Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIPhotos.com
BY ADAM SERRANO
CARSON, Calif. — Fresh off his year and a half long stint in Germany, Edson Buddle does not feel like the same player that departed the Los Angeles Galaxy after a stellar 2010 season.
He believes that he's even better.
Buddle's return to the Galaxy became official last Thursday when the U.S. International returned to the club that he scored after spending the past year and a half with 2. Bundesliga side FC Ingolstadt 04. During his time in Germany, Buddle tallied nine goals in 32 appearances for Die Schanzer before having his contract terminated in mid-January.
The 30-year-old striker may have found some success in Germany, but was forced to watch from a distance while many of his teammates lifted the MLS Cup. After his first training session with the Galaxy since returning, Buddle insists he has not second-guessed his move to Germany.
"No regrets, I do things without regrets and I think that I learned a lot as far as European soccer and the system and I got to appreciate how hard that they train in Germany," Buddle told reporters on Monday morning. "That’s probably one of the weaknesses of my game is training and conditioning. I’ve been able to condition myself and prepare myself a lot better for each and every game."
The 30-year-old striker may be a more complete player than the one that left the Galaxy last season, but the transition was not always a smooth one. Faced with a new country, a new language and a club perpetually fighting for survival, the jovial forward struggled at times to find common ground with his new teammates.
The beginning of the end of Buddle's time in Germany came when manager Benno Möhlemann– who was instrumental in bringing the forward to Ingolstadt– was replaced by Tomas Oral. With the club fighting for survival, Buddle states that he and his coach "disagreed to agree in a way" sending Buddle on a six-week, two country search for a club.
"I went over to West Ham and Everton and a team had shown a lot of interest in Belgium (KVC Westerlo)," said Buddle. "But my working environment means a lot to me and it was tough to go to a team in Belgium that wasn’t doing so well and they didn’t have the facilities like the Galaxy to motivate me every morning so it wasn’t in my best interest to go over there.
"If it wasn’t a team in England or a good club, then I wasn’t going to just stay there. If I was younger, maybe I would, but at this age, I want to be on a winning team."
Key to Buddle returning to the Galaxy was the manner in which he left the club last offseason. After a phenomenal 2010 season that saw him score 17 goals and earn a spot on the U.S. World Cup squad, Buddle was unable to come to an agreement to return.Needing to replace their leading goal scorer, the Galaxy turned to forward Juan Pablo Angel and eventually Robbie Keane to pick up Buddle's offensive slack.
With their former leading scorer bound for Germany, the Galaxy chose to retain Buddle's rights, leaving the door open for a potential return to Los Angeles. His star forward finally secured, head coach Bruce Arena admits that the club could have done more to keep him after the 2010 season.
"We did our best to keep Edson and perhaps, but we could have done more," said Arena. "We think on our part, we made a good offer, but Edson had some other great opportunities and we thought he wished to pursue them as well. If we had to do it all over again, sure, I would have agreed to do a little bit more. At the time, we did the things that we did were right. "
With his deal completed, the forward appeared sharp in training on Monday, finishing a number of chances during various drills. Due to his sharpness and apparent midseason form, Buddle will take part in the club's scrimmage against the Portland Timbers on Tuesday.
Finally back in Southern California after a rollercoaster experience in Europe , Buddle believes that his German adventure will only benefit him as he looks to re-gain his status as one of MLS' most feared forwards.
"There was not a day in Germany that I didn't think about the Galaxy or follow last season," said Buddle. "With my experience, I feel a bit wiser coming back into the team and I still feel that I can contribute to the team going into the season."
Good Luck to Buddle. He learned at least one important lesson in Germany, that he could work harder. With Keane and Donavon on the roster, Buddle will have to use that lesson to motivate himself; he will not have the luxury of being the guy who scores all the goals. If he works hard, he will find a spot on the field and score goals, if not Arena will probably continue to look around for more firepower.
The guy went to Germany for a LOT of money. When you’re a professional athlete, you’ve got to get your payday while it’s there to be gotten because you’re an old man by 35. Did it work out for him? Not spectacularly but it’s hard to describe a forward who went over to a different league and a different culture and scored some goals over almost two years as a “failure”, either.
Buddle is apparently not quite one of America’s elite players. So what? Buddle is still a very solid pro, a notch below International level, and a solid target forward who hovers in the #10 to #20 range in terms of his position for the USA player pool. His earning potential is probably somewhere in the $350K range, maybe slightly more if he was in Europe, but that’s offset by a much higher cost-of-living and lack of familiarity with European culture. Give him good service and put him in a comfortable environment – which he’s going to have back at home in LA with guys like Beckham and Donovan feeding him – and he’s a very strong, very productive target forward and a quantum improvement over any forward on the LA roster not named Robbie Keane.
That’s pretty durn good. So why we gotta hate?
Because they didn’t want him.
Yeah, someone failed to edit their assignment.
C-
I think you’re reading into something that wasn’t implied. He scored 9 goals in 32 appearances; I don’t think lazy or out of shape are appropriate.
I don’t pretend to understand MLS’ salary cap rules, but I do know LA had substantial allocation money from the sale of Ricketts. Maybe allocation money is exempt from cap money, thus they could pay Buddle more than the cap limit.
Part of being an adult is admitting your faults and weaknesses. My weakness is scoring goals.
Love the quote: ‘At the time, we did the things that we did were right.’
Thats funny b/c players that come to MLS say the same thing about America…weird
Hopefully it makes him like Donovan. Fail in Germany, succeed in the MLS and on loan to the PL. I am okay with that.
When you’re 30 and have at best 3-4 good years in the tank, you gotta take your payday where you can. I’m sure all else equal he’d rather live in LA than Germany, it’s not just lip-service.
Beggars can’t be choosers. No other MLS team can sign him, and he’d rather live in LA than Belgium. I’m sure he’s making decent non-DP money though.
Yo Allen Iverson!!!!!
Went to Germany, had his contract ripped up.. NOW glad to be back in LA..
Cause no one asked him?
Maybe he thought that was his business not ours.
“How the hell can I make my teammates better by practising?”
Are we talkin’ bout practice?
“We’re talking about practice man. We’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice. We’re not talking about the game. We’re talking about practice. When you come to the arena, and you see me play, you’ve seen me play right, you’ve seen me give everything I’ve got, but we’re talking about practice right now.”
Even if he were spearheading the attack he would do fine.
17 goals back that up.
Why didn’t he comment on the West Ham and Everton trials?
Also not much pressure when youre sharing chances with keane, its not like hes being asked to spearhead the LA attack
Pretty good to be a leading scorer for your team when you dont train hard. Id love to see what he looks like when he actually trains hard
Too much pressure. He’ll choke. Plus he doesn’t like to train, he just likes playing games. You know, trainings for bitches.
+2
Ill hold you to that and laugh when he tears your team apart
So much hype about Buddle, its ridiculous. Always inconsistent with the Nats. One good year on the Galaxy. He’ll flop this year.
Right. Maybe this is the key point here. And he was in the 2 bundesliga…not like he was at a CHampions league team.
Except almost every American who goes to Europe (at least Germany or England or Scotland) talks about how much harder teams train.
Lazy and out of shape does not fly in Germany, hopefully it will in LA.
Yes or he wouldn’t have signed.
+1, I’m older than him and I’m not man enough to concede my wholly fixable weaknesses. Except for the one about looking at internet comments too much, that one I’ll fess up to.
Good for Galaxy to have him back. This will take some pressure off before Keane returns from loan.
So…the team has 3 DPs. Buddle must be hapyp with less than that?
we all have our weaknesses, at least he was man enough to admit it and recognize it
Wasn’t the knock on him in Germany that he was out of shape or didn’t train hard enough? I also heard it was his salary too but I’ve heard both I guess. If it was related to training what he says about training and motivation makes the allegations plausible.
Pretty sad for a Pro to admit his weakness is training and conditioning. So….you know but you’re too lazy to fix it?