OT: Landon Donovan Left Off USA WC Squad

[ZooCougar]

Back then, they were a perennial UEFA Cup team. Certainly nothing to shake a stick at, but also certainly not one of the top clubs in the world by any stretch of the imagination.

In LD's last year there, they were in the UEFA Cup (2005, the "lower" European tourney). They went again in 2006 and 2007, and then missed out of European play in 2008 and 2009. I'm too lazy to look up the rest of the years. Would they have qualified for European play with Landon? Who knows. But...there's a difference between a solid club and one of the best in the world...

Landon missed the opportunity of a lifetime with BL. And in actuality he really only played in the lower division team in 1999, was out on loan until 2005-2006 when he made like less than 10 appearances.

Around the early 2000s they were Champions League runners up I believe twice. Bayer Leverkusen's stature back then was pretty damn big. The were hardly FC Kaiserslautern.

 

[SubbaBub]

I would simply say that Bradley should have gone to another Euro club (either on loan or outright). Not always up to the player of course.

There are lot of politics involved in Euro transfers, agents control a lot of who goes where. The $ and guaranteed to start was too attractive in a world cup year.

Remember, a year after Dempsey scored all those goals for Fullham, he rode the bench a lot at Spurs. Managers decision. No one looking toward a WC wants to risk that.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

In this game Tuesday night at Candlestick Park, anyone care about it more than the endless Landycakes' whining? How many know, let alone can spell the opponent's country name? Or, know any of their players?

 

[Waquoit]

In this game Tuesday night at Candlestick Park, anyone care about it more than the endless Landycakes' whining? How many Who can spell the opponent's country name?

I'm still trying to figure out why they are on the front of Athletico Madrid's kit. (I was going to say jersey but I didn't want to give the soccer snob another chance to feel superior).

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Over 250 posts and 2 threads about soccer on the football board.

Embarrassing.

 

[ZooCougar]

Over 250 posts and 2 threads about soccer on the football board.

Embarrassing.

You're just out of touch.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

You're just out of touch.

Yeah just me and the majority of American sports fans.

How about them Yanks?

Did ARod bang your wife or something?

 

[John]

Yeah just me and the majority of American sports fans.

How about them Yanks?

the times they are a changin' my friend, I think we are on the cusp of the US accepting this game as a major American sport.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Over 250 posts and 2 threads about soccer on the football board.

Embarrassing.

It's the dead zone for college football. Very little positive to hang your hat on for UCONN football, aside from building anticipation for the season. The head coach is out there in public drumming up bidness, and you hope behind the scenes, has a pretty good idea and plan of what the 2015 recruiting class is shaping up as, even if there is no public info. We've got roster holes in the depth chart all over the place still. THEy did a good job of building up the OL trenches with the 2014 class, and a couple of RB's but most of those players and while hopefully makign the team better in practices, won't be in til fall and won't be visible contributors for us fans minimum a year. We know who all the players returning are, and there isn't much to say there, other than I hope they've actually been working out, and becoming an actual football team. We'll see at the end of August.

S0 - what else is going on in June this year? Only the largest and most intense sports tournament that exists on the planet.

Forgive those of us Jimmy, that choose to discuss it. Have a drink with one of those fancy little umbrellas in the sun. Sit back and take in a soccer game. If nothing else, just think about the physical condition those players need to be in, to be able to run essential non-stop for 45 minutes at a clip, and still be able to think about tactics and use skill.

If I'm not mistaken, Blidi was a pretty good soccer player before strapping on the pads and headgear. Maybe we can find some recruits on the pitch. We need them.

 

[SubbaBub]

In this game Tuesday night at Candlestick Park, anyone care about it more than the endless Landycakes' whining? How many know, let alone can spell the opponent's country name? Or, know any of their players?

Tonight's game is supposedly the stand-in dummy for Germany. So, I don't expect to draw much from it, in the terms of tactical preview.

I will be looking mostly at the back line. Who starts, who subs where. Does Cameron get run at CB, RB, or both? Does Beasley start? Does Gonzales look as lost as he did during Ukraine? How much time do the kids get? If they are going to play in Brazil, you think this would be the game to do it.

 

[UConnDan97]

Landon missed the opportunity of a lifetime with BL. And in actuality he really only played in the lower division team in 1999, was out on loan until 2005-2006 when he made like less than 10 appearances.

Around the early 2000s they were Champions League runners up I believe twice. Bayer Leverkusen's stature back then was pretty damn big. The were hardly FC Kaiserslautern.

Leverkusen did indeed play in the final back in 2002, losing to Real Madrid. They had a pretty nice team, with Ballack, Neuville, and Berbatov among others. The year prior, they were bounced in the round of 32, and the year after, they were bounced in the round of 16.

Again, they are a very good club, but they aren't even top4 in their own country, much less one of the top in the world. I'm not trying to mock them, though. They would beat every one of our MLS squads, I'm sure...

 

[UConnDan97]

Over 250 posts and 2 threads about soccer on the football board.

Embarrassing.

Welcome back! Don't worry, Jimmy; soon, we'll get back to the business of talking about Jesus in the huddle and whether or not our helmets suck...

 

[John]

Welcome back! Don't worry, Jimmy; soon, we'll get back to the business of talking about Jesus in the huddle and whether or not our helmets suck...

and discussing how late the fans are in getting to their seats.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yeah just me and the majority of American sports fans.

How about them Yanks?

Did ARod bang your wife or something?

Haha false. Baseball fans are dying faster than new ones are being made. You may have that sport all to yourself before long.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yeah just me and the majority of American sports fans.

How about them Yanks?

Did ARod bang your wife or something?

Jimmy,

Honestly I feel bad for you. Not quite embarassed but bad. You sound like the people who don't like the smoking bans in public places.

My offseason will be so much more enjoyable than yours. I get the WC all June, the Tour all July and then preseason football will kick off.

The last time we had the World Cup I was in Baghdad, and even on a deployment you can find time to catch a game. It literally made three months fly by. Love the World Cup. Love it.

 

[John]

Haha false. Baseball fans are dying faster than new ones are being made. You may have that sport all to yourself before long.

yep, the younger generation doesn't give two spits about baseball.

 

[ZooCougar]

Leverkusen did indeed play in the final back in 2002, losing to Real Madrid. They had a pretty nice team, with Ballack, Neuville, and Berbatov among others. The year prior, they were bounced in the round of 32, and the year after, they were bounced in the round of 16.

Again, they are a very good club, but they aren't even top4 in their own country, much less one of the top in the world. I'm not trying to mock them, though. They would beat every one of our MLS squads, I'm sure...

Were you even a soccer fan in 2002? Or did you just start liking it when ESPN decided it was cool? Believe me, LD on that roster was a bid deal, they were one of the highest profile clubs in Europe at the time.

 

[ZooCougar]

yep, the younger generation doesn't give two spits about baseball.

"Daddy, what was baseball?"

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Jimmy,

Honestly I feel bad for you. Not quite embarassed but bad. You sound like the people who don't like the smoking bans in public places.

My offseason will be so much more enjoyable than yours. I get the WC all June, the Tour all July and then preseason football will kick off.

The last time we had the World Cup I was in Baghdad, and even on a deployment you can find time to catch a game. It literally made three months fly by. Love the World Cup. Love it.

Zoo you're still alright in my book, but your read on me is way off.

 

[ZooCougar]

Zoo you're still alright in my book, but your read on me is way off.

Ok.

 

[LRock34]

Within the next 20 years soccer will rival baseball in the US and the US will be a legit top 10 soccer nation. If we can get the world cup again during that time span, soccer will explode here.

 

[LRock34]

I've railed on the LD omission enough and quite frankly, it's ruining my enjoyment of the run up to Brazil.

So as a coda to this argument, here is the only legitimate reason JK left LD at home.
JK didn't believe LD had the pace and endurance to go full throttle in the wide midfield for a full shift, be it 90m, 60m, 30m. This means tracking back, pushing the ball from the back, dribbling by people, and covering the fullbacks on the overlap. So, he put him at forward, were Jozy and Dempsey are locks, Johannsson is an obvious talent, pace, ball skills with a bunch of european goals (lousy dutch league aside) this season.

So it's down to LD vs. Wondo. On the one hand you have a guy who would give his left nut to be on that plane, who has scrapped, and clawed for every chance and will leave it all on the field when he is put in. OTOH, you have a guy at the end of his career, nothing left to prove, who skipped out for three months when JK was brought on and has a negative history with him. It's not that difficult a decision if you're JK.

Now, I think thats pure bollocks. LD is as fit and a much better player than Wondo, Davis, et al. So, the can't or won't do it argument doesn't fly with most.

This is exactly right. LD is not a midfielder on this team for all the reasons that you stated. LD is a forward on the national team and there is no room for him at forward. People are down on Altidore right now but they all have extremely short memories. JA was a beast less than a year ago for the US.

 

[SubbaBub]

This is exactly right. LD is not a midfielder on this team for all the reasons that you stated. LD is a forward on the national team and there is no room for him at forward. People are down on Altidore right now but they all have extremely short memories. JA was a beast less than a year ago for the US.

I'm also anti-Altidore. He clogs things up and can't be relied upon. Big and athletic, yes. Bad touch, can't dribble not great in the air. Can accelerate away from defenders if given the ball in the right spot, but too one dimensional for me.

 

[rich1122]

the times they are a changin' my friend, I think we are on the cusp of the US accepting this game as a major American sport.

I stopped watching NBA basketball long ago. I watch almost no baseball. I have reduced the NFL. So what's left. College football and Soccer.

Everybody in the world is into the world cup. The Yankees are only on MSG.

How can you not be excited about the next 6 weeks..

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I'm still trying to figure out why they are on the front of Athletico Madrid's kit. (I was going to say jersey but I didn't want to give the soccer snob another chance to feel superior).

There are USD 16 million reasons why over the an 18 month period while the name of a very oil rich country is on Athltico's jersey. Just like there are between USD 1.2 and USD 2.0 million per voter reasons why Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup.