What a moron. Does he think this will quiet his critics?????

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Donovan said his performance was a personal statement after being criticized for his play during the World Cup in Germany.

"I don't think I became a bad player over two bad games. I was hoping I didn't. I could've hung my head and been upset but I learned a lot. I'm being more aggressive, and it's helping," he said.

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well he did score three goals in two games coming back to the MLS. I dont think he has much of a point though...it just goes to show how weak the MLS is

Don't bash the MLS my december. It doesn't help anything. You can't get others interested in watching pro soccer that way, and in the long run, bashing the MLS is bad for the future of USMNT & american soccer in general.

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it just goes to show how weak the MLS is

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No, it shows that MLS isn't as competitive as the World Cup...shocking.

Ronaldo and Ronaldinho had some very subpar performances at the World Cup too. Some were downright horrible. By your rationale, La Liga must be very weak too.

I'm done with Landon Donovan. Until he decides to leave the US and improve his game, he'll always be a two bit player to me and a player who was either too afraid, or too complacent to challenge himself. He is nothing to me. Sadly, US Soccer will continue to push him as the face of American soccer.

They actually may move onto dempsey as their poster child, but hopefully when the time comes for clint he has the stones to play stiffer competition

Donovan is an excellent player. However, when he is needed the most (i.e., World Cup), he doesn't show up. He might as well stayed at home.
Were we a better World Cup team because he was on it? Nope!

Come over to the Bundesliga and get tough Landon or we'll just have to wait for another talent to fully emerge.

Donovan is a very weak player and showed his true colors this world cup. He tried to play overseas and couldn't. He'd rather sit in a comfort zone in the MLS than play in a challenging league.

Donovan is fine, he showed his explosiveness in the world cup; he just didnt score a goal. Did anyone see Ronaldhino score a goal. If so I missed it. I saw goals from ten different guys on Italys team hence the reason they won it all. Donovan was not a striker; I was more diappointed with McBride than Donovan. He plays in Europe and didnt even have an opportunity on goal. Eddi Johnson should have started every match and he should have been in the midfield. Also, speaking of Dempsey, the main problem we have is our coach. He didnt touch the field in the first game, played great in the second half of the second game and scored our only goal in the third game. Get rid of Bruce obviously

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Did anyone see Ronaldhino score a goal. If so I missed it.

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Did anyone see Donovan win Footballer of the Year, the Champions League, and the title in one of the top leagues in the world? If so, I missed it. Forgive me if I cut Ronaldihno a little more slack than I do Donovan. His achievements have earned him that.

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I was more diappointed with McBride than Donovan. He plays in Europe and didnt even have an opportunity on goal.

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So let me get this straight. You hold McBride to higher standard...because he plays in Europe he should do well. But Landon can suck and it's OK because he plays in MLS? That makes sense.

Landon didnt suck, he made more opportunities than McBride although they were few. Ronaldhino has been great and did not shine in the biggest game he has played to date. He was the man this year for Brazil and was non existant as a forward against France. He did control the ball in other games, but did not come through when they needed him similar to donovan

Top U.S. players should be playing in Europe. I believe we would be a lot more competitive if they did across the board.

McBride is on his last leg that's all..

aggie028-

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He plays in Europe and didnt even have an opportunity on goal

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There were a few moments -- Brian McBride sent a diving header clanking off the near post -- but Ghana rode out the victory

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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/soccer/specials/world_cup/2006/06/22/us.ghana/index.html


You obviously were not watching the WC very closely..take a look at the second half of the Ghana game...header of the bar?

McBride had a much better WC than Donovan.

[This message has been edited by randy828 (edited 7/9/2006 11:45p).]

[This message has been edited by randy828 (edited 7/9/2006 11:47p).]

You are correct, he had a header off the bar... that was a good opportunity and one of our only good opportunities on goal during the entire world cup; I watched very closely... dont think I missed a game in the first round, definitely not after that. McBride is a great player and is awesome in the air. His toughness makes him a great leader, but he did not put one in the back of the net. Dempsey, a midfielder from the MLS scored the only goal for the United States (Italy scored the other). How is a guy in his first world cup appearance going to come out and look better than the veterans is my question. Yea I expected much much more out of Donovan, but everyone else let me down also. I wanted to see more of Johnson and Arena really urked me all tournament. What explanation can he give for not using the subs against Italy when we were down a man and 8 men at that?!?!??! Our guys were walking all over the place at the end of the game and your not going to use all of the subs - coach was the root to all our of problems in my opinion

028-

Donovan has a history of this in big games.

He's gotten so much criticism about it, that he feels like he has to justify it (hence the original post).

He had his opportunities to improve overseas, but was homesick and returned home instead....satisfied being a big fish in a small pond, rather than trying to be the big fish in a big pond. It shows his lack of drive.

Im not sure why you'd defend him.

fwiw-

Beasely was, by far, the biggest dissapointment for me.

I dont know if he was coached to play that way, or if he just played timid, but he made no runs....which is his bread and butter.

I did not like how Beasley played either...do you think it might have something to do with his spat with Arena? For the most part, it seemed he did not want to be there. That being said, his pass to Dempsey was about the lone bright spot of the WC for us.

What separates Dempsey from the others is that he is obviously a more creative/open-minded player than anyone else we have and he can actually score. Donovan however has better vision than Dempsey, which is why he should be our main center mid.

dempsey is no different than donovan was 4 years ago. hes the current poster boy, and will suck ass in the next world cup and everyone will find someone new to be the savior of american soccer

I think Dempsey is very different from Donovan and would jump at the chance to better himself abroad.

Interesting article on his possibilities:

http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=extratime&id=001296

the reason I defend Donovan is because it looked like he played hard. He had a couple great sprints out of the midfield against Italy that really got the team moving. When your constantly giving the ball away and theres no push towards the other end the entire team gets frustrated. Yea I think he should have scored a goal and didnt get close, but my number one worry is still the fact that we did not sub vs. Italy when we should have and why we didnt utilize a young player like Eddi Johnson more when not much was going right. Down against czech, was it really necessary to wait until late in the game to put him and Dempsey in. Then in the Italy game we dont even see him after he made a few great runs the game before with his small amount of playing time. Not to mention we were content to play with 1 forward when scoring goals was an obvious problem and we werent shutting teams out by any means. I think with a better coach that could utilize the talent we had, every player would have looked better so I cant blast the players. TO me, Reyna was more of a let down that Donovan. He hit the post once.... did he do much else?

1. Donovan, Beasley & Pope were on the back of milk cartons the entire WC.

2. Dempsey is a player--he has size, very good one on one skills, and is aggressive. These qualities Donovan does not have in sufficnet amounts to warrant being a good player on the world stage. The same can be said for 98% of the players on the National team.

3. McBride had a much better WC than Donovan.

____________________________________
I have seen the enemy, and it is us.

What Aggie028 said. Arena's 451 ruined this team and made all the players look sad.

Donavan makes 1 million a year - why would he move. And for those b--ing about his play in Germany - he was a KID.

BigJim49,

He was a kid the first time he went to Germany. Maybe you could say he was a kid the second time he went to Germany and left once again with his tail between his legs, the third time he "went to Germany" (the 2006 World Cup) he once again was sent back to the USA looking like the same old "KID". My question BigJim49 is, when do people stop making excuses for him? Until you hold "KIDS" responsible for what they do, how they act, and the way they behave, they will remain "KIDS".

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I was more diappointed with McBride than Donovan. He plays in Europe and didnt even have an opportunity on goal.

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So we play a 4-5-1, the 5 midfielders (particularly the attackign ones) do nothing to support the lone striker, don't create anything for him, and you blame the lone striker?

On the bandwagon since birth. Raised in the bleachers of Kyle, Olsen, and G. Rollie White

Blaming McBride for anything is ignorant.

BigJim... what Aggiebird02 said..plus..how old do you think Kaka was when he went to AC Milan, and Robinho when he went to Real Madrid(both were 21)? Reyna joined Bayer Leverkusen straight out of college. I could go on with the list if you want. Most great players do go over to Europe when they are young. And the great ones don't go running home to momma.

what has Reyna done lately for all his great experience- got faked out so badly he hurt his leg and cost us a goal! Beasley, one of the all time failures - oh, I forgot he plays in Europe, I must be wrong. Who are the other midfielders? they were non-existant. Dempsey who should be at forward got a goal.

How do you explain all the other players his age, or younger playing well on the Big Stage?

The point is that Donovan is content being a star in the MLS....

like who? Why did Arena pick Landon over the supposed hot shots from Europe?

I wasnt talking about just American players his age....




But to answer your question, I dont know...that's one of many questions I have for Arena regarding this world cup.