Landon Donovan has seen plenty of success in England, but should he come home now? (Getty Images)

Part of me wants Landon Donovan to stay in England. The other part of me wants him back here in the US with the LA Galaxy. Thing is I cannot for the life of me decide which is the right one to go with.

Its a rough dilemma to be in for Donovan. He wants to stay on with Everton just a little bit longer but we know LA manager Bruce Arena has said no a few times to the press recently.

“It was kind of like in that movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’, where the man says that there is a chance, it’s just one in a million,” said Arena. The Galaxy coach, who has remained in frequent contact with the midfielder throughout his loan, did not appear concerned about the comments.

“There is always a chance, it may be one in a million, but there is always a chance.”

Yeah a chance, a very small one but one nonetheless. Continue Reading…

Robbie Findley struggled yesterday in Holland. (Getty Images)

Do we chalk this loss yesterday to Holland as a bad thing. Uh, yes and no. Yes because its a loss and one that showed us exactly where we stand. No because it did help US manager Bob Bradley out in figuring out who exactly he needs to take with him to South Africa.

I felt like going into the classic good, bad and ugly theme for this recap. I gave it a day to mull things over and see where I think things stand. We did see some good, things we can take from the game and move forward with a positive attitude about. But on the flip side there were some negatives in this one and then some down right ugly items I hate even bringing up today. Continue Reading…

Not a bad showing by the US against Holland. (Getty Images)

I won’t go too into the match just yet, I have a plan on re-watching some of it later on today but I did want to give my initial player ratings from this afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Dutch in Amsterdam.

WVH USMNT Player Ratings:

Tim Howard – 7
Jonathan Spector – 5
Carlos Bocanegra – 7
Jay DeMerit – 5
Jonathan Bornstein – 2
Stuart Holden – 5
Michael Bradley – 5
Jose Francisco Torres – 5
Landon Donovan – 4
Jozy Altidore – 6
Robbie Findley – 4

Subs:
Maurice Edu – 4
DeMarcus Beasley – 7
Alejandro Bedoya – 6
Heath Pearce – 4
Eddie Johnson – 4
Clarence Goodson – 5

Top Three Players for US:

1. DeMarcus Beasley – Off the bench he was very good today, probably much better than he’s been in recent games that I’ve seen him in. I like the idea of him still coming off the bench though instead of starting for the US.
2. Tim Howard – He made his usual few big saves but got unlucky with the PK and the other goal. Still can’t blame this loss at all on Timmy, he worked his ass off as usual.
3. Carlos Bocanegra – Got the lone goal on a great free kick by Beasley. He was so freakin’ open on that play it was ridiculous. He also did well in the back today for the US.

Overall it wasn’t a terrible game by the US. I thought Donovan was a ghost most of the game but that could be due to poor service from out of the back for him. Early on the US was too predictable in the midfield and in the final third. Robbie Findley was okay but really showed he has no shot at a roster spot in South Africa after getting over powered in this game by the Dutch defense. He has the speed to beat them but never really took people on like we would have liked.

Bad day for Bornstein though. First the penalty late in the first half and then the deflection for the second Dutch goal in the second half. I thought Bob Bradley should have subbed him at half for someone like Pearce but he’s got too much of a love fest for Bornstein.

Again, I hope to have more later on this game.

Bob Bradley has some tough choices to make for tomorrow's friendly against Holland (Getty Images)

Honestly I need to amp up my USMNT cover on here. I’ll admit I don’t get to see every game like I would like and I honestly nearly forgot the El Salvador game last week. In fact I didn’t even get to watch all of it but what I did see what the final 20 minutes or so which were fun to view since it was a nice comeback for the US.

What we know is this Holland game tomorrow is a biggie. Its in Holland and the Dutch are easily one of the best squads in the World right now. But this is more than a high profile friendly for Bob Bradley it is a chance to really finish filling out his roster for June at the World Cup in South Africa.

A good chunk of the roster is probably set but for those bubble players this is a big test. The two friendlies so far this year were definitely for the MLS talent to show their stuff and while they did a decent job only a couple of that B or C bunch will make an sort of dent in this roster come June.

Bradley has a couple areas to hammer out before June. The nearly all his defense needs to be figured out, his defensive midfield spot, and a striker. Continue Reading…

The Galaxy could actually be better in 2010 than what they were in 2009. (Getty Images)

We’re a little over half way home in our look at each Major League Soccer club this winter. So far we’ve hammered out Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Philadelphia in out preseason look ins.

So far this winter the LA Galaxy have had a similar offseason that we expected them to have. David Beckham went to Italy to be with AC Milan and Landon Donovan went to England to play for Everton until March. We knew going into the winter months that those things would happen. Unlike last year when there was a lot of bad press about loan moves for Beckham, this year was a little smoother for the two sides.

Aside from that Bruce Arena has made a couple moves since then and even with one draft pick back in January at the SuperDraft he came away with a solid draft grade by me and most people.

Let’s see how the Galaxy are looking right now and what else they need to do to their roster before the season kicks off.

Continue Reading…

Qwest Field will be full again in 2010. (Getty Images)

Seattle Caps Season Ticket Sales at 32,000

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You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me. For some reason the club had to explain why they capped the season ticket sales at 32,000 which is an unbelievable number for any MLS club. First of all they raised the number of season ticket sales by 10,000 and with only a 1,000 of those left on the board you have to expect them to reach that total by March.

We’ve been saying since day one other teams must take note of everything this club does off the field in terms of outreach to the community, marketing and just everything really. Kudos to the Sounders for a job well done here.

Fire Add Krol To Their Defense

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I like how the Chicago Fire are going about their offseason here. They have a simple checklist of positions that they need to fill and one-by-one they are taking care of business with them. Today they announced the addition of a new left back to replace Gonzalo Segares. The name Krzysztof Krol isn’t flashy by any means but if he does any bit as good as Segares the Fire will be fine.

Burse Jr. Out In Dallas

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Some fans hate to see a quality player go but in this instance I can’t say I am upset by this move by FC Dallas. Today they waived keeper Ray Burse Jr.

Look Burse had a decent run but he never really cracked the starting lineup full-time like some thought he should. He got loaned out one year and did well in the USL and I’m sure he’ll get picked up somewhere else. He always needed PT to progress as a player and in Dallas that just wasn’t happening anytime soon unless Dario Sala was injured.

Dallas just needed to move on from him and I don’t blame them a single bit for it. More than likely they are searching for a new keeper to step in either sometime down the road.

Donovan Scores First EPL Goal

The title says it all.

Landon Donovan and Kasey Keller are widely known as important soccer figures in and out of MLS circles. Through FIFPro, Donovan and Keller expressed their concerns on what a potential lock-out could do to the league and the sport in America if owners aren’t willing to compromise on a few key issues.

The statement outlined some of the biggest differences between the league’s stance and what the Players Union is asking for. The issues listed were:

• Player contracts are routinely terminated by the league during their term, as almost 80% of players in MLS do not have guaranteed contracts;
• MLS operates as a cartel in that every player’s contract must be entered into with the league instead of his club;
• The contract of virtually every player in the league contains multiple unilateral one-year options that may only be exercised by the league;
• Virtually any player in the league can be transferred to another club within the league without his consent even if such transfer is international, such as a transfer from an MLS club in the United States to or from an MLS club in Canada;
• There is no freedom of movement for any MLS player to any other MLS clubs when his contract expires – in fact, even if a player’s contract is unilaterally terminated by a club during its term, that club continues to hold such player’s rights and he is prohibited from signing with another club in the league.

Now I am going to keep my opinion on this matter to myself for the time being. I’m honestly still on the fence about a lot of things here. I do see the need for a few of these things that the players outline but I also understand a bit where the owners are coming from here too.

A lockout and/or strike will only do damage to the league and the sport. Keller and Donovan both present a case that should be heard loud and clear to the owners.

I did see a very interesting piece this morning on the Fake Sigi blog about this matter. He argues that the league is in no violation of the FIFA regulations that the players are arguing. Interesting to say the very least.