Like every MLS and US soccer fan, I am filled with excitement and anticipation regarding the 2014 World Cup as the US Men’s National Team looks to push towards a potential quarterfinal berth. Like any tale of American bravery, the Yanks face great adversity in this World Cup’s Group of Death: Ghana, Portugal, and Germany. A daunting task, to say the least.
Like many MLS and US national team fans, I have dealt with an internal tug-of-war between history-based inferiority complex and optimism based on gradual improvement. MLS gets bigger and better every year, and the league is now signing some of the best talent in CONCACAF.
MLS still has some mountains to climb; several teams, including some MLS originals, still don’t play in soccer specific stadiums. While the DP rule has been great for bringing in some big names, the salary cap continues to be a big talking point, and will continue to be as MLS looks to match Liga MX and the top European leagues.
Many of the players who will feature in the World Cup will come from Major League Soccer, many of whom are players recently returning after extended stays in Europe. Clarence Goodson and Carlos Bocanegra made moves during last summer’s transfer window to San Jose and Chivas USA respectively. Bocanegra was never in the picture for Jürgen Klinsmann, but Goodson came back and immediately stepped into the 2013 Gold Cup. Goodson was just the beginning.
In a record shattering transfer deal for MLS, Clint Dempsey transferred to Seattle Sounders on August 3, 2013 for a reported $9 million. During this past January transfer window, Michael Parkhurst and Maurice Edu signed new deals in MLS. In the only move that could have been more shocking and expensive than the Clint Dempsey transfer, Toronto FC signed AS Roma midfielder Michael Bradley. Prior to the move, Michael Bradley was the only US international in Serie A., and many argue that he is the most important USMNT player.
While player transfers for the season leading up to a World Cup summer are nothing new, this past year’s migration was unprecedented. Players who are on the bubble of making their nation’s roster for the World Cup make the move. Captains don’t move and star players stay put. And if they do move, it isn’t from a top club in the EPL or Serie A to a league where half the players are making $100,000.
Many of the key players moved back to MLS because they couldn’t win starting positions. Many of the other key pieces will be lifelong MLSers who haven’t ever tested themselves outside MLS such as Kyle Beckerman, Brad Davis, and Chris Wondolowski. And then there are the young college products like Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, and Graham Zusi who have yet to hit their prime.
MLS will be all over this roster. As a fan and a critic, I look at the level of play with hope, but I can’t see how this roster can compare when the German and Portuguese internationals who play in Champions League at the highest club level in the world–Michael Bradley playing against the Philadelphia Union isn’t the same (apologies to the Sons of Ben). My inner optimist fights with my inferiority complex. I, and others of the same mindset, need only look to my favorite player on my home-town MLS team as the shinning glimmer of hope: Landon Donovan.
As a Los Angeles native, I have watched Donovan for over a decade. I haven’t missed a Galaxy game in over two years (which is pretty good for a PhD student). So, let me throw some calming and mind blowing stats out there:
- Just this weekend, he passed Jeff Cunningham for the most goals in MLS history at 136, and has done so in 54 fewer games played.
- He is second all-time in assists with 119. Landon Donovan is 5-1 in MLS Cup finals with 5 goals. #Clutch
- In two loan stints with a mid-table Everton squad, Donovan led the Premier League in scoring chances created/90 minutes played. He did that with new teammates and in a league with Sergio Aguero, Juan Mata, Carlos Tevez, and Gareth Bale.
- He leads USMNT in caps and goals with 157 and 56 respectively.
- In a combined 31 caps at the World Cup, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Wayne Rooney have 3 goals. In 12 World Cup matches, Donovan has 5 goals. Let that one sink in.
I realize not every player on this roster is Landon Donovan, and other than Dempsey and Tim Howard, they are undoubtedly less experienced. Most aren’t as talented either. But Landon embodies something I believe is true with all human beings: He is at his best when he is happy. He shows up most significantly when he is motivated and on the biggest stage. For years he has maintained that he likes being at home, playing for the Galaxy. Coming off of his four month sabbatical, he was effectively out the picture with the national team. Klinsmann gave him a call-up for the Gold Cup last summer. He was tied for the Golden Boot in the tournament with 5 goals. In 2013, he had 8 goals in 11 national team caps, his most in a calendar year since 2007.
As the prodigal yanks who’ve returned home and the ones who have been here the whole time look to this summer, one of the best things they can do is to take the example of an elder-statesman and seek to emulate the mojo. I don’t know how Landon does it, but he’s played in MLS so long and still been a major player internationally. He’s shown at times that he could go to Europe and have reasonable success there, but he voluntarily chose to stay. When afforded the chance, he continues to play well for both his club and country.
I close my argument with a quote from the TV shows The Newsroom:
“The greater fool is actually an economic term, it’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool, someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their lives trying not to be the greater fool. We toss him the hot potato. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”
Based on the history of former soccer leagues in America, the founders of MLS are greater fools who made it. Based on the world perception of American soccer and MLS, Landon Donovan is a greater fool who made it.
And who do those damn yanks and their crazy German coach think they are by marching down to Brazil thinking they have a chance in the Group of Death? Why, they’d be greater fools. And if Landon Donovan could do everything he’s done while playing in America’s rinky-dink little soccer league, maybe they’ll be greater fools who make it too.
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