Should Donovan be suspended?

It's only rediculos if Donovan doesn't get a one match suspension. I'm not saying that Landon is a school boy. Obviously he has a target on his back both in MLS and when he is on the US National Team. He has to get a thick skin when he plays both for club and country. He's gonna get fouled alot we all know that, but it doesn't excuse him for chopping down Guevara when the ball was pushed ahead already (Yes Guevara is a diving bastard we all know this).

It also doesn't excuse him for intentionally lunging into Jonny Walker with his right elbow to either miss or make contact on the keeper being in a defensless and prone position. Walker was landing from leaping in the air to secure that ball and Donovan nailed him. I don't want to hear how Walker tried to exaggerate how badly he got nailed or that Landon missed.

All that matters is that Landon Donovan led with his right elbow with the intent of creating an injury to the keeper. That alone should be a card. I don't care if he was already carrying a yellow card or not that is a cardable offense and it went unpunished. True that Gus St. Silva is a pathetic Ref who allows havoc on the pitch and can never keep tempers under control. But I expect Landon Donovan to be a professional on the pitch when there are players like Dema Kovalenko, and when Clint Mathis unfortunatly acts like an ass when things don't go right. Why is it that Kovalenko get's suspended for one match and a $1,000 meal money fine for breaking Ronnie O'Brien's leg when that should have been an easy 5 match suspension. The Disciplinary committiee is not doing the correct job in final decisions on # of matches that certain players need to be suspended on. If Kovalenko intentionaly broke Ronnie O'Brien's leg then he should be punished for the correct ammount of time. In my mind it should have been a good ammount. Not a slap on the wrist for one match.

And tell me this Quakes fans. I'm talking to the ones that are trying to tell us that this topic is getting to be laughable. If Donovan did this playing in Europe, how many matches do you think he would be suspended for? I would really like to know. He would be not only a marked man in a certain league but during European Competitions in UEFA. All Refs would never give Landon the Special treatment that the US Refs are giving him.

Watching the match on tape on ESPN 2. Landon broke free of Steve Jolley. He went towards goal and Walker. Walker is in mid-air coming down from leaping to reach a high ball and Donovan lunged into Walker with his right elbow. The only person who saw the best angle out of the rest of the bunch on the pitch was Steve Jolley. He reacted like "What the hell was that for?" And Donovan has the audacity of throwing his arms in the air like "Why can't you give the keeper a card for diving" when it was all Landon's doing. He should be thankful that the Ref was able to get to him first before Chris Leitch was going to give him a mouthful of his elbow. Jolley may have said a few things, but Leitch looked ready to smack the crap out of Landon. And the close up from field level on another replay, Landon connected.

These immature comments he made in the Mercury News is absolutly a shocker as well. He is acting like his actions justified the means. No it didn't. He was Frustrated, that's understandable. But you don't chop a man down, you don't smack your elbow into the back of someone's head, you don't attempt to injure another player. But you never ever run the keeper. And Landon Donovan did just that. He ran at the keeper and he intended to injure him.

I just don't know how much more of plain english I can send to you folks who have a difficult time understanding this. But if you truly think that Walker was exaggerating. How about some of you let someone take a run at you and they send their elbow into your side or stomach and see how it feels. It wouldn't feel good would it? Maybe you'll get the wind knocked out of you, maybe you'll get cracked ribs. All I know is that it's not a pleasent thing and Landon Donovan must pay for his actions on the field.

He should be above this. He should be able not to make these cheap shots that other idiots like a Dema Kovalenko, a Evan Whitfield do. At the same time those comments were wrong and not justafiable. A complete and immature statement he made.

No keeper should get runned at like that. If the Refs and the league doesn't crack down on this quickly then what happens? It's open season when frustrated forwards decide to run at keepers? No This is wrong.

 

LD showed his immaturity by letting his frustration take over his judgment. Those quotes just made him look even more immature.

It’s a shame that the ref didn’t come down on him. He is getting lenient treatments from MLS refs, but he won’t get the same treatment from CONCACAF refs. He’d better wise up and not pull similar bonehead fouls in a WCQ game when things are not going his way.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend when I intimated that it was laughable. I truly don't think it is. I guess what really gets me is how up in arms people are getting and I truly think they're blowing it out of proportion. I repeat, this is not characteristic of his play, and you know it. And so to feign concern that he'll continue to do this, and do it in WCQ games, etc., is kind of silly.

Yes, he should have gotten two cards or a straight red for at least one of the tackles. Same should have happened to other players who have done the same to him in other games, yet nothing happened. The difference is, none of ya'll came down on those players with the heat that you're leveling at Donovan. Why is it when Clint does his stuff, he's, as someone said, just being a bad boy, but when Donovan does it, he's unprofessional, should be shot at dawn, the world is coming to an end?

I wish Chris Leitch would have given him a mouthful of elbow. Help Landon get his head on straight, because it was stupid what he did. Then it would have been settled on the field, between the players, rather than here on these boards, with everyone putting their own personal biases onto it, pretending to know what's going on.

Your comment about it being open season when frustrated forwards run at keepers, I've known of some keepers to level some forwards as well, most recently Briana Scurry comes to mind. What goes around, comes around, and Donovan just might get himself leveled, and it will be as equally wrong...but will many here be satisfied?

You're right, he should be able to control himself and be above this, and I'm disappointed that he failed this time. But I'm not ready to throw him to the wolves. People talking about what would happen to him in Germany. Why pretend that you care what would happen to him in Germany? I get the feeling most of you want him gone (for some reason) and secretly hope he gets crushed over there, but at the same time acting like it's for his own good and personal growth and the growth of our National team, blah, blah, blah.

As for his after-game comments, what's the big deal. He said what most people would say, given the heat of the game. You all know it's true, Guevarra rolls around for five minutes every time he's touched...and the players don't like it, so they're going to talk about it. Maybe you want him to be nicey-nice, and apologize...and maybe he will later, when he matures a little more. Again, just another example of whatever this kid does gets blown out of proportion. Have you read after-game interviews in other sports? Players talk. The funny thing is, there's a picture of of Donovan exchanging jerseys with a Metro player...and I believe it's Guevarra. Seems they've settled their differences, as players often do.

If Donovan is suspended, then he gets what he deserved. And hopefully, everybody will gain a little perspective and let this debate end. If he's not suspended, then he got away with one (not the first player to get away with one, either), and hopefully he'll thank his lucky stars...and we can all move on.

 

He should get a suspension, but for his comments more than the fouls. The Guevara didn't look as bad in live action as it did on replay so St. Silva's positioning may have played a role in the yellow (in addition to his deference to Landon). It was bad though.

On the second one, I don't think he caught Walker as bad as Walker made it seem, but the guy who brought up intent is right. And if it was bad enough that St. Silva has to put his arm around Landon and talk to him, it's bad enough for a yellow.

St. Silva should thank Michael Kennedy for losing complete control in the DC-Metros game because it made his effort look a lot less horrible yesterday. Leitch whacking Landon in the head, Weible coming in studs up. No way 22 guys should have been on the field atthe end.

The league has nailed people for running their mouhs before. While it's great comedy and locker room fodder, saying someone deserved a cheap shot should be a one-game vacation.

And the "We could be Dallas" comment will actually be the most assinine one he pays for in the long run.

 

Ok, let's see how you react when you get cheapshotted game in and game out.

I'm beginning to understand why Carlos Ruiz is such a punk. He has to be. Otherwise, he'll become a personal tackling dummy. The league has to do something about thuggish defending. EPL refs allow hard play, but they don't put up with the crap that MLS does.

 

this entire discussion is crazy.

1. Walker's antics were laughable. I wonder if the ref held back the card because he was laughing so hard at what a pu$$y Walker was. Bottom line is Landon was right ... the wuss dove. People get all over Landon on this board if he dives, but Lord All Mighty! Someone else dives and people want Landon's head!

2. Everybody standing up and being so self-rightous demanding Landon get suspended for his tackle on Guerva ... go back and look at the 10 worst fouls Landon's been involved in this year (i.e. the ones hes suffered and caused) and you'll see Landon gets hacked much, much worse than that. Where's the indignation then? Where's the calls for suspension when your favorite team's thug slides in late?

I'm just surprised it's taken this long for him to fight back. Of course when your favorite team tries to mutilate the kid, i'm sure you'll just call it some good, aggressive soccer.

And the postgame comments? I refer you to the case of Sticks and Stones vs. Bones.

 

So.....if your post is taken literally, you're saying....

1. The Laws of the Game are to be ignored. Throw an elbow or punch is NOT to be a red, regardless of if it lands? Let me remind you, and everyone else, INTENT is all that matters when an elbow is thrown. Not whether the other guy dives. Plain and simple.

2. Its ok for Donovan to go hacking other players just because he's been the victim of hacking all season? What?! Are you stupid?

 

Again, there it goes with people automatically taking what he says the wrong way. I didn't see it as a put-down on Dallas but rather an "At least we're in the playoffs, so we're not worrying about this game." Read the context of his answer. Mulrooney said something along the lines of "we're not gonna lose sleep over this." But once again, people on these boards are going to take and put Donovan in the worst light they can.

 

1. Let me just second what BenC1357 said. All that matters is intent. I have no problem punishing diving when it happens but if you throw an elbow or punch then you deserve a red card and at least a one day vacation. End of story, full stop. Doesn't matter who throws it or what the previous provocation may have been.

2. I don't think anyone is calling for a suspension based on just the tackle on Guevara. Some people think it should've been a red card, others think a yellow was sufficient. This sort of debate about whether plaer X deserved a red/yellow happens after every match that gets as rough as this one did. As far as finally "fighting back" goes, that's fine. If you want to fight back you gotta accept the consequences when do so (reds, yellows, suspensions).

3. Words matter. That's why coaches in all leagues are regularly fined for criticising the refs after matches, no matter how justified their complaint may be.

It is the combination of two possible red card fouls and post-game comments where he admits that the fouls were intentional and says they were desereved that is leading to calls for suspension. Doesn't matter who the player is people would be making these demands.

 

Unless you are Landon, you can't say people are taking it the "wrong way" because only he knows what he meant by it.

He put down another team, directly or indirectly. What Mulrooney said has no bearing on what Landon said. Here's Landon's full quote:

"We could be in a worse position. We could be Dallas."

How you can put that in a good light is beyond me. I don't see how calling what Dallas is going through "a worse situation" can be anything but a slap at the Burn.

 

Intent: David Beckham tossed from the '98 World Cup. He lay on the ground and feebly waved his leg around, sort of in the direction of an Argentine player. I didn't see many English fans defending Beckham's actions afterward. Why are there people on these boards defending a clear intent to harm a goalkeeper?

 

I'm all for LD getting his due for his intent - as long as the thugs in MLS get their due as well.

You can't just punish Donovan and let the ankle-biting status quo continue. Well I guess you can, but you end up looking pretty bush league.

 

I haven't seen anyone defending his intent. I've seen people putting it in context, but not defending it. At least I haven't.

 

Boo freakin' hoo. He put a slap on the Burn. People do it all the time this year. Oh, but, yeah, we're supposed to be politically correct and all nicey-nice. People, we want soccer put out there, right? What gets press, nicey-nice, or saying what you feel? And do you think the Burn are upset at what he said? Maybe, just maybe, they're thinking, "man, I can't wait till next year; I'm gonna kick Landon's butt." Isn't that what we want, a little passion?

 

Re: Re: Should Donovan be suspended?

I can understand criticizing LD because he went after Walker with an elbow. I cannot understand anyone even thinking twice about LD or anyone else stating a fact that is painfully obvious to anyone who has watched an MLS game this year. To wit, Dallas sucks. That is simply undeniable. Can you think of anyone in the world of MLS that could even try to rebut that? I can't.

 

LD made a complete fool out of himself, and lost the respect of just about every soccer fan outside SJ, all in just one game. That's really hard to do.

 

Re: Re: Re: Should Donovan be suspended?

Guys, Dallas does not suck: the Burn club is soccer-challenged.

Donovan should be suspended for the rest of the regular season for being insensitive to the plight of the Burn team and its fans.

 

I agree with completely. Doesn't matter who you are, throw a punch/elbow at someone you hit the showers. As for the thugs there's nothing I'd like to see more than for MLS refs to do a better job of warning, carding and tossing them for their hacks on the Donovan, Twellman, Guevara or Cancela's of the league. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in that area of the league.

 

Key word being a very, very big "if." He was trying to block a cross, not break a leg. He missed. Badly and recklessly, and very unfortunately for O'Brien, to be sure, but this whole notion that he was trying to injure him has been absurd from the beginning. Get over it.

Later,
COZ

 

O.K. the only Quakes fan actually giving me a positive response to this thread has been stillkickin. at least he has enough common sense.

While the rest of you still defend Donovan because of the exageration of Walker getting a phantom injury, or Donovan never really got him. This wasn't take three steps forward and fall now. This was all at once. The ball was sent in the air towards the Metro penalty area. Donovan broke free of his defender to attack. Walker jumped for the ball, caught it and on the way down Landon plants that elbow into Walker, landing and falling at the same time. Like I said the only one in the vicinity to get a great look at it was Steve Jolley.

I'm not defending some of these players who dive and hack like crazy. But I will be damned to see a keeper getting nailed for nothing and to read from some of you who are defending this action by Donovan, you are telling me that it's o.k. if the Keeper gets whacked. It's o.k. to shove him down after the play was stopped by the keeper. It's o.k. to allow this? What about last years open cup final between the Crew & Galaxy in Columbus. What did Carlos Ruiz do to Jon Busch? Intentional Elbow. Even though it was a cup final and Brian Hall did give Ruiz the Yellow Card, if this was a regular season match that would have been a straight Red. Brian Hall if he wanted to change the tempo very quickly and this was the 10th minute I believe that Ruiz nailed him. He would have been done, in the showers already and the Galaxy would have had ten men the rest of the way.

How many more examples do I have to give out to make those who defend Donovan to make you understand that this was B.S.. The reason I say that Landon has to be better than this, that all these cheap tactics he did against the Metro are beneath him and he should show better composure on the field. Frustration showed on his face. Understandable. He wasn't getting the scoring chances, they cut off his runs, he couldn't do anything. Be frustrated, there is no crime in that. but when he did those two things and the 2nd one was much worse in my opinion because he went after a defensless keeper.

Everyone exagerates how badly they were fouled. I hate it, you hate it, we all hate it. There is no such thing as sportsmanship anymore. Just like a harmless ball that gently rolled towards Rivaldo's feet at a corner kick attempt and he falls down like a ton of bricks, pretended that it hit him in the face in the World Cup against Turkey.

But one thing is for certain. Walker didn't lose posession of the ball, he didn't juggle the ball loose, it wasn't misplayed by any means necessary. Walker had the ball in his hands. Had a grip on it and never let it go. Landon Donovan intented to injure Walker.

Those of you who say that it was the right thing to do, then you have no common sense, you have no business being able to tell me that it was justified. Then you should just stop watching soccer and keep your mouths shut. Your arm chair ref license should be taken away from you. You act like your from central and south america where they intentionally take out their keepers on a regular basis.

 

No, but perhaps you are. Just a hunch since you can't read a post.

Lemme quote for you, big guy:
"go back and look at the 10 worst fouls Landon's been involved in this year (i.e. the ones hes suffered and caused) and you'll see Landon gets hacked much, much worse than that. Where's the indignation then? Where's the calls for suspension when your favorite team's thug slides in late?"

I don't ever say Landon should get away with anything. Never said it. You did. I'm just tired of the hypocritical nonsense .... Landon gets the snot beat out of him and nobody's out there calling for suspension. No,when that happens Landon's a diver.

Can't have it both ways ...... I'm just waiting for these same dorks to come back here crying for a suspension when Landon takes his fourth card-able foul next match. Oh that's right, Landon doesn't get fouled. He dives.

It's a two-way street.

I'm not defending what Landon did ... it was wrong and that's plain to see ... I'm just sick of people acting like this was the first time somebody committed a foul.

 

I'm not saying I don't think he should have said it. I'm saying exactly whatyou are saying - that's the one that carries the most potential payback. Dustin certainly knows the Burn players better than I do, so maybe nothing will come of it.

But when he's making fun of Guevara and Walker and says something about a whole team in the same interview - a team that had nothing to do with the game he jst made an assout of himself in - you'd have to think that the potentialpayback would be multiplied by 24 or so.

None of what you said is false. But if you were ona team that he made fun of, wouldn't you want a piece of him? That was my whole point.

You know, it is possible to analyze something without totally agreeing with what was said.

 

i agree with this statement.

the mere fact that LD thinks he's old enough or tough enough to be an enforcer is laughable. his postgame comments show no class....lets not forget that there's also a very good shot at LD playing a WCQ in Honduras against Guevara and his teammates....

and as we all know in away WCQ matches, the refs rarely hand out red cards to our opponents....LD is phucked.

 

Exactly.

As I posted a few back. One week Donovan is whining in the media about getting hacked by New England. The next week he is justifying hacking someone. If hes going to whine about hackers, shouldnt he remember what he said and not in turn do the hacking the next week. And then even worse justfiy that which he was complaining about the previous week.

His hypocricy alone deserves a slap in the face. His fouls deserved a red and a suspension.