By GIANFRANCO PANIZO
Landon Donovan made his first appearance in an official match in Europe in four years on Tuesday and while he did not score,the appearance was still significant.
Donovan played 23 minutes in Bayern Munich's 5-1 blowout win over VfB Stuttgart in DFB Pokal (Germany's nation-wide tournament) action on Tuesday.
After scoring four goals in five exhibition matches this month, Donovan nearly scored in his official Bayern debut but mis-hit a clear chance on goal early in his appearance.
The mid-week schedule is a heavy one for Americans Abroad, with a handful of them playing on Tuesday and several more set to play on Wednesday. Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad group did on Tuesday:
England
PREMIER LEAGUE
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Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Aston Villa's 1-0 win vs. Portsmouth on Tuesday.
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Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-0 win vs. Portsmouth on Tuesday.
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Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 1-0 loss vs.Sunderland on Tuesday.
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
- Frank Simek did not dress in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 loss vs. Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
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Marcus Hahnemann did not dress in Reading's 1-0 vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.
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Bobby Convey did not dress in Reading's 1-0 win vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.
- Jay DeMerit dressed but did not play in Watford's 3-0 win vs. Burnley on Tuesday.
Scotland
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DaMarcus Beasley did not dress in Rangers' 3-0 win vs. Falkirk on Tuesday in the Scottish CIS Insurance Cup.
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Maurice Edu did not dress in Rangers' 3-0 win vs. Falkirk on Tuesday in the Scottish CIS Insurance Cup.
Germany
- Landon Donovan came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Bayern Munich's 5-1 win vs. VfB Stuttgart on Tuesday in the DFB Pokal.
Italy
SERIE B
- Danny Szetela came off the bench and played seven minutes in Brescia's 0-0 draw vs. Sassuolo on Tuesday.
France
LIGUE 2
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Troyes' 2-1 loss vs. Sedan on Tuesday.
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What do you think of these performances? Happy to see Donovan get a chance to strut his stuff in a meaningful match? Think his shot should've been a goal? Think he'll get more time in Bayern's league match this Friday? Excited by anyone else's performance or result?
Share your thoughts below.
Accoding to Kicker Magazine this morning, The Columbus Crew are in Munich because of Donovan.
The Tuesday Pokal match vs STuttgart did Donovan no favors in the eyes of Uli Hoeness. He must show he can impress in the Pokal and Liga play.
I hope he gets more opportunity to erase that memory of Tuesday nights action. Hoeness is not one to messa round and I do not think he and Klinsmann are on the same page.
Bottom Line: Donovan take advantage of your limited chances.
Der Ameri Kaiser, I too was really disappointed of landon’s miss on a good chance. My only excuse for him is that it came too abruptedly that he wasn’t ready for it. Who would expect to come into a game and have a scoring chance presented in 30 seconds. I think he was angry of himself for that miss that it carried into verbal exchange with the keeper. That pass back from ribery was like a golden plate, I’m sure lando does not sleep well that night because he knew he wanted it badly to score in the game. However, the mentality of coming into a 5-0 game is very complex. Everyone wants to be a hero so the psyche wasn’t optimal for optimal performance when you enter such an already decided game. I can’t wait till the hambuger game and maybe you are right, Klinsmans got to be more cautious of injecting landon. We’ll see. I’m with you, it doesn’t grade a player but he certainly blew it from that miss hit.
Brett – Your American comment is spot on. Trust me, I live and play it here and know what it takes, even in the Bierliga. I bust my balls in training. If you think I’m kidding, come over and try your trade here on the pitch. Although, I get along exceptionally well with my mates and trainer, I still have to produce on a consistent basis in an effort to not lose out in favor to another mate.
I harken back to Vince Lombardi-“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” FuSball is a serious business here.
You don’t know Lehman very well do you? He’s the Bill Laimbeer of German FuSball. Even Babel is all over his case in the German press.
I dunno DAK… It’s tough to say he “has” to convert one good chance or else he becomes an afterthought. It seems especially harsh to say this after his meaningful debut with the club comes at the tail end of a thrashing handed out by the club he plays for. I’ve watched guys like Schweini and Klose flubb wide-open chances and turn the ball over and Bayern have stuck with them. How long was it into this season before Klose put the ball in the net during the run of play? Surely a lot longer than 23 minutes…
Surely the fact that Landon is an American gives him a much shorter window to prove himself, but I don’t think it is at all deserved.
Regarding the Lehmann thing, this is just a part of professional sports. A guy on the losing end of a spanking is going to take out his frustration on the other side and it is only a natural response to take those kinds of players down a peg. I wasn’t on the pitch, so I can’t say much else about what happened… But I can definitely say that it wouldn’t change my opinion of either player.
Lastly, you may be right about the playing time issue, but I don’t think Klinsmann will close the book on Landon without at least giving him one start. The greatest players can go 90 without getting on the scoresheet, so to say Landon’s future rests on performing during 15 minute windows is a bit unfair.
Nicole – I have followed Donovan and just about every Yank abroad fairly closely for the past 20 years. I’ve seen plenty of him to know that he has world class potential, but at times seems to blow the opportunity to show he really does belong with the top flight teams.
Am not saying he sucked at all. All I am saying is that 23 minutes, no matter what the result, is ample time to produce especially given that Stuttgart tried their darndest to look like a 3BL side. You’re right-good effort-but not good enough if he wants serious PT. His decision to NOT to use the instep of his boot cost him the goal and he has to convert those if he wants to be a part of the Bayern machine. As for the ‘tat’ with Lehman, Donovan should have know better and just walked away to show how much of a punk Lehman is at 38 y/o and that Donovan was the “bigger” man. Mark my words, Landon doesn’t get more than 15-20 minutes on Friday night. When he does, he better produce.
RAS – Dude it was Mario Gomez, not Lopez.
To some people out there, his name is Mario Gómez, NOT Lopez. Never trust an American to get a name right.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the same people bashing Lando Commando for not being able to net a goal in 23 minutes on the pitch with the game well in hand for Bayern are the same people who pulled out every excuse in the book for why he was putting the ball in the net during the winter friendlies.
I know it’s hard for some of you guys, but lets try giving the guy at least a half-hour of meaningful PT to score a goal before we break out the jump to conclusions mat.
Check out Mario Lopez’s teammate’s “low-five” after his goal to make it 5-1 (at the very end of the video.
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And I suggest not drinking or eating anything while watching this, if you want to avoid choking.
As a big time Donovan doubter — not the talent, the head — I hate to say it, but people should get used to this. Great when it counts for nothing, can’t miss a chance; first real game, first real chance, flubs a sitter.
The reason I say he played somewhat nervous is that he had more bad touches and hurried touches than he normally does. Hopefully he’s got the nerves out and he’ll just go out there and play his game that we know he’s got in him.
I’m not sure how much you’ve seen of LD, Der Ami Kaiser, but Lehman didn’t get in his head. We don’t know why Lehman got mad, but LD was just talking back at him.
His shot within the opening minutes was actually a difficult shot to try; he was aiming for the corner and his effort actually wasn’t bad, seeing how he stepped on the pitch and immediately started a counter-attack, dished it off to Ribery and kept running hell-bent toward goal, then tries to rip it on his 2nd touch of the game. good effort, as far as I’m concerned.
He also tried a few other things, but at that point it was obvious FCB were shutting down, especially Ribery. Donovan fed him a couple nice passes that Franck was not interested in playing. Which is expected, given the scoreline.
The game was over before Donovan got on – Heck it was over before any sub came on – and the team was just playing for possession, which is absolutely not Donovan’s game and no way enables him to showcase anything.
Of course you were at the game and have a different perspective and feel for the game – it wasn’t Donovan’s best game but he didn’t suck either. For those of us who’ve seen him play a lot, we could tell he was nervous. Hopefully Friday’s game will be a little more “competitive” when Donovan comes on.
anyone know whats happening with booby convey and reading?
Deuce – Far cry from “spanking bootay” last night as this was the Donovan we all hoped would NOT show up.
I managed to get down to Daimler-Benz Stadion in Stuttgart, and I must tell you all, that this was a less than average performance by Landon last night.
His performance in the last two friendlies clearly justified his appearance in the 67th minute in the DFB Pokal (Cup) match, but he sure didn’t take advantage of his opportunity for getting PT on Friday night’s Bundesliga match against Hamburg. Donovan blew his first chance at goal, a gift from Ribery about 12M from goal, sending it “wide right.” What was he thinking? This should have been a routine touch into the back of net for him.
To make maters worse, later he let Lehman get to his head. Lehman, being the Lehman we all know, prodded Donovan after another attempt and miss on goal which turned into an exchange of words between the two. He needs to cool down his temper, b/c this is going to get him nowhere.
Landon – Keep your head in the game brother. Get mad and get over it-move forward.
Landycakes then…..Landycakes now…..LANDYCAKES FOREVER!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Agreed Joe!
I wonder why he only got a handful of minutes in a blowout win?
Maybe the long term deal isnt all that serious =)
I just saw he has a knee injury. Gotta watch those scottish tackles 🙂
Also, on a completely different topic, how scary does Bayern Munich (nickname?) look? Are they going to run away with the Bundesliga like Barca is with the La Liga title?
Is Landy the new Messi? (just kidding)
Landycakes will always be Landycakes. Just cuz he goes on loan at 26, 27 in couple months, hes not a pansy? He should have been doing this atleast 4 years ago. I hope he does well for the sake of the national team.
Sean, I can’t believe that Edu didn’t even make the bench in such a meaningless game.
Donovan spanking that buutay. I agree, I will try really hard not to call him landycakes for a while.
MO EDU WAS OUT WITH A KNEE INJURY, THAT’S WHY HE WASN’T ON THE BENCH OR IN THE GAME. Maybe now you all can read it. 🙂
That game was brutal for me (die hard Stuttgart fan).
What the scoreline won’t tell you is that we had one goal called back from a supposed offsides on a set piece (bad call) and 4 others hit the posts/crossbar. Yes, it truly could have been a 4-4 or 5-5 type of game…. but all we see is 5-1 and “blowout”. Sometimes that’s how soccer is 🙁
Based on past comments and articles I’ve read it sounds like Rangers view Edu as a work in progress and Beasley is a guy they want to dump off. But I find it silly they aren’t given time in a meaningless match. Edu can get precious time and I think the odds of getting anything for Beasley will fade if they just banish him.
Check out Mario Lopez’s teammate’s “low-five” after his goal to make it 5-1 (at the very end of the video.
Bayern-Stuttgart highlights are on youtube.
You guys are up way too early. Do you all live in Hawaii!?
Haters of Donovan unite and retreat. Hark my call-he is our best player ever and always has been.
He will score at least a handful of goals the rest of the year.
Can’t believe Edu or Beasley can’t get on the BENCH!!!!!!!!! What the hell are their agents thinking. They HAVE to be better than the other 16 players in front of them. Does anyone have any reasonable insite into this?
Edu was out with a knee injury.
Berhalter played a full 90 for 1860 Munich.
Edu and Beasley couldn’t MAKE THE BENCH in the CIS Cup? Isn’t that the third choice trophy in Scotland?
4now,
thats a noble cause, I vow to do the same
wow, great to see landon here. I vow to not call him landycakes as long as he stays in europe.