Photo by Kirby Lee/Â USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
Nearly eight months after making his last MLS appearance, Landon Donovan will make his return to the league in a much different role.
The Denver Post reported Thursday that Donovan will coach the MLS representatives in the Homegrown Game on July 26. The matchup, which, like the All-Star Game, takes place at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, will put the MLS Homegrowns against Club America’s Under-20s.
“As someone that was developed in MLS,” Donovan said in a news release, “I hope I can provide some insight to these young players and help them reach their goals of becoming successful professionals.”
Donovan, who retired at the conclusion of this past season, will be charged with selecting the Homegrown team’s roster from a pool of players nominated by each MLS club.
In the months since retiring, Donovan has states his desire to get into coaching, specifically at the youth level.
The upcoming iteration of the Homegrown Game will be the second in the event’s history following last season’s 0-0 draw against the Portland Timbers Under-23s. This year’s game will be held three days before the All-Star Game, which will see the stars of MLS take on Premier League club Tottenham.
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What do you think of Donovan’s involvement with the Homegrown Game? What do you expect from Donovan’s coaching future?
Share your thoughts below.
So the first post is here comes the LD haters followed by barely any response from LD haters. Just JK haters needing defend their boy from NO ONE.
I like LD and he was one of my favorites. Just like JK and our current direction more than any one player. Sorry.
If LD is half the coach as he was a player I hope he gets to coach the youth national team and works his way up.
I don’t understand why anyone would hate LD…..great player, great role model, great human being.
Viva Landon!
I’m a LAG and hence a Landon fan but I don’t like the fact that LD is coaching this team. LD earned his accolades on the field for being the best, nothing was gifted to him. Coaching should be the same way. Has LD earned the spot or is he on the sideline for his playing abilities? Might not, say, an experience college coach be better for this team? Just because you were the best athlete doesn’t make you the best coach and LD should have to work his way up the coaching ladder just like everybody else. If LD is the best then great, but I think given his mere months of coaching experience, that he was given the job for his name.
You realize this is a meaningless exhibition game right?
In the grand scheme of things it is meaningless exhibition but in soccer exhibitions are a venue in which players and coaches get to prove themselves. I’m pretty sure that if some relatively unknown yet quality coach were given the opportunity to coach the MLS homegrown team that the honor would find a prominent line on his resume as it would for the players involved.
The coach of this game is not going to coach in the tradition sense. As others have said, this is a exhibition all-star type of game. This is more about giving these kids a chance to be around Donovan and hear some words of wisdom from him. This is an opportunity for LD to give back to the game. He is not trying to pad his resume. And, for the players, it is a chance to learn something by spending some real time on and off the field with a legend.
it’s a meaningless match that they want people to talk about–of course he was picked for his name. it’s not like he’s coaching the olympic team or anything.
As a Galaxy and Donovan fan, I think you need to calm down.
Fools. He replaces JK in the fall of 2018.
God, Please let this happen! That would break the internet
LD cannot start even in his own commercial. How is he supposed to coach these UP and Comers?
Also: Hat Trick Rick will be his assistant for this match.
To me its not about him being qualified its about just wanting him out of my life for now. What are the odds he works the WC snub into a sideline interview somehow?
You know that every person who interviews him asks about that right? He’s not just offering to say stuff at random.
Except on Twitter.
Let me be clear though, I’m not saying he isn’t a good coach and I’m not saying he won’t be one in the future or shouldn’t be one. What I am saying is that coaching this game is not a big deal.
Can’t you just be happy for my dude? I always knew he would be a coach since he can’t get minutes on our rec team sponsored by Wells Fargo.
Thanks, my best laugh of the day.
Lol I don’t think anyone was going to say that
Time for the LD haters – how can someone who took a sabbatical be selected to coach a team of young players? Oh no!
Sounds like you have no understanding of the criticism that people had for Landon Donovan.
He took less time off than Tim Howard. No one cares that Timmy is missing a super important tournament. People act like Landon went on a 2 year excursion to Cambodia and left everyone and everything behind, betraying his country. The man took two months to get himself right. He came back better. He was the best player in the last Gold Cup by far. Even with all the static he was getting about fixing his mental health. Sadly Jurgen Klinsmann, for all his New Age teachings on training and soccer, doesn’t actually understand that mental health is just as important as physical health.
Donovan haters will always be haters, which is sad because he really is the best player we’ve ever produced and will be for quite some time.
Timmy isn’t missing a major tournament and then acting like he’s entitled to waltz back into the team in piss poor shape and low work rate. LD did not “come back better.” Disagree all you want with the decision, but at least get the arguments right.
I cant speak for a hater because I am not but I believe that haters of Donovan came before the “sabbatical”. The “sabbatical” just reinforced the hating.
I think it has to do more with the fact that some wanted more out of Donovan – fighting in Europe rather than be a big fish in a small pond here in the US.
The thing about Timmy is that he is older and also knows that we have a proven back up in Guzan. I think if Timmy knew we would be in trouble without him, I think we would see him there for the Gold Cup.
When evaluating Klinsmann, I think people should always remember that he is German and he believes that total commitment is always necessary.
When evaluating anyone, I think people should steer clear of hackneyed racial and national stereotypes and judge people as individuals.
I’d like to request you copy that statement, create a sticky on your desktop, and refer back to it before posting each time you participate on SBI.
Especially when you provide your assessment on what makes someone “American enough” to play for the Nats.
“The man took two months to get himself right.”
Which is why he was allowed back in to the team. It was when he showed up to a friendly two months before the World Cup with a massive beer gut and publicly made comments about not being able to train 100% anymore that Klinsmann decided to cut him.
Apples to oranges.
This is like coaching an all star game in the NBA…It holds no meaning, and nothing he coaches will carry any weight. So more power to him!
won’t someone think of the children?!?