Donovan speaks German, but the German quote has definitely be prettied up. His German is far from perfect, and that quote is grammatically perfect, which I wouldn't expect from him at this point, but I'm sure he already speaks better than some of the other foreign players there who have been there longer. Listening to a little interview he gave after a training session during his trial, it was a bit surprising how well he did do even after having been away for years. He speaks Spanish very well, so he seems to have a knack for languages.
Correction: Abu Dhabi You see guys, there is this other city in the UAE that's actually much richer. PS: For those interested, Al Jazira currently tops the UAE League and might very well be the host team at the 2009 Club World Cup. They were missing five players who are currently with the UAE NT at the Gulf Cup.
More extended highlights are located here.... in German with quite a few shots of Landon... [youtube]T3xGop_a-LE[/youtube]
Wow! That's pretty small... how do you do the new youtube thingy folks? Are you just inserting the embedded HTML file?
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPLgq8c1THo"]YouTube - AL-JAZIRA UAE . Vs . 2 . FC Bayern Munich[/ame] If you check it at 0.04, you'll see this most unsavory figure creeping up from the stands, between the ref's head and the Al-Jazira wall.... I'll rep anyone who can guess who this is.....
I agree as far as his shooting from difficult positions....he needs to improve on this...otherwise, given the chance, when defenders have to choose who not to cover from distance..between Toni, Klose, , etc...they'll leave LD open, and he needs to show better in those half chances...at least try to put them somewhat on frame with some strength too,,,,,
the other Bayern players were pretty imprecise shooting too. They are all out of season, not just landon.
Yeah, but they've made the team already and have contracts. Landon still has to earn his. There is a big difference.
Did he miss any sitters? Or, were they half chances? Which players on Bayern make 100% of clear chances, let alone of their half chances? This type of discussion is totally silly. LD will get his full share of goals and more than his share of assists. He'll also get his share of misses and that percentage won't be any worse than anybody else's.
who i think may not be coming until summer - hence the point about donovan/toni or donovan/klose (if that's klinsi's approach) possibly reducing playing time for one of the two incumbents.
Does FCB have another friendly or was this it? I've looked on their home page, and it just lists the winter camp lasting through 1/12. Their first Bundesliga game isn't until they play Hamburg on 1/30.
That's where i was going...Even if he shows to be average, or slightly below (despite the great players he is surrounding himself with at Bayern Munich) there would be no great incentive for the club to offer a longer contract or offer good $$ of the kind LAG would be willing to accept..... So he still needs to show on the shooting department a bit better.... not that he's going to score on every chance (not being unrealistic here) but that he will be dangerous if left open....at least often with shots that are on frame and have some strength in them...
Ok guys... it's a little late in coming but I've finally sorted out though some of the photos and shrunk them down a little from the match. There should be quite a few coming so here's the first batch from pre-match training...
Thanks for posting these photos and the ones to come. Rep forthcoming. Question - as one who attended the game, how do the Bayern players interact with Donovan? Does it appear they've (or any players in particular) tried to integrate him into the team or do they seem to keep him at arms length? Watching the games on the internet feeds, it seems Toni likes to gripe him out for not passing, while Klose seems to be a little more encouraging. I am just more curious than anything.
I was actually quite pleasantly surprised to find that Landon seemed to have quite a quite a good rapport with his team mates, at least in the first half. Landon appeared to disappear a bit in the 2nd, but then again so did the rest of the Bayern team. Toni didn't look bothered tbh.... Anyhoo.. back to the pics... kickoff... Landon's first ever touch in a Bayern Munich jersey.