The U.S. national team’s attack could be without one of its most dangerous players on Wednesday against England if Landon Donovan can’t recover from tightness in his groin which first become a problem during the LA Galaxy’s 3-1 win against Kansas City on Saturday.
If Donovan can’t go that will leave the U.S. attack thin and will pretty much guarantee that we’ll see the Clint Dempsey-Eddie Johnson forward tandem. Who replaces Donovan in the lineup? I know Freddy Adu is the popular pick, but it wouldn’t shock me if Bradley went with Josh Wolff.
Who do you think should get the nod? Share your thoughts on Donovan’s injury status and his potential replacement below.
Tony in Quakeland:
I really think your looking at Donovan with a bias. I haven’t seen anywhere near the animosity towards Donovan that you describe. Yes, there is definitely some flak directed his way, but that is inevitable when your as big a player as he is. I also don’t remember seeing much “psychoanalysis”. Again, yes, there is some, but you are reading way too much into it.
One of the frustrations of making posts is that people read a post and give it a meaning that the poster never intended. Sometime this is done intentionally but a lot of the time it’s because they are taking things too literally. For instance, you said you are tired of people who think they possess some psychological insight on a person they have never met. This seems kind of silly for several reasons. One, in my case, I’m not actually attempting to be a psychologist for Landon Donovan and I don’t take myself that seriously that I would actually give someone a psychoanalysis. Two, as a sports fans isn’t that kind of what we’re doing all of the time? Making judgments and claiming we know certain things about sports figures personalities. I bet you don’t get nearly as defensive when people rip Bruce Arena to shreds with their analysis of him being a whiner, a baby, arrogant, an egomaniac, the list goes on and on. Do we really have this kind of personal insight on Bruce Arena knowing him as a coach, that we cans say all of this about him as a person? Don’t even get me started about Taylor Twellman. The things that are said about him are unbelievable and I have no idea where most of it comes from. For the most part, I don’t take this stuff that seriously because most of the time it’s nothing more than fans just being fans. Obviously a lot of fans can’t be dead serious about what they are saying.
That having been said, I don’t think it’s a stretch, or me trying to act like a psychologist, to say that Donovan does have some kind of problem in the form of a mental block or something. I understand what people are talking about when they say something to that effect. I also don’t see any harm in trying to take a stab at what that problem might be. I would put it in the category of what sports fans do. I have to disagree with you on your comparison with Clint Dempsey. I don’t think Clint Dempsey is even worthy of comparison to Donovan at this point. What has he done in comparison with Donovan? Also, it’s not the same to compare Dempsey and others by saying they have done the same things as Donovan but are not viewed the same way. At least not in terms of the psychological aspect of things. Donovan’s situation IS NOT the same as other players. I could put together a series of clips of Donovan doing things that NO OTHER player on his level does on a regular basis. Sometimes it’s almost like Jekyll and Hyde. You could put together a feature film on Donovan full of astonishing misses and misplays that you could never match with another player as good as Donovan. It’s just not normal to miss so many easy chances when you are as good as he is. It’s not nearly a case of “everyone misses easy chances”.
You are definitely right that people seem to think Dempsey can do no wrong and, in my opinion, overrate him based on what he has done so far, but he really doesn’t compare with Donovan at all. There does not seem to be anything unusual about his play, and I seriously doubt that you will see from him a career where he has astonishing misses and disappears from games on a regular basis.
Finally, everyone everywhere seems to be commenting on just what might be the problem with Donovan. We are hearing all kinds of things not just from sports fans but writers. Why did he go overseas and was not up to the task when he is such a good player? If he wasn’t given a fair chance, why did he give up so quickly? Why are much lesser players able to accomplish what he cannot in Europe? Etc., etc. Donovan is not the same as most other players and people did not just decide to make something out of nothing. Also, I do not “hate” Donovan. I like Donovan. I don’t understand why some people are referencing this “hate” for Donovan. If I’ve seen actual hate for anyone it’s Bruce Arena and Taylor Twellman. If critiquing someone is a form of hate then we’re all hated. One last thing, did everyone unjustly psychoanalyze Eddie Johnson?