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Donovan leads Galaxy in rout of D.C. United

Donovan vs DCU USA TODAYPhoto by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports

By MARK EDWARD HORNISH

CARSON, Calif. — If the LA Galaxy set out to send a message to the rest of Major League Soccer, it went something like this: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

The Galaxy harshly welcomed D.C. United on Wednesday night, crushing the Eastern Conference leaders, 4-1, before 16,044 at the Stub Hub Center. The Galaxy spread the love, with goals coming from Alan Gordon, Omar Gonzalez, Baggio Husidic, and Landon Donovan.

Donovan once again figured prominently in the match, earning assists on both the Gordan and Gonzalez goals, drawing him within eight of Steve Ralston’s career MLS record of 127. Donovan completed his evening — and stamped out any lingering DC United hopes — by converting a penalty kick in the 75th. He was subbed out in the 86th minute to a standing ovation.

“I’m enjoying it —  I realize very clearly there’s only a very few more chances to do this,” Donovan said after the match. “The decision to retire, and playing this way, are intricately linked. That’s given me freedom to relax and enjoy it, and it’s taken all the pressure off. That’s when I play my best.”

“Landon’s obviously committed to completing his career in the right manner,” added Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “His leadership and quality tonight was terrific.  What more can you say. He’s been a great one. His attitude has been terrific over the last two or three weeks since his announcement. We’re happy for him. He’s been a big part of our success in over the last few months.”

While the Husidic goal may not get goal-of-the-week attention, it was nonetheless extraordinary. The Galaxy strung together 26 consecutive passes before Husidic tapped home an AJ De La Garza cross to close out the first half.

“We’ve been scoring early in the game, which opens up the field for us,” Husidic said after the match. “Another great team goal. A lot of connected passes. Very fluid soccer tonight. I don’t know how many connected passes… twenty six? I think that’s pretty impressive.”

D.C. United showed some life early in the second half, stringing together a rapid sequence of shots, culminating in a goal created by, if not credited to, a hustling Eddie Johnson.  Johnson beat beleaguered Galaxy center back Leonardo to the near post, allowing an Alex Caskey cross to hop over Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. The goal was ruled an own goal by Leonardo.

Recent addition Alan Gordon started up top in place of Robbie Keane, who enjoyed the match in street clothes from David Beckham’s luxury box. Gordon outdid Donovan’s 4th minute goal in the previous match by scoring in the 2nd minute off a deflected Donovan shot. The early lead put United on the back foot for the remainder of the half.

Omar Gonzalez figured in the offense as well, punching home a Donovan cross in the 25th minute to double the Galaxy lead.

“It’s a lot of fun playing right now. I’m trying to get forward as much as possible,” Gonzalez said. “It was a very important win for us, gets us that much closer to the top of the table.”

With the win and the three points, the Galaxy now vault into second place in the Western Conference, two behind the Seattle Sounders, and still with one game in-hand. In addition, the Galaxy now draw into a tie for second in the Supporter’s Shield race.

When asked if the Galaxy are targeting the Supporter’s Shield, Donovan responded without hesitation: “Yeah. We are. We wanna make a push for it. It’s a little dangerous, when you have games in hand all season, because you add up the points in your head, without the points being on the board. But now we’ve won these games.

“We’ve leap-frogged Dallas and Salt Lake. We play Seattle twice more, and Dallas twice more. So, there’s every chance that we can get there. And like we’ve been doing, we’ll take it one game at a time.”

The Galaxy remain at home, and will face Chivas USA on Sunday evening in the final edition ever of the Superclassico.

Despite the loss, DC United remain in first place in the Eastern Conference, while in the midst of their toughest stretch of the season. They return home and will face New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Watch the match highlights below:

Comments

  1. In my expertise as a non psychiatrist its my professional opinion that an alarming amount of adults on SBI have panties in the butt-itis.

    Its time to move on. You guys are worse than a crazy ex. Its beyond amusing and has become disturbing.

    Reply
    • I think there are 2 major reasons for the continuing discussion. 1. Many people are concerned about Klinsmann’s judgment and ability to coach and since he is our manager and general manager up through the next World Cup, then it is a relevant issue. Personally, I think it was a terrible mistake, but was balanced out by the good decisions he made. 2. People want to receive validation for their opinions that have been borne out by developments. Does anyone seriously think that Donovan would not have been an upgrade over both Davis and Wondolowski? Or how about Diskerud who played 0 minutes? I, like anyone, like to be proven right. It gives me and others credibility in the case of future opinions/predictions.

      Reply
      • You are right! Jürgen’s poor judgment and horrible man management led him to make a terrible mistake.

  2. I’m so bored of this stupid Klinsmann thing, Donovan has moved on, so should we. I want to hear who else saw Johnson’s continuing classless behavior. First he claims a goal he didn’t score, then he taunts the Galaxy fans when he’s losing 3-1 and his team is getting waxed. Seriously, what happened to that guy?

    Reply
    • Seriously, people still arguing about the World Cup. It’s over and done. I need to see EJ’s taunt though lol. I hate DC, but he’s still one of the most entertaining characters to watch.

      Reply
      • 4.07 in the highlights above. It’s a close shot so you can’t see who he is directing his ‘words’ to but it was to the Galaxy fans behind the goal.

    • +1, preach.

      but look out, Jesse might come in here yelling at you for telling people how to think while simultaneously telling you how to think.

      Reply
  3. Galaxy looking good, even without Keane last night. The passing and ball/player movement, quick and purposeful one and two touch passing, has been the difference since the SKC/MU games

    Reply
    • The Galaxy seem to respond well to ass-whoopin’s. They don’t often lose badly, but when they do, it seems to snap them out of their malaise and put them back on track. I like that.

      Reply
    • Now we’re talking. There was a Galaxy game, wasn’t there? And they looked super– seems they learned their lesson in Columbus, and filled their water bottles up on the way out with whatever they have been pumping through there.

      Reply
    • When the Galaxy play like they did in the first half last night and first half against Vancouver, they are very hard to defeat. They play like Klinsmann wants the US team to play–quick one touch passing, good ball movement, good movement off the ball, the fullbacks joining the attack, and dominant ball possession. The first half I think Eddie Johnson only touched the ball a couple of times and probably 70% of the game was being played in the DC United half of the field.

      Reply
  4. It was three nil at halftime, but when it became 3-1, it was dcu who was pushing to make it 3-2 and then the phantom pk made it 4-1. Closer than the score indicated. These teams could meet in the final and dcu will make it three and o against threir west coast rival. It would be right also with both teams sitting on four stars

    Reply
    • LAG had eleven shots vs DCU’s three. Eight of their eleven were on target. It looked more like LAG got up three points and relaxed. If “close” means LAG letting DCU run around with the ball after they were up three points then it was close. But if you mean DCU at any time in the game looked like they could win, then I disagree.

      Reply
    • Dikranovich The penalty decision aside that scoreline was a fair reflection of the game. The Galaxy played the entire second half at around 60% effort.

      Reply
    • who knows but could be many different players impacting a different game if all players play…DeLeon and Espindola for DC, Keane and Ishizaki for Galaxy, for example

      Reply
  5. Dominating performance by LA, but what was the story with that PK call? It may have been the worst I’ve ever seen. I hope the league addresses it because it’s embarrassing.

    Reply
    • I wonder if Boswell had a fist full of shirt on the other side of Gonzalez from the camera – i.e. on the ref’s side. Because it was hard to see much of anything wrong from the camera angles. My gut reaction was no way is that a penalty, but the ref’s reaction was very definite and quick, which leaves me thinking there had to be something clear that wasn’t on camera.

      Reply
    • Bad call, but the worst ever? You need to watch more soccer. Here’s one much worse–call against Gooch vs. Ghana in the 2006 World Cup made by referee Marcus Merk, whose name should forever be infamous for US soccer fans.

      Reply
    • Impressive string of passes, though Gordon was offside on the pass from Donovan. Doesn’t take away from the focus of connecting that many passes for me, but I was struck by the announcers marveling at how wide open Gordon was, when I’m sitting there thinking “it’s because he’s offsides, stupid”.

      Reply
      • C’mon Chad no need to be bitter, I didn’t think Gordon would do well either. BTW “Offsides?” Really? The term is offside and he wasn’t.

  6. I could be looking through the wrong colored glasses but the way Donovan has been playing the past couple of months, he could be making a push for MVP.

    Reply
    • I agree… at the time, I was Ok with leaving him off the WC Squad… but looking back, we could have used him in Brazil.

      And I love how he’s been beast mode since being cut…I hope he gets the All Time Assist Record too..

      Reply
      • It was never okay to leave him off the WC squad and pretty much everyone who knows anything about futbol outside of the USA thought it was wrong.

      • I could care less what they think. Most of these people who “know futbol outside the US” couldn’t name 10 current American players and wouldn’t be caught dead watching an MLS game, assuming they could find one. They all picked us dead last in the group and they’ll do it again. Who cares?

        I didn’t love the decision either but I don’t need some Eurosnot telling us what happens in our house. They don’t know squat about American soccer because none of them follow it. And most of them don’t bathe regularly.

      • DM with the post of the week, the month, the year.

        insecure Americans need to quit worrying about what others think.

        We are big boys now, we can have our own opinions and we can know they are better opinions.

      • If we are big boys and can have our own opinions then why do we tolerate a coach who continues to insult our intelligence, our soccer history, culture, and players (not just Donovan – Dempsey, Bradley, all the non Germans). Why do we let Klinsmann constantly tell us everything that is wrong with us while he basically tries to just emulate what Germany does rather than try to come up with an intelligent solution that takes into consideration where the soccer and athletic resources in this country lie and the ways we are fundamentally different from Europe

      • doughnuts, I didn’t intend to genuflect on the rest of the soccer world. My point is the exact opposite. There are many in the US so brain washed to the idea that Europeans like Klinsmann know better about every aspect of soccer coaching/management that they support and make excuses for every hair-brained or self-serving thing he does. I agree, the rest of the world doesn’t know much about soccer in the US but that is precisely my point. The one US player they did know and respect was Landon Donovan and they knew it was bone-headed to leave him off a roster of 23 American players.

      • Yes, most in the U.S. are so brainwashed they even believe Klinsmann is a good coach. Anyone who knows anything about soccer in Germany, and it is most of the population, knows Klinsi is a rotten coach. Just terrible.

      • Good to know. Can you please ask them for their assessments of Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena, Steve Sampson, Bora Milutinovich, and Bob Gansler? These guys seem like a great resource for our program and our players. Thanks.

      • Ok Inter. Sorry to come after you so hard.

        In fairness, it’s actually an important point for people to recognize that the informational advantage we have enjoyed over our more glamourous oppenents will be eroded as we contnue down the road we are on.

        We have benefitted from our anonymity. Part of this can be attributed to laziness/arrogance, but plenty of it is simply due to time and access constraints. It doesn’t matter if it’s JK or Bradley or Arena who is sitting in the chair, the fact is opposing coaches have about 6 months after the draw to figure out exactly what the USA will look and play like. As a team we are frenetic in style depending on the personnel and opposition. Not much there to learn. As individuals, half our guys are unknown completely. They may know Dempsey, Howard or Donovan well enough, And they can crash-scout MLS tapes (pretty inefficient). They can calll clubs who have looked at purchasing them, but this data is limited and probably nonexistent for a guy like Besler or Beckerman. But we sometimes ambush teams because we are in a good position to do so. Portugal 2002 was our tour de force in this.

        It will change and that’s ok. Our players moving to Europe means recongition, which cuts both ways.

      • Those of us inside the US who really know soccer/football knew it was a mistake, too. And for those who disagree with this, can anyone find anywhere a coherent explanation from Klinsmann as to why he didn’t choose Donovan? I never saw anything. And please, Brad Davis ahead of Donovan>?

      • What’s that? Completely re-tool a USMNT that was looking GRIM in 2011?

        I’d remind people to take a look how bad we looked in 2011, when we got up two goals against Mexico in the Gold Cup…and then dropped four goals in machine-gun succession, reminding us all just how bad our backline looked.

        As far as “core” guys, we had Altidore – who was struggling – Dempsey, Bradley, Howard, and Guzan…the other 18 spots in the 23 were pretty much question marks. Our backline was going to have to be completely re-tooled…Cherundolo was hurt by then (and was 33, I believe), we had Bornstein at LB, and Bocanegra and Gooch as our CB’s, both on the wrong side of 30. Donovan decided to go take his sabbatical at that point; we had very little idea if he’d ever be back.

        Things were looking BAD.

        For whatever reason – and people don’t make enough of this – there was a big talent gap between the Donovan/Dempsey/Howard generation and the guys who are now in the U23 age group. Right now it seems we have promising young players everywhere…but four years ago the cupboard was largely bare as far as young prospects went. Dempsey was born in 1983. If you look for prospects who were born 1984-1993…there just aren’t many. Bedoya is OK; he plays in France. Zusi and Besler got some Euro offers. Omar Gonzalez could probably play in Europe. Bradley played for Roma but couldn’t start…and kind of proved why in the World Cup. Geoff Cameron started for Stoke for a couple of years.

        And that’s it. There certainly wasn’t a Dempsey or a Donovan in that age group…or, honestly, anything close.

        But despite that, we’re still loaded with promising young guys. And the younger generation of guys born post-1993 looks MUCH better. And now nobody’s asking: “what happens after Donovan”…or “what happens after Dempsey or Howard”. Because the emphasis has been: build the pool.

        It astounds me that people can’t see how much better the pool looks, right now. In that, Klinsmann has almost worked miracles.

      • would love to know specifically what ‘miracles’ klinsmann has worked.

        pretty sure julian green came simply due to klinsmann–and that’s very good–but i’m not sure how you can tell which of our up-and-comers were going to look promising whether klinsmann was here or not.

      • Klinsmann had almost nothing to do with the Julian Green situation. That’s probably the reason he didn’t play him until the last 15 minutes of the last game when there was not chance at victory.

      • Bull.

        Everybody was up in arms because of the “secret deal” he cooked up with Green to guarantee him a spot on the plane if only he’d commit to the USMNT. It’s a disgrace, everyone said. He’s a KID. He’s not ready. Such deals are beneath us.

        Now Klinsmann had nothing to do with Green being here, and didn’t play him enough?

        Make up your farkin’ mind, peoples.

      • 1. Pulling Run DMB off scrap heap, converting him to LB. Run DMB holds up entire World Cup despite being targeted by everyone.
        2. Yedlin. Nobody thought he was ready. Klinsmann disagreed.
        3. John Anthony Brooks. See #2. Especially since he was coming off a horrific showing against Ukraine.
        4. Playing Cameron at CB when his club position was RB…and everybody (including me) was lobbying for him to play the same spot for the USMNT. Then moving Cameron to holding mid to stop Belgium from bullying us with Fellaini the way they had everyone else.
        5. Kyle Beckerman. NOBODY wanted him on the USMNT. Klinsmann thought otherwise.
        6. Jermaine Jones. Did ANYBODY think he was going to have as dominant a World Cup as he had? Lot of people were calling for him to be dropped outright.

        I’ll also add, in qualifying he got huge contributions from the likes of Eddie Johnson and Brek Shea, guys who have not exactly been easy for their clubs to handle.

        This largely comes back to Klinsmann’s decision to drop Donovan. People can’t seem to get past it.

        I myself, probably would not have done it…and yes, I think Donovan would have contributed a lot more than Wondo or Brad Davis ended up contributing.

        That said…I also understand why Klinsmann did it…and in some ways, that decision did leave the USMNT in the clear position of NOT having to worry about replacing “legendary” players next cycle…because we already replaced them. And Germany and Belgium still would have been better than us, either way.

      • Beckerman was in the mix before with Bradley and I ALWAYS liked him…you use the word everyone and no one too liberally
        Cameron was OK at CB, can’t see any other evaluation of him considering his uneven play, some good and some not good
        JJ? he was awesome before and had proven himself as under control years before this summer when he handled himself against our CONCACAF friends who baited him repeatedly–before Jurgen was coach

        as for understanding Jurgen’s move with LD as anything more than personal grudge, I think that’s a bummer quozzel and better handled by calling a spade a spade–Jurgen screwed the pooch with that decision and his reasons (personal) magnify the blunder and arrogant manner in which he did it

        Jurgen is media savvy. he knew the contingent of LD haters here and what LD stands for, which is American soccer made in America. For many, there is no way we can do it without leadership and guidance from abroad…it’s soccer and we’re just Americans! LD flipped the bird at that notion and some love it, others hate it

      • 1. klinsmann did not convert dmb to left back. he’s been playing there for years.

        2. agreed.

        3. plenty of people were ready to bring brooks, and some even wanted him to start the whole cup. i believe ives was one who did think that his selection was a surprise, but i’m not sure why.

        4. cameron’s best position is either CB or d-mid; doesn’t take a genius to play him there.

        5. that’s a decent point, although it also displaced bradley from his best position.

        6. like your point about brooks, calls for dropping jones were always ridiculous.

        7 (or whatever). it’s not a miracle to realize that you can get through qualification with some guys who might be struggling with their club teams. hell, every usmnt coach ever has had to do that.

      • Miracles like the fact that the US had more muscle/overuse-related injuries than any other team in the World Cup?

      • That’s a different conversation. Where is the line there?

        We lost Altidore to a hammy. That might have been overtraining.

        We lost Besler for one half – precautionary. Overtraining? Maybe.

        Our fitness levels were also MUCH higher than anyone except Germany’s. Once things settled down, Portugal couldn’t run with us, and we took control of the game. They got a miracle at the end and it was a mental lapse, not a physical one. We were still coming at Germany at the end of that game despite them having a massive edge in possession. We were still coming – hard – at Belgium after 115 minutes while their players were dropping like flies.

        You can argue Klinsmann made a huge mistake in not bringing a like-for-like replacement for Altidore (either Boyd or Eddie Johnson) and I wouldn’t argue…and if you pointed a guy at Klinsmann’s head, I don’t think he’d argue either. That decision certainly bit us.

        But “overtraining” them? Dunno. It’s a fine line, granted…and when you push guys to the red line, they can indeed break…but you also want a team that can operate as close to the max as possible. Considering how many miles our guys were able to run, and considering that Germany won it all with the same approach, I…dunno.

        One thing that does interest me is that new “Catapult” system that FSU employed for its football team…I’d like to see the USMNT employ it as well…it gives coaches a lot better idea of when to put the foot up the butt, and when to back off.
        http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/dennis-dodd/24571047/national-champ-jimbo-fishers-secret-weapon-it-comes-from-australia

        If we could have kept Altidore on the field, AND still had the fitness levels we had, it might have been a different World Cup.

      • This is boring and repetitive. Why not say something new? Here is a suggestion….

        One thing that I find striking about the dozen or so voices who have repeated the “Fire Klinsman” mantra several thousand times in this space over the last 3 months is that not one time… not ONE… have I heard anybody suggest a replacement or pitch a better option.

        Is this not outright strange? If you don’t like something, it seems like basic rhetorical strategy to try to convince people of a superior alternative. Something that might be agreeable to both of you.

        Why not give it a shot? Because it’s become predictable noise to hear the complaining that goes on every day in here. That’s all it is… complaining– and to people who had zero to do wth the decision. We’ve heard it. We have documented your position. Plenty agree. Please advance the discussion

      • David Moyes, Tab Ramos, Jorge Pinto, Jose Pekerman for starters. Pekerman has a job at the moment, but we could have had him earlier. All four would be massively better choices.

      • We could have had Pekerman or Bielsa. And I’m pretty sure Ramos was handling the tactics in Brasil while Klinsmann was handling the subs.

      • I had the feeling Berti Vogts was handling tactics. The tactics didn’t look much like what Ramos does with the Youth sides.

      • Over the years I have seen a lot of speculation like this. It assumes that all these top foreign coaches are clamoring to get the US job. I have not seen any evidence of this. I remember a couple of cycles ago when the US was all hot to get Carlos Quiroz and made all sorts of offers and never could get him interested. Things may be changing, but for a long time the general perception was that the US is a soccer backwater. The bottom line is that we were lucky to get Klinsmann. I guess the fact that this is being debated at all is a good sign that more people are actually caring about this.

      • I don’t know. I’d think that the US is one of the top ten jobs in the world at this point. Sure, you’re not winning the World Cup, but unless you’re Germany, Brazil or Argentina, Spain or Italy, you’re not winning anyway. Compared to other teams of the same caliber, there’s no pressure, you’re going to make good money, live in Southern California, have a clear shot at qualification, and anything else is gravy. Where else are you going for that? Russia? Australia? Japan? Qatar? England is a fool’s paradise, France is a total mess, Holland and Belgium are cheap and not going anywhere, Russia, well you have to live in Russia…Australia is never getting out of the group, and is way too far away, mexico? Croatia? Nigeria? C’mon. The US is definately at the top of the second tier of jobs.

      • And there has been plenty of talk of potential replacements. I have bought up Moves here several times. He has an affinity for American players and is great at organized a bunch of guys to play well against superior teams. (It’s teams of superstars he doesn’t handle.)

        I bought up Pinto too. I would be over joyed if we looked as organized as Costa Rica did..

      • Not bad. I like this best of the ones I see here.

        Doesn’t exactly answer the question of “what do we do if we replace Klinsmann now”, particularly as Bradley was “replaced by Klinsmann” more than he was “fired” in my view, based on what I’ve read about Gulati’s rationale.

        That aside, I don’t know that Moyes is interested in taking on the new challenge of int’l management at the moment (for starters, I think Scotland would’ve hired him by now). He has a rep for being extremely hard-working and very hands-on, and at this point in his career it would likely be frustrating to be in a position where he gets so little time with his players.

        But a good suggestion. He does know more than many about systematic develpment and implementation (this is what Gulati has really mandated JK to do). And you could say he has a better tacitcal resume, though I really believe choosing a coach based on tactical credibility in the current situation has very limited value comapred to our greater needs We’ll be playing checkers against the top teams for years to come until we get a proper chess set.

        All in all– I like Moyes as a name to keep in mind. How’s his German?

      • if you haven’t heard any suggestions, it’s only because you’re not listening.

        i don’t have a huge problem with klinsmann as manager (especially now that he’s technical director, which is what he should’ve been in the first place), but i would’ve loved to get bielsa.

      • This is very much the first I’ve heard, and I’m here pretty much every day. And I’ll say it’s a seroius breath of fresh air. I could actually listen to this all day by comparison.

        Thanks guys. Keep it going. Let me think about the suggestions above and I will give you the respect of a thoughtful reply.

      • my dream team is still (as it was in 2010) bielsa as manager, klinsmann as technical director.

        yeah, that’s a huge amount of $$$, but i would love it. 🙂

      • Here are facts–the US national team had its best yearly record ever in 2013. The US qualified from the Hex with the highest point total in its history. Here’s an opinion/fact–the US got out of what is arguably the toughest WC group it has ever been in. Try basing your opinions on facts. I thought it was a big mistake to leave Donovan off the WC roster, but do you really think any coach could have done better? Remember, Ghana beat us twice before, Portugal was rated 5th in the World and Germany won the WC.

    • Haven’t you heard? Donovan got the call for the friendly in October. One can only hope that this will be the first of many call ups in t he near future for Landon.

      Reply
    • In an alternate universe Klinsmann and Donovan had a conversation like this:

      Donovan: This is it. I’m going to retire after this world cup
      Klinsmann: Fantastic. Go out there and attack. Have fun. Leave them with more memories.
      Donovan: Thanks. I will.

      Thing is, is that really that farfetched? We would have gotten a Donovan like we’re seeing now and like we saw in the last Gold Cup.

      Reply
      • Would we have, though? Or is this newfound form Donovan’s on a function of eminent retirement? Thierry Henry looks like he’s pulling off a serious swan song as well.

        Dunno. Klinsmann was the coach on the ground. He was the guy looking at these players every week, trying to assess who was on, who was off, trying to figure the best chemistry, the best mindset.

        He made a very hard, controversial call…and given how Donovan looked in the Mexico friendly – which was, bad – and given Donovan’s comments about how “he just couldn’t train like he used to”…you can see how Klinsmann would have been supremely leery he was dealing with a blown player in Donovan.

        Would Donovan have REALLY helped the USMNT advance past Belgium, or did we go as far as we were ever going to go, given the group we got, and the draw we got in the Round of 16?

        Nobody gave us a chance of getting out of the Group of Death. We did it. We almost pulled a smash-and-grab against a very, very talented Belgium team.

        That, to me, looks like about the max anybody could have ever asked for out of this USMNT squad…with or without Donovan.

        So why so much hate?

      • if you don’t think LD could have had a positive impact on that USMNT team, that’s on you. would it have changed outcomes? we’ll never know because Jurgen chose others who did what they did…that we know. could LD have helped vs. Belgium? look at who was on the field for us and answer that question honestly yourself

        but as we all know we’ll never know. that’s what has many of us pissed…it only comes around every 4 years and we feel short changed

      • And it’s understood. Believe us, we have gotten the message and plenty sympathize. But nobody here made the decision, and none of us can help.

        Discussing is good. But there’s been nothing but retreads for at least a month. You know it’s stale as well as I do bud. It just bums everybody out. The value of the discussion in resolving the disappointment has exhausted itself. Time to advance the ball… for everybody. Bring a new thought. Bring a superior solution. At least give everybody else something to work with

      • I like the idea of Donovan initiating a discussion with Klinsmann… think it would have been ideal to do this earlier (as in before made a unilateral decision to step away from the program for an extended and likely needed break). Tim Howard did it this way and I that’s what I think any of us would do when dealing with a boss.

      • LD made that decision…and then Jurgen INVITED him back. LD then played great…but the decision BEFORE being invited back and playing great is the determinant one? who cannot/could not let go? it’s Jurgen, this is all his doing at this point. And many here defend it. weak

      • I have a response, but I’m gonna leave it. There is only so much you can speculate about people’s motives… we’ll never really know and we’ve been on this forever.

        See my comment above… Let’s just shake hands and walk way from this one. Honorable men can differ. Nobody is leaving their position at this point. And I can think of 1,000 scenarios in which we are both way off base. For all we know, JK and LD were once tag team champions in an underground Mexican wresling federation, and this is just collateral damage somehow.

      • Really? Cause he wasn’t exactly dominating pre-World Cup.

        Direct quote from Landon- “I realize very clearly that there’s only so many more chances to do this, and the decision to retire and playing this way are intricately linked,” Donovan said in a happy LA locker room. “That’s given me freedom to relax and enjoy it, and it’s taken all the pressure off, and that’s when I play my best. It’s been a lot of fun, I’m enjoying it, and most of all, I like winning.”

        I think he should have gone to Brazil regardless, but I don’t think it would have let us progress any farther, and I don’t think it was really that bad of a decision.

      • You do know that quote is in the article above, right? Wait, did anyone here even read the article? Or do we all just see any headline with Donovan’s name in it and jump directly to the comments section to start the flame throwing?

        Galaxy looked awesome last night. That third goal? Twenty six passes in the build up? Rumor has it that Barcelona has requested the tape on that.

    • So this turned into a Love/Hate Klinsmann thread but I want to hear who else saw Johnson’s continuing classless behavior. First he claims a goal he didn’t score, then he taunts the Galaxy fans when he’s losing 3-1 and his team is getting waxed. Seriously, what happened to that guy?

      Reply
      • He’s kind of always been that way. Sometimes being an ass helps him succeed, other times it gets in the way. But ultimately it is the reason why he has never broken through to the next level, a level you’d think he’s capable off.

        By the way, thinking Klinsmann can’t coach isn’t hate. I think it’s just the truth. Give him a figure head role recruiting players and talking up the game, fine. As a player, he was damn near my favorite. I don’t hate him. I hate that he’s coaching

      • hey Limey, cheers…I’ll get over the LD thing eventually.

        it’s not love/hate altho I’m branded that. It’s responsibility, and with it some humility, that our leader could exhibit, just come clean and admit making a mistake…would be true leadership and unite imo, would be a move that would earn him sincere respect from me, and from others, and hardly unprecedented for a coach…if we are one thing, it’s fallible! But his fan base might not approve of that seems to me, already having justified and rationalized the LD cut and how it was done as sound

        as for Johnson, it’s part of his edge imo, for better or worse, either cuts for him or cuts himself but he’s out there on it

      • Beachbum,
        I’m guessing you’ll get over it before JK apologizes but I’m left with this feeling now that LD had a crappy ‘I’m over it” attitude and that was cancerous to the squad. I think that’s why he got left behind, he’s just so darn emotional.
        As for the love/hate i meant it more like a changing emotions thing not that anyone actually hates him, that would be a lttle extreme.

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