Are you trying to say that one decent but incomplete outing against a physical but disinterested Cameroon team is not enough to convince you?
fair enough on the GK vs Mid On Martino, I do mean "can be" not that he is there yet - but I think he can be a really special one for us.
Whoa whoa whoa. We got a little too much Landon love going on here. Landon is good, I'll give you that, but to say his skill level is above those guys by that much is far off. He does have some good skill, but the thing that sets Landon up as one of the best players is his speed. (Its what makes DMB so good too. Except Landon plays a more attacking role, a forward the majority of the time, so his speed can be utilized better.) Uhm, as for the U23, yeah I agree. Its Donovan. DMB is up there. I hear Conor Casey is crawling up on skill levels so he might be a factor come the Olympics. Others I like but definitely have a LOT of developing to do before they are even considered to be contenders are Kyle Martino, Jonathan Spector, and Freddy Adu.
I'm independant in this discussion, being non-american, and I would say that Donovan is really overrated. The only thing the Bayer should do with him is to sell him to a english team who will see the possibility of a developement in the USA, like MU, when he's still overrated. I think you have more futur talents in your U21. You should be confident for the next years, it's reasonnable to expect a quarter final every two WC maybe.
over-hyped, maybe, but not really overrated. Donovan is a solid football player. He has individual skill and a team-oriented mentality. Everything else you said is absolutely correct, however.
I'm not sure how you come up with head and shoulders above DMB, but you have to be joking. If you think he's that much better then I'd say he's in the wrong league. He should have stayed in Europe which is where you'll see DMB before long. Even with the "weight problem."
How about the fact that he hasn't been that extraordinary in MLS this year. And you can't, in this case, say that "the talent around him isn't good enough" because he's playing with Brian McBride, Edson Buddle, and Jeff Cunningham, and he's got 2 goals and 2 assists, while the Crew offense hasn't exactly been lighting things up.
Martino & Company As a big Crew fan, I can tell you that Martino is a great talent. However, he has not done much this year - in part due to national team duty and injuries. He did add a third assist to his account last night on a nice feed to Paule, but that sort of thing has been lacking from him lately. That game against Cameroon is about as good as I have seen him play this year. Maybe he'll turn out to be one of those guys that plays well on the national team even though he doesn't dominate in club play. I'm sure Bruce will call him back at the next opportunity based on the way he played in France. We don't have too many options for attacking midfielders, especially based in the US. As far as young talent goes (using U-23 criteria), I would rank them as follows: Donovan Beasley Buddle Clark Convey Martino Martino could certainly move up on that list if he consistently plays to his capability. There are others who should probably be inserted into this list (Onyewu, perhaps), but this is based on who I have seen play.
Did you see how he played today -- a puny, frustrated thug wannabe. Seriously, he may be the most talented young player, but if I have to pick one to put on my team, I'll take DMB over him right now. Right mentality is such an important part of the game, and at this stage, DMB is mentally tougher than LD, especially when things are NOT going well.
Landon and his team had a bad game. One ephing game. And the metro fans are freaking out like ephing crazy. I've elbowed by brother while playing basketball way worse than that. He wants to win so bad, he made two mistakes but he's still kick a$$. Calm the eph down. Maradona's handball was way worse and he's still one of the top players. Hasn't Zidane kicked or punched someone in the heat of battle. I don't see the bull he pulled Sunday as the norm but the exception, so have a beer at Nathan Hale's or wherever and realize he's the best young player now. p.s. I like DMB more but I think LD is more important to the team.
Re: Re: Re: Best Young player on USA sqauad? Yeah, i understand your point, but my post was in response to someone who was making a comment about O'Brien in relation to LD. I happen to agree with you about Bocanegra. I think he is going to be critical to our success in the future, whereas I think that some good offensive options are about to emerge ........
don't you love this comment coming from a frenchman? not that he is even necessarily wrong, because you can't predict to win the WC every year. But to predict that because we're not good enough YET, that the best we can hope for is a quarterfinal every 8 years in the future is absurd. This coming from a team that didn't even QUALIFY for the WC in 90 OR 94, but yet was able to WIN IT in 98 (followed by the '02 disaster). Obviously, if you do something right along the way in development, you can come out of nowhere and do the job. This is the United States buddy ......... it doesn't take as long as it takes other places to get the job done when we put our minds to something! (playing God bless America in the background)
I agree with you that you shouldn't take any one game out of hand, but I don't like the fact that Donovan once again lost his cool. I thought he had gotten over that, because when he does play with that kind of fire he isn't nearly as effective.
Landon did not lose his cool. Frustrated, yes. Trying to fire up his team, yes. Concerned with what we think, no. And I'd bet in a "meaningful" game, you guys want him playing with that kind of fire.
Off topic here but to clarify on Sunday's game I would say that I was surprised by Donovan's play and then his comments afterwards. Every player can have a bad game but I thought Donovan was above the antics he should in that game. On topic I think that Donovan would have to be number one on the list of U-23 and under players but with the talent coming up he won't be our best player for very long. Especially if he continues to play at the MLS level. But again right now he's the top player.
I think you hit much of it on the head. I really think that the Golden Boys time at the top of the heap is going to come to an end soon, especially if he just doesn't get on to the matter of playing some soccer. The ball skills on these kids that we have coming up now are on another level from the old vets that we have at the moment. Noone should be angry at that ....... we should all be happy that our guys are getting better with each step. Oh, and for the record, YES, LD absolutely DID lose his cool. he should have gotten tossed, and this is coming from me who was rooting for the Quakes.
Please don't tell me your thinking of Freddy Adu. Ed Johnson and Ricardo Clark look like they are as physically talented as Donovan. But then again so are DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey, Eddie Lewis, Frankie Hejduk, Cobi Jones, and Josh Wolff. No, what sets Donovan apart from the rest of the pack are his natural skills, and that uncanny vision and first touch of his. not to mention numerous other things I've seen out of him on a soccer field. I haven't seen any of our younger players who have shown all of that at the same time. Its pretty rare
aside from his skill, an American physio with the US team said , a few years ago, that Donovan was the fastest soccer player they have ever timed in short term sprints.That he had the short term sprint of a world class sprinter.It would be nice to think those other guys are as talented as Landon, hope they do, but.... I am not at all convinced.
I'm not sure what your answer is addressing because I don't see anyone who compared the potential new stars to Landon PHYSICALLY. the man said "talent". So since you brought up Freddy, and not the person you quoted ...... let's compare. Is Landon better right now? of course he is. he has 6 years on Freddy and 5 years of pro experience on him. Freddy is nearly a child. But if you talk about natural skills, you and an ARMY of BigSoccer fans are not going to convince me that LD has more "natural skills" than Freddy. Freddy is better with the ball at his feet in tight quarters ...... freddy is more dangerous running at defenders with the ball than LD, and freddy is better on his first touch than LD. And don't give me the old "freddy is playing against kids argument", because freddy is better at doing those things against "kids" than was LD when he was playing against those same kids. Don't get me wrong, LD is a stalwart and mainstay on the NATS. I love him as a player, but what makes him great is a combination of all the above skills mentioned, and not just "natural skills" that exceed everyone elses.