Filed under: MLS team values by Forbes, Uncategorized | Tags: Andrea Pirlo, Avaya Stadium, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, David Villa, DC United, Didier Drogba, Don Garber, ESPN, FC Dallas, Forbes magazine, Fox, Fox Sports 1, Frank Lampard, Houston Dynamo, Kaka, LAFC, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Miami Fusion, Montreal Impact, NBA, NBC, NBCSN, New England Revolution, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, NFL, NHL, Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, Steven Gerrard, Toronto FC, Univision, Vancouver Whitecaps, WNBA
The average worth of Major League Soccer clubs reached $157 million in 2014, up 52 percent from the previous year, according to a valuation by Forbes magazine.
Topping the list were the Seattle Sounders at $245 million, while the Colorado Rapids, worth $105 million, brought up the rear. The biggest mover was DC United, whose value increased 97 percent, from $71 million in ’13 to $140 million last year. Average team worth was $103 million in 2013, nearly triple what Forbes valued the teams five years earlier.
Eight of MLS’ then-18 clubs turned a profit in 2014, led by Seattle’s $10 million. The biggest loser was the New York Red Bulls at $9 million.
2014 valuation of MLS clubs, plus revenue and operating income*:
1. Seattle Sounders — $245 million, $50 million, $10 million.
2. Los Angeles Galaxy — $240 million, $44 million, $4 million.
3. Houston Dynamo — $200 million, $26 million, $5 million.
4. Portland Timbers — $185 million, $35 million, $4 million.
5. Toronto FC — $175 million, $32 million, -$7 million.
6. Sporting Kansas City — $165 million, $29 million, $4 million.
7. Chicago Fire — $160 million, $21 million, -$6 million.
8. New England Revolution — $158 million, $25 million, $7 million.
9. FC Dallas — $148 million, $25 million, -$3 million.
10. San Jose Earthquakes — $146 million, $13 million, -$1 million.
11. Philadelphia Union — $145 million, $25 million, $2 million.
12. New York Red Bulls — $144 million, $22 million, -$9 million.
13. D.C. United — $140 million, $21 million, -$1 million.
14. Montreal Impact — $128 million, $22 million, -$3 million.
15. Vancouver Whitecaps — $125 million, $21 million, -$6 million.
16. Columbus Crew — $112 million, $18 million, -$4 million.
17. Real Salt Lake — $108 million, $17 million, $1 million.
18. Colorado Rapids — $105 million, $15 million, -$3 million.
*Operating income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization.
Forbes cited a number of reasons for the league’s surging team valuation, including:
o Growing attendance, which through July averaged 21,000, as MLS continued to widen the gap with the NBA (17,800) and NHL (17,500) in that department. That average projects to total attendance of 7.2 million in 2015, thanks in part to the addition of new teams in New York and Orlando. The 2013 total was 6 million.
o An influx of overseas talent that picked up in 2015 with the arrival of the likes of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Villa and Didier Drogba–a clear indication that owners are willing to spend to enhance the product on the field.
o More soccer-specific stadiums throughout MLS. The latest was San Jose’s Avaya Stadium, which opened in March, and DC United plans be in new digs by 2018. Like United, the Earthquakes’ value has doubled since ’13.
o The end of a TV deal with ESPN, NBC and Univision that paid MLS an average $30 million per year. The new deal, in which Fox replaced NBC, pays $90 million a year. Hardly NFL figures, or even NHL figures, and average viewship of 232,000 this year on Fox Sports 1 trails even the WNBA, but that represents a 65 percent improvement over NBCSN’s average audience of 141,000. [September 19]
Comment I: Total team worth of more than $2.8 billion for a league that as recently as 2002 nearly went under. No wonder there were no signs of panic when MLS Commissioner Don Garber, during his “State of the League” address in December, revealed that the league was losing more than $100 million a year.
Comment II: Being part of MLS is still far from being a license to print money, but no wonder the owners of LAFC, which won’t begin play until 2018, paid a league-record expansion fee of $110 million to try to succeed where it predecessor, the ill-fated Chivas USA, failed. By comparison, the Miami Fusion, one of the league’s first two expansion teams, paid $20 million in 1997 to join MLS.
Filed under: 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Uncategorized | Tags: 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2018 World Cup, Andres Guardado, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Brad Friedel, Brazil '14, Brondby IF, Canada, Canaleros, Catrachos, Chester, Columbus Crew, Costa Rica, Cuba, Darren Mattocks, Denmark, El-Tri, England, Fox Sports, Galatasaray, Honduras, Ian Darke, Jamaica, Jesus Corona, John Harkes, Lincoln Financial Field, Liverpool, Major League Soccer, Marcelo Balboa, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Michael Hector, New Zealand, Newcastle United, Oribe Peralta, Panama, Pasadena, Paul Aguilar, Philadelphia, PPL Park, Reggae Boyz, Rose Bowl, Russia, Soca Warriors, Taylor Trellman, Ticos, Timmy Chandler, Tottenham, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, U.S., UCLA
Mexico shook off its funk and stormed to its seventh CONCACAF Gold Cup title, defeating upstart Jamaica, 3-1, in the final before a partisan sellout crowd of 68,930 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
Andres Guardado opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a spectacular left-footed volley off a cross by Paul Aguilar. That ended a frustrating 272-minute stretch in which the Mexicans had failed to score from anywhere but the penalty spot. Jesus Corona, voted the Gold Cup’s top young player, increased the lead to 2-0 two minutes into the second half after stealing a ball from Michael Hector, and in the 61st minute Oribe Peralta capitalized on another blunder by Hector to put the match out of reach. Darren Mattocks got the Reggae Boyz a consolation goal in the 81st.
The triumph earned El Tri a playoff with the U.S. on October 10 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., with a berth in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup at stake.
The U.S. won the 2013 Gold Cup and could have secured a trip outright to the Confederations Cup in Russia by winning the ’15 tournament, but the Americans were defeated by Jamaica, 2-1, in the semifinals and then sagged to a loss to Panama in the third-place game at PPL Park in Chester, Penn., bowing on penalty kicks, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw. [July 26]
Comment I: An aberration? No climactic meeting of the U.S. and Mexico in the final, as the tournament promoters had hoped? Perhaps. Maybe we’ll know as early as the autumn of 2017, when the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup conclude. But the balance of power in CONCACAF continues to shift, and the hold of Mexico and the U.S. on the top two rungs continues to erode, by degrees.
The Mexicans needed all of three late penalty-kick calls in the quarterfinals and semifinals to reach the championship match (thanks to Guardado, they converted them all). The Americans failed to impress in group play, buried a Cuban team decimated by defections in the second round, then went back to failing to impress thereafter and were rewarded with a deserved fourth-place finish.
Are Jamaica and Panama that good? Of course not. Neither is Costa Rica, Honduras or Trinidad & Tobago. The most recent FIFA World Rankings placed the Reggae Boyz at No. 55, the Canaleros at No. 65, the Ticos at No. 38, the Catrachos at No. 81, and the Soca Warriors at No. 56.
Fortunately for the U.S. (29th) and Mexico (26th), while CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifiers remain a challenge–with road matches ranging from headaches to nightmares–the outcome has been similar over the past five campaigns: The Americans and El Tri qualify and are joined by . . . who? For 1998, it was Jamaica, in its World Cup debut. For ’02, Costa Rica. For ’06, it was the Costa Ricans and, for the first time, Trinidad & Tobago. For 2010, Honduras qualified, and for Brazil ’14 it was Costa Rica and Honduras. It’s like a game of Whack a Mole, as first one CONCACAF contender pops out of its hole, then ducks back down and a different one pops up.
And so the battle for the region’s 3 1/2 berths at the 2018 World Cup heats up this fall, and everyone has the U.S. and Mexico with boarding passes to Russia. Many in the media describe the October playoff between the two at the Rose Bowl as being very important because the winner goes on to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, “something of a dress rehearsal for the next World Cup.” But the U.S. or Mexico might–just might–go to Russia dress rehearsing for nothing.
Because if there was any proof that there’s no longer a sure thing in CONCACAF, it came in late 2013, when Mexico shockingly finished fourth in the World Cup qualifiers and had to sweat out a playoff with New Zealand to punch its ticket to Brazil. (Were it not for two U.S. stoppage-time goals at Panama in the region’s final round, Mexico would have been eliminated for the first time since 1934–when the eliminators happened to be the Americans.) And as CONCACAF nations evolve, there’s nothing to say that Costa Rica, a surprise World Cup quarterfinalist in ’14; Honduras, a semifinalist in the previous two Gold Cups; Panama and Jamaica; and even Trinidad & Tobago; don’t all pop out of their mole holes during a single World Cup cycle, leaving the U.S. and/or Mexico on the outside looking in. Heck, don’t count out Canada (No. 101), which won the 2000 Gold Cup, finished third in ’02 and now has a generation of players developing in Major League Soccer.
Comment II: The USA’s breakout star during the tournament was a recent retiree. Timmy Chandler was a disaster, Michael Bradley disappointed, but former U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel, as a television color commentator, proved to be a find for Fox Sports during its Gold Cup coverage as it gears up for much bigger assignments, from CONCACAF World Cup qualifying beginning late this year to Russia 2018 itself.
Friedel gives you the whole field, as a goalkeeper should, but he also gives you the whole picture and speaks with the authority of a player who’s gone from the top collegiate level (UCLA) to MLS (Columbus Crew) to national team (82 caps, two World Cups) to international clubs (Brondby IF of Denmark, Newcastle United of England, Galatasaray of Turkey, and Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa and Tottenham, all of England). He’s quick, articulate, witty and enthusiastic about the U.S. without losing his credibility–no easy task during this transitory period in soccer’s history in this country. And unlike most of his predecessors, he compliments his play-by-play partner, instead of making him work.
Friedel is far better than a long line of ex-U.S. internationals who’d hoped to be the second banana in a national soccer broadcast booth for the next couple of decades. Friedel is better than John Harkes, he’s better than Marcelo Balboa, and he’s better than the insufferable Taylor Trellman, whose partner, the outstanding play-by-play man Ian Darke, must dread going to work. Friedel’s, literally, a keeper.
Filed under: Brad Friedel, Uncategorized | Tags: 1974 World Cup, 2014 World Cup, Aston Villa, Belgium, Blackburn, Brad Friedel, Columbus Crew, England, English Premier League, France '98, Germany, Gregg Berhalter, Hermann Trophy, Iran, Jan Tomaszewski, Juergen Sommer, Kasey Keller, Korea/Japan 2002, Liverpool, Major League Soccer, Mexico, Ohio, Poland, South Korea, Tim Howard, Tony Meola, Torsten Frings, Tottenham Hotspur, UCLA, Yugoslavia
Brad Friedel, one of the most decorated players in U.S. history, announced that he would retire at the end of Tottenham Hotspur’s English Premier League season.
The 44-year-old, who made his EPL debut 17 seasons ago with Liverpool and went on to play for Blackburn and Aston Villa, holds the league record for consecutive starts with 310 and made 450 overall. He’s eighth all-time in career shutouts with 132, and he is only the second goalkeeper in league history to score a goal.
Friedel made 82 international appearances from 1992 through 2004. He won the 1992 Hermann Trophy as a UCLA junior and two years later was the USA’s backup goalkeeper to Tony Meola, along with Juergen Sommer, at the 1994 World Cup. He was the 1997 Goalkeeper of the Year, with the Columbus Crew, in his only season in Major League Soccer. Friedel then left for England, where he made 450 starts–310 consecutively. The Ohio native recorded 132 shutouts (eighth all-time in the EPL) and became only the second goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal, still only one of five to do so.
The 44-year-old Friedel, described by one writer as “follicularly fulsome” at the beginning of his career and bald as a soccer ball since, now brings his curious British/Midwestern accent to the tube as a full-time commentator for Fox Sports. [May 14]
Comment: For all the accolades that came Tim Howard’s way for his heroic performance in the USA’s overtime loss to Belgium in the second round of the 2014 World Cup, the greatest sustained World Cup performance by a U.S. goalkeeper was Friedel’s at Korea/Japan 2002.
Friedel was the guy who, at France ’98, was known as the USA’s No. 1 1/2, losing to Yugoslavia, 1-0, after No. 1 Kasey Keller had lost to Germany, 2-0, and Iran, 2-1. But four years later, he was the undisputed starter.
He saved penalty kicks against host South Korea and Poland in the first round, becoming the only ‘keeper to accomplish that feat since Jan Tomaszewski during Poland’s run to third place at the 1974 World Cup. Friedel’s performance against Korea included three saves of shots from inside 10 yards–without those, the U.S. doesn’t survive with a 1-1 tie and doesn’t advance out of its group. Then, Friedel doesn’t post his 2-0 shutout of Mexico in the second round. And in the quarterfinals, maybe there’s a call on Torsten Fring’s goal line handball on the shot by Gregg Berhalter, maybe the U.S. takes the game beyond overtime to penalty kicks, and maybe Brad Friedel . . . .
Filed under: Juergen Klinsmann, Uncategorized | Tags: 2006 World Cup, Alamodome, Baerum, Berti Vogts, Bobby Warshaw, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Claudio Reyna, CONCACAF Gold Cup, Denmark, England, FC Dallas, Fox Sports, German National Team, Ireland, Joachim Loew, Jordan Morris, Juan Agudelo, Juergen Klinsmann, Liga MX, Major League Soccer, Manchester United, Mexico, MLSsoccer.com, Norwegian first division, Portugal, Rob Stone, San Antonio, Stanford University, Swedish first division, Switzerland, U.S., U.S. Soccer, U.S. U-17s
Stanford University sophomore Jordan Morris scored four minutes into the second half and his replacement, erstwhile striker Juan Agudelo, applied the clinching goal in the 72nd minute as the U.S. defeated Mexico by that familiar score of 2-0 in a friendly played before a sellout crowd of 64,369 at San Antonio’s Alamodome.
The 20-year-old Morris, who made his international debut in November at Ireland, became the first college player to start for the U.S. in two decades. Agudelo hadn’t played for the U.S. since November 2012 and hadn’t scored since March 2011.
With the match not on the FIFA international schedule, the U.S. lineup was dominated by Major League Soccer players while Mexico was largely a Liga MX side.
The U.S. is 13-5-5 against Mexico since 2000, 17-11-9 since 1990 and 19-33-14 since the two nations first met in 1934. [April 15]
Comment: Just a friendly and just a warm-up to this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup between two sides missing their biggest names, many of whom stayed with their overseas clubs. U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann had this to say to MLSsoccer.com a few days before the match, which was played a couple of weeks after the Americans lost at Denmark, 3-2, and earned a 1-1 draw at Switzerland:
“. . . It is a great opportunity for everyone (individually) to show where they are right now, where they are at this stage with MLS teams, down in Mexico, and just show us at what stage you are. And then obviously the closer we get to the Gold Cup the more we kind of define things.”
Obviously.
And because of logistics, Klinsmann and his predecessors have had to play the hand they’re dealt when it comes to personnel, rounding up European-based starters for one friendly, then European-based bench sitters and MLS and Liga MX players for another. (Playing outside the FIFA international window, like the Mexico game, only makes things more difficult.) But in his nearly five-year tenure as U.S. boss, Klinsmann has established not just a revolving door but a spinning revolving door to his team’s dressing room, frustrating observers who would like to see him, at the very least, settle on a back line so those four souls don’t have to introduce themselves to one another before every kickoff. They might even learn to play as a unit.
True, the U.S. got a shutout victory in San Antonio with yet another eclectic group, but that quote and that game only made a recent online article by Bobby Warshaw all the more interesting. A 26-year-old midfielder for Baerum of the Norwegian first division who played for the U.S. U-17s, FC Dallas and two Swedish first division clubs, Warshaw wrote:
“Juergen Klinsmann is a tough cat to understand sometimes, but his comments prior to the U.S. men’s national team game with Switzerland shed a little light for me. Whenever Fox Sports’ Rob Stone asked a question about the team, Klinsmann put the emphasis on the players. He never mentioned team goals. Rather, he kept referring to the players, suggesting that ‘the players have the opportunity’ and ‘it’s a big time in their careers.’ It annoyed me.
“That doesn’t answer the question, Juergen. Why are you putting the weight on the players here? You’re always criticizing the players. He asked about the TEAM. How are you going to prepare the TEAM? You’re the man in charge.
“It seemed he was missing the boat.
“And then I remembered back to one of the first conversations I had in a European locker room. I had been there for a week on loan from my Major League Soccer team. I started talking to a guy in a nearby locker about his career. He said he didn’t want to be with the club long; he was going to move on to a bigger club soon. It seemed a strange thing to tell a teammate.
“I realized Klinsmann wasn’t shirking responsibility in the interview. He was making a statement that reflects his view of the game, and it’s something I think I’ve failed to understand about the coach: The European football culture where Klinsmann was raised revolves around individual ambition. Personal success means more than team accomplishments.
“It’s a funny feeling around a European locker room. Everyone is happy to be on the team, but everybody also wants to be on a different one. A lot of the players have one foot out the door as soon as they step in. If a European player could pick between a trophy at the end of the season and moving on to a bigger club, he would choose the move. And it’s all perfectly accepted. It’s a strange way to conduct a team. (I can’t imagine what it’s like to play for a feeder club like Ajax, where not a single person really wants to be on that team.)
“Every player in Europe has a small sense he will someday end up in Manchester United red. Seventy-five thousand fans, Champions League, multi-million-dollar deals all feel within your reach.
“In MLS, the ceiling seems so low. The league office won’t sell you; it has no incentive to. You work hard to get some playing time and then become a starter. Hopefully the team rewards you with a new contract, but it’s not likely. They pat themselves on the back for getting a good deal within the salary cap. They tell you to sacrifice for the team. You chug along.
“In Europe, the sky’s the limit. It’s an incredible feeling. It only takes one game or one good run for someone to spot you. The next morning your club sells you to pay the electric bill. You move up a step in a matter of days.
“It changes the way you see the game. Winning isn’t the be-all and end-all. You don’t play to win the game . . . . You play because you’re personally ambitious. Ambition drives performance. And if everyone plays well, then the team wins the game. That drive, that ambition, that personal selfishness helps players, and the team, perform.
“This is strange to Americans. We hate to think anyone is playing for himself. We loath selfish players. And that’s one of our disconnects with Klinsmann. Klinsmann doesn’t view it as selfish. He sees it as natural, if not necessary.
“The way you talk about the team doing well is to talk about the players playing well. All of a sudden, ‘the players have the opportunity’ makes a lot more sense. It’s the individual’s drive that moves the team forward.
“But players still need direction and game plan, neither of which Klinsmann seems to provide. Emphasis on a player’s individual ambition aside, at some point coaching needs to be done.
“Klinsmann has a general view of the team that we don’t seem to like. Some wise person in history surely said that hatred is fueled by ignorance–and seeing Klinsmann through this European lens at least helps us understand the man a little more. But who knows, maybe that understanding simply gives a little more merit to the hatred.
“Klinsmann grew up in a sporting model different than the one touted in the United States. I don’t think it explains everything, but it explains a little.”
Warshaw is certainly right in that Klinsmann’s outlook runs counter to American sensibilities. The U.S. sinks or swims as a team; for decades, it has been a one-for-all, all-for-one outfit out of necessity. Go down the list of the USA’s greatest upset victories–from England in 1950 through Portugal in 2002 and beyond–and in every case the whole was greater than the sum of its parts compared to the individual international stars they defeated.
And U.S. Soccer has even had to stand its approach to youth soccer on its head in an effort to match the player development methods of top soccer-playing nations. When Claudio Reyna was appointed the USSF’s youth technical director in 2010 (a year before Klinsmann took the helm of the national team), his curriculum could be summed up by this quote: “We care about how many players you develop rather than how many trophies you win.” It was refreshing . . . and altogether Klins-ian.
So the focus now is on the individual, not the team. It can only be hoped that when these sparkling individuals reach the national team, it is Berti Vogts who can help the rugged individualist Klinsmann turn a collection of talent into a unit, supplying Warshaw’s “direction and game plan.” With Klinsmann under fire for his selections and methods and tactics, it was Vogts who was brought aboard two months ago as technical advisor to do for Klinsmann, perhaps, what Joachim Loew did for him at the 2006 World Cup when Klinsy was German National Team boss. Vogts, an unselfish, blue-collar player nicknamed “The Terrier” would’ve been Warshaw’s prototypical American, a guy playing for the team, not to move up the soccer ladder. Vogts, after all, toiled 15 seasons in the Bundesliga, all with the glamorous Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Filed under: Futbol de Primera Player of the Year, Landon Donovan, Uncategorized | Tags: 1999 FIFA Under-17 Tournament, 2014 World Cup, Belgium, Brad Davis, Brazil, Carson CA, Chris Wondolowski, Clint Dempsey, Cobi Jones, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, English Premier League, Eric Wynalda, Everton, Futbol de Primera Player of the Year, Jermaine Jones, Juergen Klinsmann, Julian Green, Kasey Keller, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Lakers, Major League Soccer, MLS Cup, Most Valuable Player, NBA, New England Revolution, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders, StubHub Center, Tim Howard, U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year
Landon Donovan went out a winner on his last day as a professional player as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New England Revolution, 2-1, in extra time at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA, to capture its third MLS Cup in four years and its Major League Soccer-record fifth overall.
Donovan, 32, announced in August that he would retire after the MLS season. Thanks to the Galaxy’s victories over Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders in the playoffs, his season was extended through November into December.
Though he had an unspectacular afternoon against New England–drawing a caution at the end of the first half and missing on a 20-yard free kick in OT that would have put L.A. ahead–Donovan in the end lifted the MLS Cup trophy for a record sixth time.
He also exits as MLS’s all-time scoring leader and assist leader, and he holds so many other league regular-season and post-season marks that the only ones left involve either goalkeeping or defender-of-the-year awards. His list of U.S. international records is equally long. Donovan’s 57 goals include five in the World Cup and 10 game-winners, nine multi-goal games, 14 goals scored in the final 15 minutes of a match, nine alone in 2007 (tied with Eric Wynalda for most in a year) and 15 penalty kicks in 15 attempts. His 58 assists–10 of which were recorded in 2009 alone–are 36 ahead of No. 2 on the list, Cobi Jones. Donovan is second all-time in international appearances at 156 games, and if he weren’t left off the U.S. roster for the 2014 World Cup, he might have picked up seven more caps (three World Cup warm-ups and four games in Brazil itself), leaving him one behind Jones’ American mark of 164. Of course, if Donovan, who logged nearly 13,000 minutes–nine days on the field–for the national team, hadn’t been dumped by U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann, he might have continued adding to his numbers into 2015 and beyond. (He’s only 32. Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane, 34, says he expects to play until he’s 38. The great Pele retired just shy of his 37th birthday.)
The individual awards in his trophy case are topped by the Golden Ball he was handed as the best player at the 1999 FIFA Under-17 Tournament, and he was voted the 2002 World Cup’s Best Young Player. [December 7]
Comment: Donovan has won several other individual honors during his career, including the U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year (2003, ’04, ’09 and ’10) and Futbol de Primera Player of the Year (2002, ’03, ’04, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10). His exclusion from the U.S. World Cup team, of course, left him out of the running for either trophy this year.
Howard was the clear favorite for both awards as he set U.S. records for career wins, 55, and goalkeeper appearances, 104, blowing past the now-retired Kasey Keller (53 and 102). His 15 shutouts in 2013-14 helped his club, Everton, finish fifth in the English Premier League. And there were those World Cup-record 16 saves in the USA’s 2-1 overtime loss to Belgium in the second round in Brazil. Howard won the U.S. Soccer award with 64 percent of the vote from a panel of U.S. players, coaches, administrators and others; midfielder Jermaine Jones was second with 19 percent. Some 200 journalists made Howard the runaway winner in the FDP balloting, giving him 363 points to Jones’ 160 and Clint Dempsey’s 147.
Anticipating the Howard landslide, one FDP voter gave Donovan one final first-place vote (with Howard second and Jones third). However, it was based not on sentimentality but a nagging doubt.
Naming Donovan the best player in America in 2014 requires a look through a different prism. That is, Donovan may have demonstrated his value to the U.S. National Team at the 2014 World Cup not through his presence but through his absence.
Watching players who took his place on the roster, like Brad Davis and Chris Wondolowski, struggle in Brazil, must have made Donovan squirm. Couldn’t the greatest player in American history, perhaps a year beyond his prime, have made a difference in this or that situation? Should he have been left behind in favor of 18-year-old Julian Green, and could he have scored the goal Green scored against Belgium in overtime? Many would say no and yes–Donovan wouldn’t have mis-hit his shot like Green’s star-kissed volley. As for what Donovan might have done with Wonolowski’s chance at the end of regulation against the Belgians . . . .
This upside-down look at a player’s value isn’t new. Long ago, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, coming off an NBA championship in his rookie season, suffered a serious knee injury midway through his second, in 1980-81. The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and the argument was raised in many quarters that Johnson proved that he deserved the league’s Most Valuable Player award because the Lakers struggled and ultimately crashed without him.
As for Donovan, it was only one Futbol de Primera vote in the face of a landslide. It mattered not. It was worth using it to lift the question “What if?” into a statement.
Filed under: Away goals rule, Uncategorized | Tags: Brad Evans, Bruce Arena, CenturyLink Field, Clint Dempsey, Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Juninho, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, NASL, NBA, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, NHL, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders, StubHub Center, Village People
The Los Angeles Galaxy lost to the Seattle Sounders, 2-1, on a frigid night at CenturyLink Field but won the Western Conference final on away goals to advance to Major League Soccer’s championship game.
The Galaxy, which a week earlier took the first game of its home-and-home series, 1-0, will return to the StubHub Center on December 7 to play host to the New England Revolution in the MLS Cup final. New England defeated the New York Red Bulls, 2-1 and 2-2, in the Eastern Conference finals for a 3-2 aggregate.
Brad Evans, in the 26th minute, and Clint Dempsey, six minutes later, scored to give the Sounders hope of reaching their first MLS final, but nine minutes into the second half L.A. midfielder Juninho pounced on a deflected corner kick by Landon Donovan and ripped a shot in off the left post for his first goal in 13 months. [November 30]
Comment: The last stupid MLS idea has died peacefully of natural causes.
And we don’t mean the Columbus Crew’s decision to dump its Village People logo once and for all (that’s called “re-branding”).
MLS finally succumbed to the use of the aways goals rule this playoff season, and the world did not come to an end. Both the Eastern Coference semifinals and finals were decided on aggregate goals, as did one Western semifinal, won by L.A. over Real Salt Lake. And when the Galaxy walked off the CenturyLink Field at the final whistle after the road leg of its Western Conference final, the partisan Sounder crowd of 46,758 accepted the fact that its side, winners on the night by a goal, were losers overall.
Some in the media here didn’t quite know what to make of this new gimmick, although it’s used in cup competitions the world over. “Rules of the road lift Galaxy into the final” read one newspaper headline. Another: “Galaxy’s Goal is One for the Road.” But a worthy winner was produced. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena called the concept of the away-goals rule–an incentive for the road team to attack in the first leg–“garbage,” and it certainly didn’t inspire Seattle to produce an away goal or two in the first leg. But no one at CenturyLink exited wringing their hands over an injustice. Everyone knew the rules going in. In fact, the Sounders were the first team in MLS history to advance on away goals, eliminating FC Dallas nearly three weeks earlier in the Western semifinals (1-1 in Texas, 0-0 at home). And there was no effect at the gate: MLS drew a record average attendance of 19,151 during the regular season–once again better than the NBA and NHL–and 21,275 during the playoffs. Not a tremendous accomplishment, unless one recalls the days in the not-too-distant past when most MLS post-season matches drew crowds embarrassingly smaller than many regular-season games.
Americans fans, apparently, have been more adaptable than MLS gave them credit for over its 19-season run. Or at least they were tolerant. They’ve had to endure earlier MLS playoff concoctions, such as the ponderous best-of-three-games playoff. And the ridiculous “first-to-five-points” system. Once it got to the simple home-and-home formula in 2003, it counted road goals equal to home goals, perhaps in the belief that a romp by the visiting team in the opening leg would kill interest in the second leg.
Fans here also–some of them–survived other MLS innovations, like the silly countdown clock, and they survived leftovers from the old NASL, like the shootout, back when it was believed that American DNA made it impossible for folks here to understand, let alone appreciate, the concept of a draw. Perhaps the seamless debut of away goals signals the end, once and for all, of its “unnecessarily creative” period.
Filed under: Landon Donovan farewell, Uncategorized | Tags: 2014 World Cup, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Brazil, Cobi Jones, East Hartford CT, Ecuador, England, Enner Valencia, Everton, FC Hollywood, Germany, Honda Player of the Year, Joe Corona, John Harkes, Juergen Klinsmann, Kasey Keller, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Maximo Banguera, Mix Diskerud, Rentschler Field, Steve Sampson, Timmy Chandler, U.S. National Team, U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, Uli Hoeness
Landon Donovan played his final match for the U.S. National Team, a 1-1 tie with Ecuador in a friendly in East Hartford, CT.
An adoring sellout crowd of 36,265 at Rentschler Field bade farewell to Donovan, 32, who leaves as the USA’s all-time leader in goals (57), assists (58), starts (142) and minutes played (12,853).
Donovan played a small part in Mix Diskerud’s goal in the fifth minute. He later rang the right post with a shot in the 25th minute, grounded an attempt wide and saw another shot smothered by Ecuadoran ‘keeper Maximo Banguera before exiting for Joe Corona in the 41st. In the 88th minute, with Donovan long gone, striker Enner Valencia spoiled the party somewhat when he equalized on a looping shot.
Donovan’s 157 caps are second only to Cobi Jones’ 164; the U.S. was 90-36-31 when he played, and 11-3-5 when he was captain. He played a record 15 years as a member of the full U.S. team, tied with a non-field player, goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Donovan was a seven-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award and was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year four times.
The impish forward-midfielder announced two months ago that he will also retire as a player when the Los Angeles Galaxy’s season concludes later this fall. He is Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in goals (144) and assists (136), and has won five MLS championships. [October 10]
Comment: Thus endth the international career of the greatest player ever produced by America. With about five minutes left in the half, Donovan and coach Juergen Klinsmann, who controversially cut Donovan from his 2014 World Cup squad, exchanged an awkward embrace at the touchline, and the only U.S. male soccer player many Americans could name was gone. Over the past five months the snub–costing Donovan a U.S.-record fourth trip to a World Cup–became the biggest soap opera in U.S. National Team history, dwarfing the sacking of captain John Harkes by then-coach Steve Sampson on the eve of the 1998 World Cup. What began as a discussion of player form and the subjective nature of a coach’s player selections mushroomed to almost Freudian proportions.
No one will know exactly how this coda to Donovan’s career in red, white and blue came about. Most will summarize it by pointing to Donovan’s five-month soccer sabbatical in 2012-13, causing the driven Klinsmann to question the player’s commitment to the national team and his profession in general. But this appears to be a case of Klinsmann regarding Donovan as a prized pupil, a player held to a much higher standard than, say, defender and dual citizen Timmy Chandler, who waffled from 2011 to 2013 before at long last agreeing to play for the U.S., not his homeland, Germany.
Here’s what Klinsmann had to say the day before the Ecuador friendly:
“As a coach, you always want to see a player drive for his 100 percent. I’m looking at Landon always that I wish, in a certain way, he could have done a bit more here and a bit more there. But he had a tremendous career and he deserves that farewell tomorrow night and all the compliments on your end as well.”
And Klinsmann’s wishes go all the way back to 2008, when Donovan, who had already struck out as a kid with Bayer Leverkusen and was striking out on loan to Bayern Munich, had nevertheless captured the fancy of Munich’s coach. That happened to be Klinsmann, who would last only one stormy season with the club known in Germany as FC Hollywood. Said German legend and Munich general manager Uli Hoeness later, “Juergen really wanted us to sign the guy, but to be honest, he wasn’t even good enough for our second team.” (Donovan would go on to prove his European mettle during loan stints in England with Everton in 2010 and 2012.)
So where did it go sour between Donovan and the man who some six years ago was one of his biggest boosters? And why? Did Klinsmann chase Donovan into a premature retirement as a professional player? It should be noted that Klinsmann won a European Championship when he was Donovan’s age and two years later he played in one more World Cup. So it should also be asked how much more Donovan could’ve accomplished in MLS as an elder statesman. But the primary question remains the one fans have been asking since the U.S. was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup on July 1: What would Landon Donovan have done in Brazil?
Filed under: 2014 Guinness International Champions Cup, Uncategorized | Tags: 1984 Olympics, 2014 Guinness International Champions Cup, AC Milan, Ann Arbor, Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chivas Guadalajara, English Premier League, Inter Milan, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Landon Donovan, Liverpool, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Manchester City, Manchester United, Miami, Michigan Stadium, New Jersey, Olympiakos, Pasadena, Real Madrid, Red Bull Arena, Roma, Rose Bowl, Steven Gerrard, Sun Life Stadium, Toronto, U.S. National Team, UEFA Champions League, Wayne Rooney, World Cup
Manchester United, looking to recover quickly from its worst showing in the English Premier League era, rallied to defeat EPL rival Liverpool, 3-1, at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium to win the 2014 Guinness International Champions Cup. A 14th-minute penalty kick goal by Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard was cancelled out by strikes by United’s Wayne Rooney (55th minute), Juan Mata (57th) and Jesse Lingard (88th).
The tournament, held in 12 U.S. cities and Toronto as a warm-up to the European season, kicked off July 24 with eight European clubs, two of them defending champions of their respective national leagues, plus UEFA Champions League winner Real Madrid. Manchester United (2-0-1) won its group over Inter Milan of Italy (1-0-2), AS Roma of Italy (1-2-0) and Spanish giant Real Madrid (0-2-1). Liverpool topped a group that included Greek champion Olympiakos (1-1-1), English champion Manchester City (1-2-0) and Italy’s AC Milan (0-3-0).
Attendance for the 13 games totaled 642,134, for an average of 49,395. Topping the list was the throng of 109,318 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., to see Manchester United defeat Real Madrid, 3-1. That crowd was the largest in U.S. soccer history, eclipsing the 101,799 on hand for the 1984 Olympic gold-medal match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. A more modest 51,014 were on hand for the Manchester United-Liverpool finale. [August 4]
Comment I: Proof positive that World Cup fever not only hit America full-force early this summer but that it lingers. Throw in the 84,362 who witnessed Manchester United’s 7-0 demolition of the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl, a Bayern Munich-Chivas Guadalajara friendly at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey and a dozen other exhibitions involving Major League Soccer teams and foreign opposition ranging from Spanish champion Atletico Madrid to EPL tail-ender Aston Villa, and about a million fans in the U.S. paid top dollar to say they saw in person some of the finest players from some of Europe’s most storied clubs.
Comment II: Are we not rubes?
Sure, there are plenty of expatriates here who’ve just got to see the old hometown club. And then there are the so-called Eurosnobs, young Americans who’ll get up at dawn from August to May to watch their adopted club–usually from the English Premier League–on a television at the local pub, er, sports bar, but wouldn’t cross the street to watch an MLS game for free.
But to the folks in Europe, a million people over here just shelled out big bucks to watch some clubs with fresh hardware and others living on their good name. The spectators wore their replica jerseys and cheered and chanted as their favorite players went through the motions during cameo appearances while plenty of the playing time was taken up by fine fellows fighting to win a place on the roster, if not into the starting 11. Wholesale substitutions disrupted the flow of the games, players weren’t exactly keen on the extensive travel, and coaches considered these moneymaking adventures an intrusion on serious pre-season preparations. In the end, fans here saw moments of brilliance, mis-timed tackles, remarkable goals, and shots that actually resulted in throw-ins. And at the final whistle of each match, a result that meant absolutely nothing.
There are many benchmarks that will indicate that the U.S. is developing into a soccer nation. Like criticism of the U.S. National Team for its shortcomings in a World Cup instead of praising its goalkeeper for repeatedly bailing it out. Or the prompt emergence of a genuine successor to the soon-to-retire Landon Donovan. Or, in this case, attendance at meaningless midsummer friendlies involving European clubs in numbers that aren’t an embarrassment to MLS.
Filed under: Landon Donovan MLS scoring leader, Uncategorized | Tags: 2014 World Cup, Ante Razov, Bolivia, Calif., Canada, Carlos Ruiz, Carson, Dwayne De Rosario, Edson Buddle, Jaime Moreno, Jason Kreis, Jeff Cunningham, Juergen Klinsmann, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Philadelphia Union, Roy Lassiter, StubHub Center, Taylor Twellman, U.S.
Landon Donovan became Major League Soccer’s all-time scoring leader, producing two goals to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 4-1 rout of the Philadelphia Union at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., three days after the one-time U.S. captain was left off the national team roster for the 2014 World Cup.
With his 135th and 136th career goals, the 32-year-old Donovan brushed past Jeff Cunningham in 54 fewer appearances, although the Jamaican-American, now retired, scored his 134 in 3,907 fewer minutes (about 43 90-minute matches). Rounding out the MLS top 10 are Jaime Moreno (Bolivia, 133), Ante Razov (U.S., 114), Jason Kreis (U.S., 108), Dwayne De Rosario (Canada, 103), Taylor Twellman (U.S., 101), Edson Buddle (U.S., 99), Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala, 88), and Roy Lassiter (U.S., 88). [May 26]
Comment: It took only a little more than 72 hours, but Donovan delivered the ultimate response to U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann and did it with a flair, scoring twice and adding an assist after going his first seven games of the Galaxy season without scoring.
Of course, it’s certainly not going to make Klinsmann reconsider his decision. In fact, he’s painted himself into such a corner that if any of the forwards or midfielders among his final 23 is injured, he can’t possibly replace him with Donovan. As for the goals themselves, they were practically sitters, with striker Robbie Keane playing a large part.
Still, it was difficult not to root for Donovan, who had hoped to become the first American to appear in four World Cups.
At training the day before, Donovan did his level best to suppress his anger and disappointment while talking with the media. “I think I was one of the better players in (U.S.) camp,” he said, using measured tones. “If I had gone in and didn’t think I deserved it, then I can live with that, but that’s not the case here.”
And after scoring the goal four minutes into the second half that pushed him past Cunningham on the all-time list, as Donovan skidded on the turf and was engulfed by jubilant teammates while a crowd of 21,000 chanted “USA!”, the moment was nothing short of cathartic. But as the player himself would be the first to admit, it was only a moment. He’ll be wondering “What if?” for the next seven weeks and long after that.
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