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Donovan equalizer forces Galaxy draw against Fire

Landon Donovan

By CAITLIN MURRAY

Landon Donovan continues his goal-scoring ways in the wake of being cut from the U.S. Men’s National Team World Cup roster.

Around the same time the USMNT was playing its second send-off match of three Sunday before heading to Brazil, the Los Angeles Galaxy were kicking off on the road against the Chicago Fire — a 1-1 draw that would see Donovan score his third goal in two games.

The Galaxy were down in the 74th — after the Fire’s Jeff Larentowicz converted a penalty kick minutes earlier — when Donovan got on the end of a Robbie Rogers cross. Donovan on a late run one-time knocked it past the near post to pull the Galaxy even and extend his Major League Soccer scoring record to 137 goals.

Donovan’s form since being left off the World Cup roster is hard to ignore — before his ouster from the USMNT pre-World Cup training camp, Donovan hadn’t scored for the Galaxy since October. Now he has three in his last two games, a win and draw respectively.

But it’s of little consolation now as the deadline for Jurgen Klinnsman’s squad is Monday, locking Donovan’s omission into place. Barring injury, Donovan will remain with Los Angeles while the USMNT fights their way through Brazil.

Check out match highlights below:

Comments

  1. My bad: this write-up, rather than the one on the Timbers–Whitecaps match, makes it the second week in a row that SBI has covered all MLS action except Colorado and their opponent. Did you lose a correspondent in Denver, Ives? Any notion when you might start covering the Rapids again?

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    • I’ve been told to “shut up and move on” about Donovan, but considering what he adds to the team, I can’t. But hey, we got Julian Green, so there’s that.

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      • Geez I think Green was talking to donovan the whole time he was on the pitch yesterday cuz he was invisible.

      • What are you talking about, I have not seen a player this “exciting” since Brandon Manzonelli.

        😉

  2. JK should tell Jozy he is “cut” and is just playing in the tournament as a “guest player” so he can start scoring again. And since it’s Monday and you cant see my self satisfied smirk, this is a joke people.

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  3. It’s nothing to do with tactics or positioning, it has to do with Lando’s psychy he’s more relaxed now he got #135 but it won’t last, never does.

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  4. The difference in Donovan the last two games is a tactical shift back to what they were going last year. Arena, ironically, did Donovan no favors with the tactics through the first quarter of the season that pushed Donovan further back in a crowded attacking third. There’s no agenda or psychological reasons going on here.

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    • No question, Arena changed the formation nearly every week. At one point Donovan was playing as a 10 in a diamond. It also seemed like Donovan and Ishizaki were always making the same runs and kind of stepping on each others toes early on.

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    • Are you trying to say all his success in MLS and with the USMNT for the past 2-3 years has been at forward and not midfielder, and Klinsmann was right to characterize him as a forward?

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      • It was absurd for Klinsmann to make his roster decisions based upon whether he considered Donovan a forward or a midfielder without considering that he might be (and plainly is) both. Even if Klinsmann has four guys he would rather play at forward ahead of Donovan (which is not irrational, although many would disagree), that doesn’t prevent Donovan from being a clear first choice (or at worst a second or third choice) among available attacking midfielders. Zusi creates a decent number of goal-scoring opportunities, but Donovan creates a lot more. And none of the others come close to Donovan and Zusi’s numbers.

        It occurred to me yesterday that Klinsmann’s intent to use Bradley as a central attacking midfielder may have contributed to his belief that Donovan was expendable. If so, I wonder whether Klinsmann realized during the first half against Turkey that, as wonderful a playmaker as Bradley is, we need him to play further back (as he did in the second half) or our defense will likely be overwhelmed in group play. And if Bradley plays further back, who will fill the playmaking void?

      • Of course it was absurd for Klinsmann to make his decision based upon considering Landon to be a forward. He has talked about versatility being the value of several players he did put on the roster. It was just an excuse so the Eurosnob Klinsmann fanboys can continue in their delusional world in which things don’t have to make sense or be consistent. In his interviews right before the roster selections, Klinsmann described Landon as a player and what he described was a midfielder not a forward.

    • that brought on the goals, and also not asking Keane to play midfield, which also occurred, but LD played well before the tactical switch too, and actually didn’t LD score yesterday from the left wing/mid yesterday? that’s not what they did last year

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  5. For any country,not just the US, to cut a player with experience, abilities and speed of a “Landon Donovan” better be good enough to make an impact on the biggest stage of soccer…..like at least win a couple games at the world cup……..

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      • You…
        You believe…
        You believe that…
        You believe that we will lose
        You believe that we will lose
        You believe that we will lose
        You believe that we will lose

      • That’s what they said at Confederations cup no? Against Spain? Said we could lead Brazil in a game that mattered. We couldn’t beat Portugal in 2002.

        The whole frickin reason you have a player like Donovan (and Dempsey, Bradley, and Howard) is to do what they say can’t be done.

        Why bring any of the flippin players then? Why not just bring Gil, O’Niel
        , Boyd, etc.

        Nothing with the Donovan decision was logical, can we stop to pretend so.

  6. It’s a conspiracy by Bruce Arena, who manipulated Jurgen Klinsmann for the benfit of the LAG. Have you heard that one yet?

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    • total conspiracy to make JK look bad for leaving him off. The opponents are involved too-how do they stop Donovanorm scoing sinc eOctober and then all the sudden let him score? come on…

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      • OK fine,I’ll bite. Yes blokhin, I was completely serious. Bruce Arena manipulated circumstances and hypnotized Jurgen to leave off LD. This is so that JK can fail horribly in Brazil and make BA look like the greatest USMNT coach ever, while also helping his MLS team’s results. And yes, I totally think BA also hypnotized the LAG opponents to “open the kimono” so LD can start scoring again. Just wait until the tourney when you see what BA did to manipulate Ghana, Portugal and Germany (and FIFA to boot). Yep, that’s what I think.

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