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War of words between Galaxy, Red Bulls continues ahead of second leg

DonovanRodgers (Getty Images)

The on-field battles between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls include some of MLS' marquee names, but the off-field war of words between Landon Donovan and Luke Rodgers is arguably just as entertaining.

After their regular-season meeting in May, Donovan was criticized by Rodgers for complaining to officials too much and failing to shake Thierry Henry's hand after the game. Donovan responded to those remarks with a subtle "I'm confused, who is Luke Rogers?" tweet. 

Following a chippy Western Conference semifinal first leg that ended with Rafa Marquez throwing the ball at Donovan after the final whistle and a postgame skirmish breaking out, Donovan told reporters, "In all my years in this league I've never played against a cheaper team, and they've been doing it all year."

A couple of days later, Rodgers has his response.

"We're not a cheap team," Rodgers said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. "If calling a team cheap is the will to win and tackling and putting everything into the game, I don't call it a cheap team."

After defending his side, Rodgers made sure to include a little dig at the Galaxy, as well. 

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," Rodgers said. "A lot of their players were doing the same things."

Rodgers referred to hard tackling throughout the match and he specifically mentioned a gash on New York left back Roy Miller's leg that was the result of a challenge from David Beckham. Nevertheless, Rodgers did not make excuses one way or another, instead just calling the physical style and trash talking part of playoff soccer.

"No one's moaning here," Rodgers said. "I don't understand why everyone's complaining. I personally just think it's part of the game. I don't think anyone expects two big teams with players that really want to win just have it be a really pretty game and shake hands after the game. Certain things will get said. In my eyes, it's part of football."

The two teams meet Thursday night at the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy nursing a 1-0 aggregate lead.

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What do you make of Rodgers' comments? How do you see Thursday night's match playing out?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Way to keep it classy Guru…your parents must be so proud.

    You know, after reading your comment, its appearent You too also suffer from Whiney little B-ch-itis.

    If you havn’t been told this, and quite frankly, I suspect that you hear it quite often, Grow Up…at some point in your life junior, you have to start acting and thinking like a grown up. And yes, this means having a discussion without slinging insults at other people. Its time you graduated from Time-outs and throwing yourself on the floor to acting like a contributing member of society. You can start by making this forum like your own personal proving ground for learning how to interact positively with your peers. And for your own sake, here is some advice for you, when you finally go out into the world and get a big boy job and hang around other big boys, don’t get jelous over the promotions and acolades that are given to those employees that have more going for them because they probably worked harder than you. Instead, use that as motivation to get ahead in life. Believe in yourself and in your ability and be thankful for what you have in your own life and acknowledge the good that others have accomplished. Be positive. Not negative.

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  2. for all of u talking about landon u have to be red bull fans every soccer player complains about fouls… rafa marquez is the picture of classless… i agree with rodgers that it is just a physical game but when the game is over to throw a soccer ball at another player yeah real classy the guy is a punk and thinks he is above everyone on his own team at least LD sticks up for the players on his own team.

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  3. You are silly my friend. Stop honoring and making excuses for Donovan when he doesn’t deserve it. Did you read my post? I said I was proud of him when he was at Everton. I honestly believe a lot of people like you have your response ready before you even read what you are responding to. Don’t be a hater man. 🙂

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  4. Ah yes, one of those “hater” idiots. I bet you have the bumper sticker. Usually a person who hates but goes around calling everyone who disagrees with him a hater. Stop being a hater!

    You’re also one of the common breed who posts here who never wants to respond to what was actually said or to what you know was meant by the person commenting. Master of the straw man argument. Would a person who really hates someone and doesn’t want to give them credit or honor them, as you put it, say they were proud of something they had done. You are a childish imbecile.

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