Donovan Wins Player of the Year for 3rd Time

I think it's just undebatable.

I hope leverkusen is worthy of him.

 

Part of me would have liked to see DMB get it as a thank you for his stepping it up this year, but I have no problem with LD getting it. As many posters said on other threads," Yeah, we agree, LD has oodles of talent, but please dude, can you find a way to bring it every game."

 

Bocanegra was robbed in '03. ROBBED!

 

Please post more often. I <3 your avatar.

 

RUN DMB should have gotten it. I mean cmon Donovan already had 2......Beasley deserved this one and US Sccer let him down....what do you have to do to win?....oh wait you just have to be Landon freakin Donovan.

 

yawn

 

i disagreed with the last two awards - in 2003, i voted bocanegra and i voted for beasley this year - i can certainly live with the choices, but to call these "undebatable" is pretty silly

 

That's right. You do have to be Landon freakin Donovan...who happens to be the best player for the Nats. He's the one that's called upon; he's the one that's expected to deliver, and 9 times out of 10, he does. Something tells me that when Freddy Adu wins it 3, 4, 5 times in a row, no one will be complaining about it. Oh, well.

Anyway, here's an interesting article about it - with Leverkusen implications.

http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%7E29582%7E2544680,00.html

 

I think the point system for the voting (three points for each first-place vote, two points for each second-place vote, and one point for each third-place vote) added to the fact that the 204 sports journalists likely aren't following soccer very closley weight the award in the favor of the bigger names.

You'd have to think that LD was first or second on a large majority of the ballots.

 

Agreed.

 

Boca in '03
DMB in '04

Landon was gifted this one. Just goes to show you how pathetic the "soccor journalists" are in this country.

 

Does anyone know how long Landon's contract obligates his rights to be held by Leverkusen?

 

2008

 

Wouldn't bet on it. There has been a lot of discussions about Adu's play and not all of them glorify everything he does. Besides, sooner or later he's going to be another player who's both loved and hated intensely by the fans.

 

Led the US team in scoring and assists, as well as captaining the US through round of WC Qualis.Yeah, those journalists sure are pathetic!

 

This is just for his play with the Nats, right? In that case, shoulda been Beasley, I think.

 

If I were running MLS I would do whatever it takes to keep Donovan here. They have made no significant offer to date and I have a feeling it wouldn't take all that much to keep him. That having been said I also look forward to see "what he's got" as he toils in the bundesliga.

Congrats on the 3rd award too.

 

http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562135326

"As a frame of reference, last spring English club Blackburn made an informal inquiry to Bayer Leverkusen, which owns Donovan's contract through 2008, and was told a fee at that time would be 5 million pounds ($9 million)."

I doubt mls has 9 million for landon!!

 

Interesting .... if factual. I think MLS could have him for considerably less than 9 mil. Hell, I think he's stay here for 2-3 mil.

 

I had been told more than once his transfer value was thought to be about 4 million Euros ($5 million and change).

 

Something tells me he's priced out of their range. I find it very curious that they did not put it up on MLSnet website that he won this award. I know it's for the nats, but he won while still an MLSer. And if I'm not mistaken, they did plaster it on the website last year. It hasn't even been mentioned on the Quake website either. I'm thinking they don't want to draw attention to the fact that this guy ain't gonna be around.

As for Ridge Mahoney and the $9 million that LEverkusen was offering him for, I think it's because at that time (back in January) Leverkusen would have had to pay a hefty fee to MLS to break the loan deal early, so they figured that amount into the asking price for Blackburn. I doubt they'd ask that much on January 1, 2005 when he becomes fully their property.

 

Of course they do. The question is will they get equal value in return for that $9 million. MLS has $25 million to spend on a player if it wanted to. There just isn't a likely reason to do so.

 

cmon dude! do you really think there are 204 soccer journalists? hell, i had LD 3rd on my ballot last year, but i'm sure there are plenty of journalists with a ballot that cover a wide range of things and couldn't pick carlos bocanegra out of a lineup if pressed