like he went back in time and somebody tried to scalp him. Landon, clearly, doesn't give a damn and even jokes about it. So be it.
Haven't seen the entirety of the Bruce one, but what I have seen is good. Regarding Landon, guess his admission about being "soft" legitimizes the criticism he received about not sticking it out in Europe and coming back to MLS.
I was on that wagon that did not understand why he did not stay at Bayern and allow that system to make him into an American monster at the sport. It would have been beautiful and he clearly had what it took. Now I understand that he needed to feel comfortable, wanted in order to develop and bloom. It's just his personality. Complete opposite of Deuce who probably would have thrived in such a demanding and spartan development system. It was just not for Landon. Especially at such a young age. I use to have some animosity to his choices and he himself says he wishes he could have stuck it out but he was used to a certain approach growing up in the US system and he wasn't the mentally tough type to adapt far from home in a very rigorous German system. Now I feel different about it.
I never understood the criticism of Landon for playing in MLS, and a lot of it (not saying you guys) was vitriolic. He made his own choices, and he lived with them, of course with some regrets in retrospect. I didn't know that he considered his childhood difficult. Plus he's introverted, plus carrying the weight of his own expectations and others, plus an ultra-competitive nature, sounds tough to live with, and probably not the most popular guy to be around. I'm just glad I got to see him play so much, in person and on TV. I probably saw 95% of his professional games, except for the San Jose and Leverkusen days. He was an electric performer in his prime. He carried the team in the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, which was grueling as always, and which Claudio Reyna skipped out on. I was surprised at his criticism of some of the German Americans, pretty frank stuff. FU Klinsmann
I always viewed it that way, that no player owes anyone else anything but himself. In the Spectrum of "softness to hardness" (I guess we're going there), youve got Duece and Keane, players who would thrive anywhere, and sometimes relish the difficult environments. Then on the other side you have players like Landon (and maybe Christian, although not as "soft" perhaps) who might need a bit more support and comfort in order to thrive. I still say if Landon had gone to a mid-table Prem side the situation would have been far different (low table they're focused on relegation survival so are often extremely pragmatic about player selection aka why Lletget was stuck in West ham youth squad for so long, high table every position has to be almost world class so it would be difficult to break into those starting spots, especially back then when the anti-american bias was even more pronounced). Plus there is the language barrier. Its helpful now that our players abroad often have other Americans nearby they can reach out to, sometimes even on their own team (or former teammates, like Christian had with RLC and Giroud and Tomori at Milan, or at Chelsea he had Batshuayi. Barring that, the language itself can be an isolating factor, especially to a sheltered teenager from Southern California.
Also Landon’s family were academically oriented. Especially his mom (who he was very close to), but also his sister I believe. He was raised in an environment that saw sport as not that important in the grand scheme of things. Even a bit frivolous, as a lifetime occupation at least. No wonder he didn’t buy into the “You owe it to us to be great at soccer” narrative.
I wish Landon would had tried a little harder in Europe. Also a part of me had wished he made a permanent move to Everton just to show that he could play and flourish in a top league. However, he's always seemed to be a guy who placed happiness and comfortableness above all else. Regarding his frankness about dual nationals and what he told Jurgen after getting cut, I kind of agree with him. It's around the same time my interest in the national team started to really wane. It had already kind of started before LD got cut because of the move of national teams, including the US actively looking and having the need to recruit players to come play for the US. It should be either you want to play, or you don't. You shouldn't need to be recruited. Was it how dual nationals felt? I don't know, but it seemed like it to me. The national team started to feel like a club team going out and trying to recruit players to play for the team. If this was the case, and the national team was going to act like a club team, I'd rather just invest my fandom in an actual club team with players that I really cared about and had vested interest in. After LD got cut, it sealed the deal for me to go by the motto of "club over country". This was unheard of for me because I had always been someone who would mark all the USMNT games on my calendar for years and years and years. Maybe it's changed and the players who play for the current team really want to play and represent the US and not need to be recruited to come play. However, I'll never know because I honestly don't really have any interest in the US team. EDIT: Here is where Landon made his comment about dual nationals:
In fairness if you are talking about his stint at Bayern Munich and not Bayer Leverkusen, I don’t know if staying on after his loan stint at Bayern was ever an option. He was brought to Bayern by Klinnsmann of all people to try to get attacking help during that season because the team was struggling. Klinnsmann was at that time a fan of Landon. The oligarchy of Bayern execs did not really want him and even the players (which Landon has spoken about on occasion) were extremely skeptical of him. Landon did ok but didn’t really shine. At the end of the season Bayern finished 3rd which was its worst finish until this season I believe. Klinnsman was fired. With Klinnsmann gone I can’t imagine Bayern would have tried to extend the loan or try to purchase him. This is purely speculation on my part but I always felt that Klinnsmann’s issues with Donovan started there. He probably blamed Donovan for his failure at Bayern rather than himself.