If Landon Donovan plays well for the national team, like he did against Ecuador, it's "Why isn't he in Europe?"
If he fails to score, it's, "Why is he in MLS, where his game is getting dragged down?"
It's not enough to score the most goals for the Galaxy in 2006, it's "Why didn't Donovan save them from missing the playoffs?"
If he wants to stay with the Galaxy to help them make the postseason in a year in which the team is under more scrutiny than ever before, it's "Why is Donovan too wimpy to play in the Copa America?"
My view is that the national team will only get stronger if it learns to play games and even tournaments without Donovan. It's not that I don't think he's talented, but it doesn't make sense to me that so many rail on Donovan's inconsistency and then insist on relying on him at the same time.
Why not develop other options, take some pressure off Donovan and yet push him to keep up at the same time?
8 comments:
Well said. With the U.S. consistently playing 2 defensive mids lately, the withdrawn forward position is very critical. Landon is head and shoulders above the others in the forward pool with his attacking prowess and creativity. We desperately need to improve the depth behind him. This is the the time in the World Cup cycle to do so. The Galaxy need him more than the U.S. team needs him for Copa America.
A candidate that might be most similar to Landon in his attacking verve is Lee Nguyen. How has he looked in his first USMNT camp? Let's give him some time in the China friendly to show his qualities. Any chance that he can make the cut for the Copa America roster based on his performance in this camp???
Good job, Andrea. Here's hoping Jim Moorehouse is reading today and gets the message to Bob.
This national team needs depth. The Copa America is the perfect opportunity to start developing it.
I think he's doing a disservice to Donovan and the team to be putting the screws to him like this. Landon bleeds red, white and blue, and Bob knows this - and even implying that Landon needs to be reminded that he got where he is because of the national team is a slap in the fact that LD doesn't deserve.
Bradley specifically said that it was "possible" that he'd call in one of the young options currently with the squad for the China game to Copa America.
That's a rough spot to be in. Coach Bob has to develop new Donovans. That's not going to be easy, given the type of soccer that is played here in the states. Too bad the USSF doesn't do more to harvest Latino players. At least you increase the pool of available players. just a thought.
I was watching MLS Extratime this afternoon (yes, I must be really bored) and they were talking about the LA Galaxy trading Landon Donovan. I haven't heard anything about this anywhere else. Are they serious? Is LAG focusing only on selling tickets and not winning anything? I know that Alexi Lalas is inept but...
Yes, great points Andrea!
I say the problems begin and end at center mid for the US. We are very weak at that spot, and in the formations Bradley has used lately he's asked his center mids to do nothing more than win balls and play simple possession.
Feilhaber and Bradley are solid young players, but they are not going to be creating and scoring goals at the international level, most of the burden will once again fall on Donovan.
If Donovan performs, the coach looks great, if he doesn't perform maybe he can take a page from Arena's book and lay the blame on Landon.
Creative mids don't grow on trees. Unfortunately for the US Nats the pool is slim right now.
Where are the Hugo Perez, Tab Ramos, etc...
The truth is that Bradley is not going to develop talent for fear of getting the hook so the talents that might not be in the National team pool as of yet will be overlooked as always.
If the US doesnt win the Gold Cup or do well in Copa America than Bradley is toast. This was the only true problem I saw with hiring Bradley vs. a Pekerman or Klinsman. That is why we have Razov, Marsch, Mastro, and other re-treads on the squad.
Like commenter John said, attacking central midfielders aka "playmakers" are where the USMNT is quite thin, with Donovan being the only prime-time choice. Actually it's not so much of a problem if we had a pair of reliable strikers. That would allow LD to play "in the hole" behind the strikers -- he can make that brilliant final pass or shoot from the 18 or go out on a breakaway, etc. Since we seem to be even worse at developing quality strikers, it becomes important to develop more attacking midfielders, allowing LD to play pure forward.
If we look around, the US isn't as weak at this position as might first appear. A fair case can be made for any of Adu, Ballouchy, or Mapp to have been included in the squad to play the CAM position. Or have Dempsey play this position in a real game that matters... he wasn't quite a real winger for the Revs (Ralston has been doing that for as long as anyone can remember). What's really weird is why we need four - yes, four - defensive/holding midfielders (Bradley, Clark, Feilhaber, and Mastroeni) on the roster.
The Mexico and Ecuador games had an interesting formation -- instead of a defensive midfielder and an attacking MF, we played a "flat" midfield (with an LCM and an RCM) -- thus the midfield was not a diamond but a horizontal line (geez, I'm sounding like I'm picking a lineup for EA's FIFA game). It appeared that the Clark--Mastroeni combination (against Mexico) was effective in closing the brilliant Mexican attack (and hence looked more defensive than a well-spread MF), while the Bradley--Feilhaber combination did a better job of stretching the field in both dimensions, going box-to-box and distributing balls very well.
Maybe that's Papa Bradley's strategy -- play Donovan as a pure forward, paired with EJ or Ching. While I am a big fan of Ching's, I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to include him, given our lack of quality crossers, other than the injured Convey.
Post a Comment