Landon Donovan doesn't get the respect he's earned from U.S. fans on Bigsoccer

Not me.

I give him tons of respect and i admire his decision to base his career decisions on what makes him happy not what makes idiot fans happy.

These people like the FFF jerk off who think he's being a wussy or a coward by not "challenging" himself by playing in a bigger league don't care about Donovan or what he wants. He gets to live close to his family and the woman he loves in LA, gets to play on a championship team, make great bread, and be the face of US soccer....but i guess he should just throw that all away so he can play in some place he doesn't want to be at thothands of miles away from where he wants to be and where he is happy...just so he can "prove" he is a decent footballer.

 

I agree people tend to give him a hard time but they are San Jose (woops Houston) fans, and for those who like to see Americans abroad fight through hard times to perservere, like Convey and Beasley who both could have come back. The only part I do disagree is as a USMNT fan I do believe he would have gotten better if he had stayed in Germany. He didn't so he's great in the MLS but would have improved his game to help the men's team alttle more. He's 1 or 2 on my favorite player list.

 

building MLS is the only thing that really matters for the future of US soccer.Everything else is a side-show.

 

Donovan is our best field player and anyone who thinks otherwise is not paying attention. Beasley (or more recently McBride) may be our best club player but when it comes to representing the USA, nobody kicks the ball around better than Landon Donovan.

 

I believe the success of the USMNT is also very important. Being a USMNT fan that is the perspective I begin with and the success of the USMNT is my main goal that matters most to me. With that in mind I think L.Donovan would have increased his skills more if he had stayed. 'The theory of competition' holds that one with skills must be challenged to his ultimate level to improve. I believe he does that more in a more competetive league such as Germany rather than MLS. No one is wrong just what perspective they are coming from. Fans of his personal happiness, Galaxy, Earthquakes, MLS all have different starting viewpoints hence different opinions.

 

Wrong or not, if you want respect from the majority of die-hard soccer fans, then you have to go to Europe. So, Landon, by running from Europe, is not getting that respect.

However, I think other things motivate him than being as popular as DMB on Big Soccer.

 

This may be true, and yet I still get neg-repped by certain posters any time I say anything remotely critical of Landon.

 

that's because no one is allowed to be inbetween on the subject. God known how many gay jokes have been thrown my way about Donovan. Convey to

 

It depends upon what you say. Most of the criticism I see (not focusing on you) is mindless, pointless trash.

 

That's what I want to say. You say it much more succintly that I. Thanks.

I understand what you're saying here about improving skills. I, however am of the opinion that Donovan's skills wouldn't have necessarily improved by staying in Germany. That's not to say that they wouldn't have improved by playing in Europe - they absolutely might have, but I disagree that staying in Germany with Leverkusen would have been the answer.

What I find kind of ridiculous is that posters discount LD's accomplishments for both club and country at such a young age simply because he chooses to play in MLS; had he accomplished the exact same things while playing in Europe (even in, say, a "lower" league or division) he'd be praised.

 

Here's the problem, to me, with Donovan. He wanted his cake and tried to eat it. It's not like he just went, "ok asprinman, I was young, made a mistake and shouldn't have signed that contract. Lets find a way for Nike and MLS as the rest to make you whole and let me go be Landon soccer-seed like I want." Instead he went back to BL for what, 10, 12 weeks after a few years of doing quite a bit of talking out of both sides of his mouth - going to Portsmouth, not going to Portsmouth, never going back to BL, going back to BL, etc. ...

I, for one, have questioned, and still do, the point of going back. If it was simply legalistic to fullfill contract requirements and get himself free once and for all, fine, but otherwise, it was wussy-bummed to do it again like that. I say that about LD and I'd say it to my own kid if they pulled the same thing. I'd think I was wussy-bummed if I only gave a move like that 3 months. But that's just me.

You don't have to agree with me, but that's where he loses my unbridled support. I also think he's a damn fine player with every right to play where he wants how he wants. Rafe van der Vaart, Bazza, LD - any number of young "starlets" have chosen to stay "home" longer than others, or to come "home" for various reasons.

Also, there's something kinda annoying about him, too. And he's got girly-lips, so there's always that. But he does hate Mexico, which offsets the early onset male pattern baldness.

 

it seems to me that if you want to be the best then you have to play with and against the best...the best leagues in the WORLD are ALL in europe....

 

Donovan is one of the top 3 players on the US squad. He would be "the" top player if he was still playing in Europe. If LD was playing in Germany or anywhere else he would be forced to be on top of his game week after week. He did put on a great exhibition in the MLS playoffs. So why didn't he play with the same passion during the regular season and his team would be at the top of the table? LD wants to be the leader of the Nats, yet he isn't doing everything he can to become one of the top players in the world. I will give him respect for his talent but, not his work ethic.

 

as you were saying Martin....

 

This is an issue, but not the issue of this thread. Some of us see and appreciate LD for the talent he has. That talent is real and obvious irrespective of the league in which he plays. Would I like to seem him in the EPL? Sure, and in great preference to MLS or the Bundesliga or Serie A. But regardless of where he plays, his talent is real and deserves our complete respect. A related question that always comes up is whether he would become better were he playing in another league. To some, the answer is probably a clear, "Yes." I'm not so sure. First, he needs a coach that is willing to mold a team around his skill set. That sure didn't happen in Leverkeusen.

 

has anyone mentioned how he completely failed in the Bundesliga?

 

I, for one, am happy he is in the MLS, because that means I get to see him play next year. What good fortune for Houston to get a team, 16 home games, great. As for getting better in Europe, that ain't happening with Howard, is it?

 

a california dude in bundesliga is like a mormon in amsterdam....

oil and water don't mix

 

Alot of posters attack Landon as a PERSON, rather than as a player. I've been known to neg-rep the harsher personal attacks, especially the gay-baiting ones.

IOW, it's one thing to say he played like crap against 'Pool in the home leg. Fair game. It's fair game to say he was poor in Azteca. But then people try to turn that into a character defect, and that's just bullsh**.

There's also the phenomenon of people remembering every single bad play Landon ever made and forgetting every good one. There's actually a poster who is suggesting that Landon might not start in Germany because Bruce will pick Convey over him. He cites Landon's poor play in big games, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. He cites Landon in Azteca, where he had an assist on the first goal we've scored there in over a decade. This same poster has Beasley as a 100% lock, and Beasley was the worst player on the field in Azteca.

Landon is the subject of an unbelievable number of double standards. But that's an iron rule of sports fandom...teams blame the best players for their team's failings, not their worst. Common sense tells you that if we plop Hejduk at left back and Ralston at right wing, when we lose, they're likely to be the reasons why, not Donovan. But Donovan'll get the blame.

 

I'm also not a big fan of personal attacks on players that stem from ignorance.

The transfer rules didn't ALLOW him to got to Pompey. That wasn't his choice, it was the new transfer rules.

 

Another for the collection.

 

donovan is like another donovan, donovan mcnabb...

BOTH are really good, BUT not really great...

superdave nails it correctly, as the chorus trashes you for not being elite, looks at your faults, and ignores, there ain't any better options out there

 

"You have given out too much Reputation in the last 24 hours, try again later."

I love ya, SuperDave.