Exactly -- the first thing they do is jump up and say Donovan sucks, but he turned a hat on their exalted defense, and it would have been more lopsided if Roberts hadn't scored for them. I asked on a previous post for them to name any current DC player on par with Donovan . . . all I heard back was crickets.
Ummmmmmm ... hmmm. No, I don't have an answer for that. I figured Landon was going to be in for it in MLS venues across the country after Germany, and D.C. -- with the sheer number of fans and the passion of the supporters groups -- would be the harshest. But dragging out all the juvenile insults after the game ... well, that's harder to defend. That said, it's probably human nature. If we had message boards when I was in college, I'm sure I could've read the same stuff about Christian Laettner. The D.C. fans will say it was classless of Donovan to wave his arms and incite the crowd. They'll say the same goes for Albright, who did a little bit of it. (There are also accusations that Quaranta directed a crotch grab at the supporters even after receiving a polite welcome back to D.C. -- I can't verify that, and Tino didn't seem that hostile after the game.) I've seen worse. In fact, I've seen worse at Galaxy-United games, especially back in the old days when a lot of Salvadoran fans in the area were ticked off at D.C. for trading Raul Diaz Arce and showed up en masse to cheer Cienfuegos and boo all things D.C., up to and including the national anthem. Seeing Cobi Jones stir up fans who had come out to protest everything from Marco Etcheverry's contract to Reagan-era foreign policy is a memory that still leaves me a little queasy. Donovan waving his arms at a bunch of guys booing him after he has inspired his team to a 4-2 lead just isn't the same ballpark. (OK, literally, it's the same ballpark, but you get the idea.)
I just had a lot of fun reading their thread over there. Some are actually calling for Donovan to be fined for taunting them. And yet they call him a P***y. I can't remember, did Eski get fined when he drank/spit the Red Bull? To me, the fun part of sport is the passion that's displayed between players and fans alike. As long as nothing dangerous or obscene happens, it seems great to me. I thought the signs were actually funny and showed some good aforethought. Which is why I'm surprised by some's reactions. I thought the DC fans "got it," but I guess they don't. As I said before - nothing worse than a sore loser.
That was great to see Landon taunt the butt plugs in DC. Anyone have a picture of it from a distance where you can see all of them wanting to drink the magic kool aid.
Yes, but a token amount of $250. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042501690.html
If you go check out the fire cracker thread in the MLS Fans forums, you'll really see that they don't get it at all.
Yeah, I see that. They're missing out on a lot of fun. See, that's what won me over. The LA fans completely get it!!
Quaranta and Donovan on tactics Quaranta: I said it before the game and I’ll say it now, we line up well against DC. We don’t care about possession. Our game is based on tough defense and counterattacking wide or over the top using speed. One of the good things about this game is that it’s cured me of wanting to run a 3-5-2. Not that a 3-5-2 can’t work, DC has been fantastic this year, but it requires a high-pressure midfield that can control the ball. That’s not us, and it’s not most teams in MLS. Donovan: Not exactly, but Landon has a point. Cobi is actually a good defender, Santino less so, but both of them have a lot of freedom to do what they want. Our system, the 4 - 2 - 2 wide - 2 has always depended on having dangerous players at the wide mid positions, but mostly we haven’t, which is why our offense has sucked. I give Frank a lot of credit for putting Santino wide and giving him that freedom. It’s not really Frank’s style (work hard, everyone play D, one touch on the attack) but it’s what we need.
One more quote. Yes, life in LA is very good. I don't think we have to worry about any Quaranta to Europe threads.
This was in response to a question I asked. I had thought that it must have been tough for him to uproot from Baltimore because he had grown up in the region, and his family seemed comfortable there. Maybe it was the euphoria of the win, but he seems ecstatic with his new life.
Some times getting away from family and all the interference it can cause is the best thing for young people (I definatley speak from experience).
That is a great quote sheet - thanks for the link, Baysider. I almost spit out my coffee on this one: LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN On the heckling from the D.C. fans: "I always get up to play here. They're pretty vocal, pretty rude and if they want to motivate me then they're going to get that every time. So keep doing it, keep bringing it, bring it louder, bring it stronger, and I'll get four next time." Great win for the Galaxy, a real confidence builder. I need to go off to look for highlights now, because I only heard from about minute 30 to 60 on the radio with big Joe Tutino. We REALLY need an MLS highlight show.
There was a funny suggestion on the DC boards that next year they should bring signs and posters incouraging Landon, "King of MLS" etc. And this would confuse him so much that he wouldnt have that extra juice to make DC look like the rec team we played last week.
EXACTLY like I said in my post, he has a bad WC(these type of things happen, get over it) and now everybody says he stinks! I don't get it.
I liked the idea of following him around to all the national team games mocking him in hopes it lights a fire under his ass.
It's not even that, they're admitting he's *GREAT* but mocking him that it's only MLS, it makes so little sense my damn head hurts just thinking about it.
Correction he had one bad game, Ghana was a circus not soccer. The trapeese act was great, all that diving and flopping around. It must have sucked to play an entire team composed exclusevly of Carlos Ruiz'. Also dig all the DC fans who are butt hurt that LD et al taunted them. Come on, you guys were chanting, had banners, and even chucked a bottle at him. What the hell did you expect him to do? Retards.
I agree on the general atmosphere of the Ghana game -- in my head, that game will always be a 1-1 draw -- but Donovan still played badly in that one. Maybe the knock that Donovan fails to show up for big games should be revised -- Donovan gets rattled if the game is a circus. Poland 2002 was a circus, with Donovan and the whole U.S. team getting unnerved after his legit equalizer was unjustly called back. The Czech game was a circus of sorts. Nah, on second thought, that doesn't quite work. The Italy game was a circus, and he played just fine in that. So maybe, after all the psychoanalysis is done, the guy just had a couple of bad games, not coincidentally when his teammates were lousy. The basic point is correct. Everyone hits a bad patch. Some people even hit it at the World Cup. Doesn't mean he's a bad player all of a sudden.
Jazic did take a couple good falls in the USOC game and when walking to the tunnel he had tape around his knee. I recorded the game and I'm going to watch it again. Amazing... that Gorden scored .... that Kirk did ok...... and that we totally ran over DCU. Good job G's!!!
After reading many, many BS rants on the subject, I think the LD hate is 2 things: 1. Immaturity 2. Something about LD's personality that does not agree with certain macho male sports fan types. He's too unique / different. They'll live with him as long as he's playing great (for their own team), but turn on him if he's not. I'll never understand it; I don't think many women would.
Think there's any chance MLS will review the tapes and suspend Ugo ala Dempsey - since the guy did break his leg.
hmmm naw. It was game shit, shit happens. It is very unfortunate I really hope he recovers quickly. Clints punishment were for throwing elbows, thats a no-no. Unless Novak gets his panties in a bunch and asks for it I dont think the league will review it, or punish Ugo. But what do I know? E: I wonder who was more pissed last night Dom or Novak, hell add ellinger in there too.