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Landon Donovan’s latest hilarious commercial

Landon Donovan

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he2t3zNCEgk]

Comments

  1. Listen people need to get over LD not making the team. You can disagree with the reasons, but Klinsmann had legitamete reasons for not taking him. To remind eveyone 1) LD work rate has significantly decreased the last 2 years (that is an undisputable fact). It doesn’t mean LD is not an effective player anymore but Klinsmann has been emphasizing an extreme work rate since he was hired 2) as a result of 1 Klinsmann considered Donovan as forward possibility only. As a forward Donovan can’t hold up the ball like altidore, can’t play wide like Aaron (because of the work rate required if we went to a 4-3-3), is not as good in the air or about finding that magic bit of space in the box as wondo is (even though Donovan is a much better finisher), and as a withdrawn forward Donovan would be competing for that spot with Dempsey 3) with the facts of 1 and 2 at best you get to Donovan being a substitute on the team, Donovan as a bench player is asking for trouble. He always speaks his mind to the media and he is known to complain if he feels he is not being used the way he thinks he should. That is a recipe for a disaster circa France in South Africa. 4) not taking Donovan gave Klinsmann an extra roster spot that allowed him to cap a very hot prospect for the future.

    Also there is no reason to think the USA would have done better with him on the team. We won the Ghana game, against Portugal Donovan on the field wouldn’t have impacted that play. We were never going to beat Germany (they were clearly the best team), and Belgium was legitamet lay better than us as well. There is not reason to think Donovan would have been in the same spot as wondo and made that.

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    • I’ll get over it at some point, but it won’t be for any of the bogus rationalizations you are clinging to above, although you are the fan Jurgen depends on to defend his poor choices. It’s why I believe that he believes we’re a stupid soccer nation and why he acts the way he does; he does not respect us as a knowledgeable fan base…and why should he? in general, we clearly are not

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      • That I can agree with, when he sees that many in this country think MLS is a second tier league in the world, and that Donovan is on par with James because he beats up MLS teams, I don;t wonder why he has that opinion, if he does.

    • 1) That is most definitely not true. Taking the time off that he needed to get his head back into the game was necessary. Not to mention there wasn’t a SINGLE PLAYER on the entire roster that had played as much as donovan over the last 5 years, going on loan every single chance to Europe etc.

      2)Johanson was taken with an injury and only played in one game where he was ineffective which makes it a wasted roster spot.

      2 cont) Wondo started up top in the Gold Cup and did absolutely nothing, only when Donovan moved up top did the US start producing changes.

      3) Donovan has NEVER been shown to be a head case and have ill effect on the team, either in a starting roll or on the bench when injured

      4) Capping a “very hot prospect”??? You mean a 4th division player that didnt even show flashes in his first few appearances? Cap him after the world cup, dont waste a freaking roster spot for that. If he was going to come to the US he would have waited until after the WC just as well as before.

      Another clueless poster

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    • Ugh, again with the stupid comments.

      1) Brad Davis and Donovan’s work rate are similar. Brad Davis works more on defense because he keeps losing the ball while Donovan works harder on offense. In the 2014 World Cup, the USA had a strong defense, what we needed was more offense.

      2) Klinsmann seeing Donovan as a forward was an excuse to bring Davis and Green. Even still, Donovan’s skill set is the counter, which would have been the best skill set for Germany and Belgium. Wondo’s ability to find space only helped in one situation for the entire time he played. The USA could have used a counter attack fulcrum to base their counter attacks off of. Especially late in games when other teams were tired. Also, this makes the assumption of playing a 4-3-3, when in fact the USMNT played a 4-2-3-1. Bedoya and Zusi were not attacking players, both are two way players. In a 4-3-3, the front 3 are attackers. In the 4-2-3-1, Donovan would have fitted perfectly in the middle of the front 3 with 15 min left, combining well with Dempsey. That would have allowed Bradley to push back into his preferred CDM role. While not logical against Portugal or Ghana, this type of lineup would have been very useful late in the Germany and Belgium games. He could also fit well in the wide roles, somewhere Donovan has had plenty of success with in his career.

      3) Donovan has only been a blessing to the USMNT. He has never been a cancer on a team like Johnson. To assume Donovan would have been a danger to the USMNT on the bench is akin to making the assumption Donovan would have finished the ball Wondo missed.

      4) That roster spot used on Green was taken from someone else. The 23rd man is rarely used. Had Donovan made the team, he would have been more like the 13th to 17th man (meaning he would have gotten meaningful minutes).

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      • On point four: Are you suggesting that Green did not see meaningful minutes? If anything, he *made* what he was given meaningful by scoring and then helping to press the attack at the end.

    • Save your breath Clover. When it comes to this daily dumpster fire, it’s all kerosine.

      The other day, somebody on here made an out-of-left-field reference to “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, which were wildly popular for 3 weeks about 20 years ago. I never thought they could make a comeback, given they had zero literary or educational value, but I’m starting to think you could make a real killing with a “You Are Jurgen Klinsmann!!!” release. Then we could really know what would’ve happened.

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  2. Its sad that Landon is letting companies mock him, and he and the fan bois don’t see how pathetic it makes him look. Love his game, LD the person is really weird though

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  3. Funny commercial. He’s the captain someone please return his ship. I for one would have liked to see him in Brazil but he wouldnt have helped our defense which is why we didnt beat Belgium. its over so time to move on. I think he should try some acting he did really well. Harden….maybe stick with basketball

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  4. More than anything he’s ever said or done, that spot has made me a Donovan fan FOR LIFE! If he can take the mickey out of himself like that and still be smiling, he’s a better man than I. Here’s to you Landon.

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  5. It was mildly funny but also sad. JK should never have cut him for the likes of Davis or Wondo. Donovan more than earned his spot. How did Davis or Wondo look in the All Star game….Ooops guess theyre not as respected as they are with JK

    Wasnt Dempsey captain anyway? Been some time since Lando was captain

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    • Landon was captain coming out of the January camp in the match against South Korea. So he went from being captain over guys like Davis, Zusi, Wondo to not even being on the team in a pretty short period.

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  6. who knoews what might have been in Brazil? He might have flopped. He thought he deserved to be there but the coach decides.

    You flopped in Germany and ran home to MLS.

    you should have stayed in the Bundesliga and been a success. You would have done more for US SOCCER than simply scoring hat tricks against Chivas USA. Come on people

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  7. why don’t Bradley or Dempsey do commercials? In fact while abroad why didnt USSF come up with some commercials for them? like illustrating the fact that they’re americans fighting abroad or some crap

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    • I just posted two links to youtube, one a sportscenter commercial with Bradley and the other an EA Sports commercial with Dempsey. However, apparently that automatically gets moderated so I guess you just have to google it for yourself.

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    • Donovan is marketable to the masses, Bradley and Dempsey aren’t. Bradley adn Demspey are now pretty exclusive to MLS and USMNT fan boys. Although the commercial of Bradley in Italy is hilarious.

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      • but why? surely they are all marketable

        surely DEMPSEY and Bradley and Howard are more

        valuable faces of US SOCCER.

        they are more Spartans if you will than say Donovan who is more Arjen Robben

      • I think its hard for USMNT fans, but no one outside of USMNT and MLS know who Bradley and Dempsey are (a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point). Peope know who Donovan are because he has been a constant in the USA, not abroad. He wins MLS titles, that one game of soccer you watch a year becaues its on ESPN and nothing else is on. Who wins and get the recognition? Donovan. In 2002, who was the little USA player who brought the USMNT onto the scene and into the quarters? Donovan. When ESPN does there 20seconds of coverage of the USMNT after a game and Donovan scores (he has 50+ so it was usually him) who gets mentioned? Donovan. When the USMNT finally gets some recognition at a World Cup, who is the player that saves the day? Donovan.

        Obviously, times have changed now. ESPN and NBC reguarly cover soccer from abroad. The World Cup is one of the most watched sports events in the USA. And socccer in general is just huge. But for the last 14ish years, it wasn’t. And the only name that was ever mentioned in soccer in the USA was Donovan.

  8. The most intriguing part of the commercial was his voice. I’ve never heard Landon speak in interviews or in TV broadcasting without the monotone and this shows he has it in him if he just dedicates himself to projecting emotion.

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  9. I don’t get the commercial. what were they selling? or were they mocking the audience’s view that since Donovan is the best he should have been in Brazil? Isn’t that kinda like Ibra’s “it is no world cup without ZLATAN”

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    • Really? It’s a brand promoting commercial. In this case, the brand is footlocker. It’s the athlete’s stop etc. They are promoting the idea that great athletes have short term memories. They have another commercial with this theme. They are just poking fun saying that Donovan already forgot that he got left off the World Cup roster because he is a great player etc.

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  10. That was funny. Nice how he didn’t get a WC check but he’s still getting a WC check with all these commercials. Now that’s hustle!

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    • And so…? Forget putting the ball Wondo missed in front of Donovan – the kncok on effect of having LD in for the injuried Altidore, which leaves Dempsey at a more natrual role, maybe gets us through to the quaters THIS time.

      US soccer is a rising tide. We may get through next time. Based on this time, however, JK if he is still here will be along for the ride and not the cause of it.

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      • We might not even qualify in 4 years, who knows. Costa Rica is going to still be good with a even better Campbell to worry about. Mexico isn’t going to be as bad. Then you have Honduras and Panama. Then the playoff isn’t going to be Oceania again, so you can’t count on that.

      • You make me LAUGH

        The competition will be much higher indeed but we will be in Russia. There is no way we would finish lower than 4th.

        We may lose the top spot but we’ll be there

      • LD was not a substitute for Altidore and cannot be. We needed a holding forward substitute and that is NEITHER LD or Dempsey. What would have helped would have been a better Boyd or EJ with his head screwed on. LD has never played in that position.

      • actually, you could change systems too but it’s not accurate to say LD has never played alone up top, altho bringing no backup for Jozy–LD or no LD–is its own demerit on Jurgen’s squad decisions, tactics as it turned out. it could have helped having LD as a legitimate counter attack threat that helps the entire team and from which he has his own hold-up play style; really no one on the team could do it at that level once Jozy went down

        anyway, we left money on the table this summer imo because of these and other things. oh well, the rising tide of US soccer is happening and Jurgen is well positioned to ride that wave tho he missed the big set waves that rolled thru in Brazil, maybe not in Russia where he gets another chance

  11. My favorite still has to be the Gana Gol commercial. Speaking Spanish and poking fun of Mexican soccer at the same time! I will miss watching him play. I hope he takes some time off to get right and then jump into something where we can continue to see succeed. USA Legend Landon Donovan!

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  12. I guess if your not going to make the World Cup you should at least make as much money as possible making commercials. Probably helps with retirement.

    Its all speculation, but I think he would have made that Wondo sitter. Donovan has that knack for showing up in big moments. Oh well, if Wondo had made that goal we would all be thinking that JK is a genius with the magic touch. There is always next World Cup…

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    • Wondo’s miss is now a sitter ?

      I watched it from behind, it wasn’t even an easy goal. Keeper was right there.
      It is one that Wondo always makes, late in games….ok now I am depressed.

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      • Because the keeper was right in his face. If he hits it at goal, there’s a good chance it’s saved….of course there’s also a good chance it goes in, and hitting the target is step 1.

      • If you watch the attempt, you can see Wondo took his eyes off the ball. It’s alway about watching what you are doing with the ball.

      • You have to at the very least put that on target. Give yourself or Dempsey at shot at a rebound. If nothing else just make the keeper make a save.

      • Really he could have touched it off to Dempsey and he would of had a clear sitter. Either way Wondo couldn’t have done any worse with it.

      • I don’t get when people say that. I was not an issue shot. Courtois was right ON HIM. He has a 7 ft wingspan and as the ball landed on Wondo’s foot, Courtois was about 6 inches from Wondo’s foot. What the video close up again. When the keeper is that close, the only thing you can do is loop is over, but it is a very difficult shot. The best thing he could have done is pass it to open space since the keeper was beat and hope somebody hit the open space.

    • whats the idea that more people have suddenly known of LD more from his expulsion from the squad than his 15 years as a pro? weird huh?

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    • So are we saying if we replaced wondo with donovan for the entire game/tournament things would have progressed in exactly the same way leading to the exact same chance but now donovan is taking it? Because that seems… unlikely.

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  13. Agree with everyone. It’s cute funny and it makes me sad. You didn’t hear it first but we would have gone farther this summer in Brazil with LD. No question.

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      • Landon Donovan would have converted the chance that Wondo missed.

        Landon Donovan would have followed Messi around and scored the winning goal against Argentina.

        Landon Donovan would have converted the winning penalty against Holland.

        Enough.

      • Had he played he may have missed a sitter and we would have bashed Klinsi for bringing him. We weren’t expected to get out of the group and we did and almost beat Belgium.

        Donovan brought politics to the team. I’m not sure things would have gone as smooth. I’m satisfied with what we did. You should too.

      • Couldn’t disagree more. Had Donovan missed the sitter (he likely wouldn’t have), there would have been far less criticism of Klinsmann with more of the anger directed towards Donovan.

        I’m not sure where people get the idea that Donovan was/is a poor teammate or would create problems. It was evident that he is very well respected amongst his peers following the announcement of his plans to retire. The sentiment was overwhelmingly positive and seemed to carry the message that he is leaving too soon.

      • How do we even know he would have been there for the sitter. That was/is Wondo’s greatest quality. He knows where to be, and when to be there. Donovan plays completely different. If he is there he doesnt miss. But i dont think he would have been there.

      • You’re not talking about the game Howard saved an onslaught of shoots from every which way, and we were able to slip one back to leave it 2-1 before the end. I don’t call that almost beating. We almost beat Portugal.

      • Lorenzo, we did get outplayed by Belgium, no question. But yes, we did almost beat them. What people are referring to is Wondo’s missed chance very late in regulation that would of put us up 1-0 very close to the final whistle.

        So yes, ALMOST beat Belgium is accurate here.

      • With Donovan in the game, maybe he does miss a sitter. Maybe we lose by more. But nobody would bash Klinsi for bringing him to the WC. And Donovan’s politics are his leadership skills. The unfortunate politics belong to Kilinsi’s son.

      • Donovan brought politics to the team because Klinsmann did not bring him. Every senior player had massive amounts of respect for Donovan. The only politics was fault of Klinsmann.

      • True … we may never really know if Donovan stepping away from the team just as final WCQ was beginning caused a real caustic locker room that couldn’t be repaired.

    • Hypothetically Yes

      but realistically we would have gone farther had Wondo scored against Belgium

      LD is the best we ever had but he didn’t perform to the satisfaction of JK, for right or wrong.

      LD has a funny sense of humor but he obviously isn’t in the DEMPSEY or BRADLEY mold that JK strives for

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      • Any hypothetically, who was more likely to bury that shot? the guy who did it aganist Mexico, Algeria and Solvenia in the World Cup? Or Wando?

      • Missed him at WC, think he had a role to play late off the bench but… if LD had been there, he most likely wouldn’t have been THERE, so… the ball would have bounced harmlessly into space and over the endline while Landon watched from 25 yards away.

        Course, he could have threaded a deft little pass from CAM to an to an advanced Deuce a minute later for the winner. LoL

        Eh… with or without LD, Belgium were the better team.

      • I appreciate your balanced perspective(my opinion). I loved LD. Got mad years ago when he would miss friendlies for niggling injuries. Loved him whenever he was running in open space (especiallyMexican open space). Yelled like a crazy mad vs. algeria. But i think he is done. I think he knows he is done, and wants to retire while he is still better than most in MLS. Time to move along. Time waits for NOBODY!

      • he wasn’t done this summer tho…why so hard to admit that self evidenced truth if you’re not actually Jurgen? if he would, btw, I’d respect him about it and move on. whatever, he won’t

      • Dempsey was there, the ball would NOT have bounced harmlessly over the line. It would have been Dempsey vs. Curtious.

    • I agree we may have done better with Donovan, but was the short term benefit of bringing Donovan sacrificed for the better long term goal? The next world cup there will be no questions of can the team do well without Donovan. Will the youth that were served step up in the next World cup?

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      • Donovan was left off for either Brad Davis and/or Wondolowski, both over 30 and having little role in the future of the national team.

        It will be interesting to see when Klinsmann cuts Dempsey and if he does it in another jaw dropping fashion.

      • Hopefully JK learns his lesson with Donovan and talks to Dempsey first. Proper send-off, testimonial match, changing of the guards (er, captains). We don’t need the coach making headlines for the wrong reason.

  14. The fact that he is willing to poke as much fun at himself, really does suggest, to me, that he is going to stay retired. I think on some level, I kind of assumed LD was going to go the Farve route of retirement.

    Funny stuff.

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    • John Harkes. The whole time i’m watching..i’m waiting for Harkes to walk up and agree with Landy about not cutting the captain…or simply saying “what your guys talking about?”

      However, the avg viewer would not have picked up on the joke.

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      • A teenage boy is getting ready to take his girlfriend to the prom. First he goes to rent a tux, but there’s a long tux line at the shop and it takes forever.

        Next, he has to get some flowers, so he heads over to the florist and there’s a huge flower line there. He waits forever but eventually gets the flowers.

        Then he heads out to rent a limo. Unfortunately, there’s a large limo line at the rental office, but he’s patient and gets the job done.

        Finally, the day of the prom comes. The two are dancing happily and his girlfriend is having a great time. When the song is over, she asks him to get her some punch, so he heads over to the punch table and there’s no punchline.

      • Thought it was hilarious. I don’t get why Landon can laugh at himself now but fans can’t. We should follow his lead, either get over or laugh at it…or both.

        Also…loved the Scottie Pippen version I saw this morning haha…”The greatest Bulls player ever!”

      • I might be able to laugh at it if I was getting paid. However, I don’t think I will ever get over it. Just like I will never get over 1998. Wish I was a big enough man to get over it, or just didn’t care enough to let it bother me, but this snub will haunt me for a very long time. I’m glad you are able to move on though Brian.

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