hesredmate

It might not be that far fetched seeing how the labor agreement for Major League Soccer expires on January 31st. There might not be an LA Galaxy for Donovan to return to.

I became interested in football in 1998 when my household here in Nevada started picking up what is now Fox Soccer Channel and I had fallen hard in love with the Reds and my fanaticism runs deep. It's the first sport team I've ever supported from a place I hadn't lived in and I'm carefully on guard against accusations of bandwagon jumping and am one to roll my eyes when I see someone who clearly is guilty of it themselves. This being said, I have to confess I had a tiny, tiny, tiny smile on my face over you guys getting a point today. And I have to concede, what is the history of Yank treatment Merseyside between the two clubs? Brad Friedel has been one of the better keepers in England for the past ten years and he was discarded like a scrub from Anfield. What Yank has played in the first team there since? Yet, thanks to the current ownership of my club, I'd probably feel like an outcast on my own ground. In the same span of time, I've seen Joe Max Moore and Brian McBride have nice little spells, treated well enough...Tim Howard....now Landon Donovan has the chance to make something of himself in a great league. I'm tethered in passion towards Anfield for life, but the contrast between the clubs in terms of Yank fortunes may well make me work overtime in concealing my pleasure in seeing Blue points. Don't tell anyone. Good luck for the rest of the campaign.

For disclosure purposes, my loyalties lie at Anfield, but as a Yank, I feel compelled to throw my two cents in on this one. One, haven't noticed it mentioned yet here and I think it may generally be forgotten, but Donovan is fairly excellent as a dead ball specialist. We've seen Beckham have to watch Landon take free kicks, penalties, and corners. I see skeptical non-Americans will shun the description "world class" when describing him, but I have to say that level of recognition should be awarded to him in this aspect. He is pin point accurate with a dead ball. Two, as a criticism, and despite his image as a primadonna, I think one of the most frustrating aspects of him is that I think he could be more aggressive and selfish. I've seen him pull up and wait for help in situations where I just am absolutely certain that a run at the defenders would yield a scoring opportunity. He has the skill to make slower, Sami Hyypia type defenders look like practice pylons, but he has a disturbing sense of timidity at times. Third, a neutral point, he is versatile enough to play anywhere in the midfield, in the hole, or as an out and out striker, but I think his touch, his dribbling, his speed, and the accuracy of his distribution makes him best out wide. He can do left and right with equal effectiveness, but you're more likely to see him contributing positively if you can see the touch line within 10 feet of him. As seen with Brazil, he's absolutely devastating on counterattacks, as well, but I'd put him wide if I were drawing up a team sheet. Anyways, cheers, happy holidays.