SJMN (9/11/2002): "High profile hurts Donovan"

Yeah, and a lot of our own San Jose Earthquakes fans contribute to this by ragging on him (at least here on BigSoccer). You know who you are!!

This from Brian Hall:
"In some countries, Hall said, this is easier because each team has a few stars, and by protecting all of them, a referee can call a game that's fair to both sides. In MLS, however, the number of stars is limited; there might be only one exceptional player on the field and favoring him could give his team too big an advantage."

That has got to be the biggest bunch of evasive crap and excuse-making for his fellow MLS referees that I have seen. Stuff it, Brian! (not you, bpc).

 

Sounds painful.

 

So I'm not sure if this belongs on the official Landon thread (to which I have proudly contributed NOTHING) but that article got me thinking.
I am a big fan of Landon Donovan the soccer player, I talk to him on a very regular basis and we've hung out from time to time, at a stretch I might consider him a friend, hell I invited him to my wedding.
But lately, dude's been pissing me off. Against the Crew my friends were staring at me for the entire match because I did not have a single positive word to say about the guy. Flopping around like a trout at the slightest touch, trying to draw the foul when a shot was by far the better answer, talking back to the ref when it's not warranted...and...most annoyingly of ALL.....NOT SHOOTING THE FRICKING BALL! How many times last season did we see the dude slam in a shot from outside the area only to watch it cascade into the back of the net, beyond the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper? Comparably this season, how many times have we seen LD try and beat the keeper with a nice little move only to be humiliated when the ball trickles out of bounds.
Anyway, bottom line...play the game Landon.

 

See, when I first saw this thread, I thought this article was gonna lay into Landon for letting his status get to his head - and his game.

I was thinking pretty much what SJfuture just said.

But I think SJfuture is just mad cuz Landon steals all the hot chicks!

 

Landon is currently playing alot like he did in the WC qualifiers. Almost invisible on the pitch. I honestly thought he was going to embarrass us in Korea, but did an outstanding job to my relief. Now he's back - and not playing 1/2 as well as he was against the Portuguese and German defense. How is this possible ? He rarely takes shots on goal and too often tries to set up that perect goal for anyone else that is in the vicinity. I too have noticed that at any point of contact the guy falls like a bag of potatoes. He's better than that. Anyone who watched the world cup knows it. Maybe Mr. Yallop has something to do with that ? Who knows. But when you get guys like Ekelund and Mulrooney taking almost as many shots as your star forward for club and country you have to wonder what is going on. If we are to get through the playoffs Landon will need to rely on his natural instincts and play full on attacking offense.