Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK No, they don't. Go to minute 7:10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViTl7nfQ9AE&mode=related&search= There are missed penalties...there are blocked penalties..and there are bad penalties... That was a very bad penalty. From the view behind-the-goal view, you can see it was placed about 2 ft to the right of the keeper and at waist height. The Keeper doesn't even have to extend his arms...the ball comes right to his chest.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Defining moment? Hardly. Look, we (USNT soccer fans) keep wanting Landon Donovan to elevate his game to something much greater. Okay, he's not going to be a Maradona or Zidane. But we keep hoping he's going to be Figo or Baggio. And he's not. Not unless he goes through a sudden change. What he is, is a very skilled, very quick, player with good vision who sometimes steps up and othertimes disappears. On a really strong team, he's a support player. At his best (ie: if he continues to grow), he's what Freddy Ljundberg was for Arsenal--a really gifted support attacker, a second or third fiddle to a Henry and Bergkamp (when they were in their prime). And so people see this moments and say "okay, Donovan is going to hit this and his career is going to go to a whole new level, he's going to be our Platini, our Ronaldinho--the guy we build a team around that can contend for a WC" and sometimes he scores a great goal or seizes a moment or hits the PK...and then just as often he disappears. No, he's not a p*ssy. No, he's not faint of heart. No, he's not a bad or mediocre player. He's just not a great world class player. And that's been evident for a while now and his decision to not go to Europe (not b/c MLS is bad, but b/c the competitive fires just don't burn as hot in Donovan as they do with a few select other players) just reinforces that. If there was a defining moment, it was probably his decision to leave Bayer Leverkusen and come to MLS. That allowed him to realize his potential but also illustrated that his potential had limits. To argue that a first year tournament that had little world attention involving only 2 leagues in a match in which he was gimpy yet played anyway and also had some very strong play during time yet missed a PK is somehow defining his career is off-base.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK If it's just an exhibition tournament, why did Landon admit that he "panicked" (a euphamism for "was scared"). Geez, if he panicks in the penalty kick shoot out of an exhibition tournament, I'd hate to hear what he does in a world cup shoot out!
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Exactly. I feel that this PK was defining of exactly how you describe Landon Donovan as a player, "What he is, is a very skilled, very quick, player with good vision who sometimes steps up and othertimes disappears. On a really strong team, he's a support player. At his best (ie: if he continues to grow), he's what Freddy Ljundberg was for Arsenal--a really gifted support attacker, a second or third fiddle to a Henry and Bergkamp (when they were in their prime)." and "b/c the competitive fires just don't burn as hot in Donovan as they do with a few select other players" All the other moments are open to debate...he left Leverkusen to get PT in MLS to prep for the WC...His decision to pass the ball back to Ben Olsen rather than shoot while open and in the box vs Italy was suspect, but had Ben Olsen scored, no one would say anything.... But, this pk had the stage set for LD, and he collapsed under pressure...and he admits he collapsed under the pressure...hence, a defining moment of the type of player he is, "his career."
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK AHH! This is the last time I'm saying this... It was a missed pk in a meaningless tournament. Didn't he make every pk in the gold cup when it really mattered?
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I love people who whine about the rep system. If we shouldn't negative rep posts we think are terrible then why is the system even there?
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Q: Was Landon Donovan's blocked PK a defining moment in his club career? A: No Q: Is this thread stupid? A: Yes Q: Is EastBayGrease an anti-MLS troll? A: Absolutely
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK [FONT="]Donovan is a bad mo fo who had a bad PK. That's it. Whether it was in a cup qualifier or in this exhibition match, that doesn't change. I'm sure it bothers him for the same reason that it bothers us......because he's capable of making 100% of them. Everybody knows he's bad ass and that's why everybody scrutinizes his every move. But rarely do people talk about his good/great moments. It sucks that he missed that PK but don't fret.....I'm confident that he will continue to prove he rocks. PS: Why is it that Mexican's always trash L.D.? He's a great player, doesn't hack, doesn't dive, and always takes time to speak Spanish to the Mexican reporters.[/FONT]
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Was it in response to the bags of fecal matter/urine (or batteries or whatever else) that commonly gets thrown at U.S. players when playing in Mexico? But no, I didn’t know he pissed on the field.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I seem to remember Dempsey missing the crucial penalty in probably MLS's best game ever against DC in the eastern confrence finals Oh and this too. Landon Donovan is a perfect example of anyone who wants to run a negative political campaign, pick out someone's percieved weakness, mention it over and over, highlight every example that reinforces the negative storyline, ignore everything else. Landon is not a great player but it's not because he chokes, it's because he's inconsistent.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK That's not true... There's actual security in Mexico for these games while in the US it's not the case so you see crap being thrown on the field. But that's where the hatred towards Donovan started. Total disrespect and in Jalisco, Guadalajara... one of the most revered stadiums in Mexico. Don't try and justify his actions that time.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I don't think it's funny man... It just adds fuel to the fire but whatever.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I don’t know anything about the specific incident that you’re talking about when L.D. showered the field in Mexico. I don’t condone his actions if he did. However it sounds way out of character for him and it would be interesting to find out what would provoke him to do such a thing. But you’re delusional if you think that U.S. players don’t get treated like dirt when playing in Mexico. You would never see a bag of urine or feces thrown at a player while entering the pitch here in the U.S. I’m not suggesting that it happens at all venues in Mexico or every time, but it happens often enough for it to be pretty well known. You seem to be suggesting that the Mexican players are treated worse here, than the U.S. players are treated in Mexico. That’s a laugh. [FONT="]Perhaps we’re getting too far off the topic of this post. [/FONT]
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK The acts of a few crazy fans doesn't justify a professional futbol player to stoop down to that level... Anyway, as I've said before this missed pk is being way overblown.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK He absolutely choked. But "defining moment" means - "who's Landon Donovan"? "don't you remember, he's that dude who missed the pk in the super liga final" I don't think he can be defined quite that easily.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK [FONT="]Yea. You’re right. Truce? And yes, the PK is way overblown. L.D. still kicks ass in my book (most of the time ). [/FONT]
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK It's funny how Donovan is considered by the media to be "America's player" or "America's star" but he is the one most easily hated on by American soccer fans.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK I agree mostly with your assessment here ... Landon is one of the best players the US has ever had - that said - I don't think he has the character of McBride .... he came back from Leverkeusen when he could have tightened up his jockstrap and sucked it up and persevered .... Dempsey grows up in tougher circumstances (Clint Greenwood soccer academy ain't the same thing as East Texas) and plays with an attitude and goes to Fulham and although it will be rough - somehow I don't see him coming back at the first sign of adversity. He is an excellent player - but he does not have world class character ..... I think to a certain degree he is faint of heart. I wish he had more Roy Keane or Paul Scholes or Gattuso in him. He certainly has the wheels and the touch. Maybe I just expect too much from him .... I think returning to SoCal with a nice paycheck and the chance to be near home has made him softer.
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK [FONT="]Just because he missed doesn’t mean he choked. Maybe he did. Or maybe he just f’d up. The moment meant something but it wasn’t that big of an event. G wiz. It’s the first year of the Super Liga and L.A. shouldn’t have even been in it in the first place. The only reason they were, is because the head honchos who selected the teams for this inaugural tournament were thinking about how to generate a buzz about it. And of course they thought having L.A. in it would help. The years to follow will only have teams participating that actually deserve to be there. But that’s another topic all together. [/FONT]
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK Great analysis! Thanks for the insightful contribution to this thread! Is there a way to set age limits on threads so posters under the age of 11 are blocked out out. Actually, I attended the opening match of the league in SJ and have watched MLS every weekend since. I watched MLS matches religiously back when every game was played over grid iron lines, LA's squad featured Andrew Shew, and the best attacking player in the league was Pineda Chacon for the Miami Fusion. I watched when a 50 year old Walter Zegna and Khodadad Azizi were the big name foreign imports. I attended the SJ-Fire final in LA, SJ's 5-4 comeback against LA that Bruce Arena said was the best soccer game in US history. I watch MLS every weekend since the league started. I've missed parties and dates to watch the the likes of the Crew or Dallas Burn play in empty stadiums. Ever read "Fever Pitch"..thats me but for MLS instead of Arsenal. I check MLSnet.com about 4 times a day. The only forum I visit on bigsoccer is the MLS section. I'm a massive MLS dork and fanatic. So shut the f up with your trolling non-sense. Unlike you, I'm a secure adult who's not afraid to actually analyze and critique the things I care about. By you, coming into this post, and contributing no analysis other than your opinion and insults, your actually the one trolling. Critique does not = trolling. That's an amazing dog trick by the way. WOW! you must be so proud!
Re: Landon Donovan's missed PK "Just because he missed doesn’t mean he choked." Donovan said in a postgame interview he panicked in his run up to the penalty kick. So, yes, he did f up. "it wasn’t that big of an event." Did you see how pumped Joe Cannon was when he made the point blank save in like the 80th minute to keep LA in the game? Did you see how LA absolutely freaked out when Klein scored the last minute bike to force overtime? Various reports have said this is LD's last season in LA... His former SJ coach and friend, Frank Yallop, is about to step down as coach in 48 hours. You don't think Landon wanted that penalty kick for his teammates? For his close friend and former SJ roommate Joe Cannon? To redeem his team's horrible season? To earn some positive press for his team under the Beckham media spotlight? To earn MLS international respect by defeating one of the best teams in Latin America...isn't that what Donovan's all about...showing the international soccer community MLS is for real. You don't think Landon would love to stick it to all the Mexican fans by defeating the most dominant Mexican club of the decade?.....no, that was just some penalty kick in an exhibition tournament...and you make some, you miss some... But, if this is just a meaningless penalty in a meaningless exhibition, why did Donovan admit that he panicked?