Friedel - Donovan Controversy

If you havent heard, Brad Friedel criticized Landon Donovan in a BBC interview he gave regarding Dempsey's record breaking premier league goal for an American. He said Landon took the easy road and a few other things. Anyway Sporting News writer Brian Straus wrote the following about Friedel's comments so I thought a poll would be fun. Do you agree with Straus or do you think Friedel was right in saying Donovan took the easy road and got some notoriety he didnt deserve. On one hand I think Straus is correct that Friedel isnt giving Landon enough credit about the pressure he had in MLS and the difficulties of the league. On the other hand, I think Friedel was really trying to give due credit to what Dempsey has done. We all know how hard it was for Dempsey to get benched by each new manager, despite being a top performer, and have to prove himself as deserving to start all over again. I'm not sure Landycakes was up to that task. I think he would be now though. I still decided to vote for Straus because what Friedel said has been said by others and I think Straus wrote a compeling argument.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/...-of-landon-donovan-born-of-jealousy-ignorance

 

He did take the easy road. When he was in Germany the second time he came crawling back because he utterly failed and had possibly the worst game a player can have against Liverpool. Would Dempsey have come back? Hell no, he would have fought for his spot. Did Tim Howard come back after failing at United? No, he went onto Everton and became one of the best keepers in Europe.

Yeah, Donovan gets criticized alot, but the criticism is warranted. He had a chance to become and great player and settled for what he had because he couldn't handle the pressure of Europe.

 

Does anyone have a link to the original interview with the BBC? Would like to see Brad's comments in context.

I've certainly been critical of Landon over the years, and Friedel makes some valid points, but he should have never said any of that publicly. While Landon could certainly have given it another go in England, to call him out so blatantly smacks of self-importance and arrogance (Hey, look at me; I've had a successful career in the Premier League!).

I wonder if Brad will change his tune after the inevitable MLS curtain call once his days in England are through.

 

Landon definitely took the easy road and we'll never know what he could have been if he really focused on a career in Europe. I like Donovan and am disappointed he didnt continue with Everton.

At the same time, I've got to agree with Tim. Not really Friedel's place to publicly criticize him especially after he's done so much for the US national team over the past few years.

 

Pretty unnecessary comments by Friedel. But they could be out of context.

 

I agree with Straus and generally find it bizarre that the US National team's all-time leading scorer and seven (7!!)-time player of the year still has to prove himself to US fans (once I attended a Gold Cup match where Donovan scored one goal and assisted on another and still got criticized for playing poorly, which pretty much sums up his US career).


Yes, Friedel isn't entirely wrong, but Donovan actually TRIED to stay at Everton permanently and the Galaxy wouldn't let him. He gave Leverkeusen a shot for several years and they didn't give him a real chance.

Plenty of US players have fallen out of the national team picture because foreign teams didn't give them a real chance, so before the successful Everton loan I can understand his reluctance to go somewhere else where he wouldn't get to play. On the other hand, you look at Jozy Altidore- who kept at it and went through about 5 teams in Europe in 3 years before he found a solid place and success this season at AZ (to be fair, Hull City gave him a fair shake- he just didn't work out).

I'm not going to come down on Friedel too hard (as mentioned before, his quotes may be out of context), but Donovan is going to face these comments his entire career and he wouldn't be spending his off seasons playing on loan in Europe if he didn't have the ambition to play there. I do also like the dig Straus got in at Friedel.

I'm a Fire fan and I hate the Galaxy (I mean they're the Yankees of MLS), but I still want Landon to be successful enough that some European club will finally make LA an offer so outrageous that they can't refuse, then maybe all this talk can finally, mercifully die...

~ Steve

 

Yeah, I forgot to mention this and I'm sure it was the original point and context of the article. I feel he could've found a way to credit Dempsey without slagging off Donovan, though. Maybe vaguely mention the struggles other US players have had in Europe finding a regular place in the first team (plenty of examples there, so no need to even mention names) and how impressive it was that Clint overcame similar difficulties.

~ Steve

~ Steve

 

Did anyone else see the Brad Friedel - Jaime Trekker interview on FSC's Soccer Report? Very interesting, candid, and he came across as very sincere. He said the original interview was really about Clint Dempsey breaking the goal scoring record for a Yank (he had some very kind words about Clint w/Trekker), and didn't even realize there was a problem until friends over here let him know.

-Said that he loved being on the US squad and missed the team's spirit, but the plane flights were taking their toll (he gave a mention of admiration to Tim Howard for still doing it at his age).

 

I saw it Joe and found it unconvincing. I still agree with Brian strauss' article. In the Fox interview Friedel essentially admitted that he took the easy road when it came to retiring from the national team so he had no right to say Donovan took the easy road, just as Strauss pointed out. It also shows how right Strauss was to call Friedel ignorant about the travel required of MLS players, travel which can often be as brutal as the transatlantic flight he got tired of making for his national team.

In my original post I assumed Friedel's main objective was to compliment Dempsey, but he's old enough to know comparing him to Donovan is not the way. It was just dumb and disappointing. I've actually heard Landon do a better job of praising Dempsey's accomplishments.

 

January 11, 2012.

Toffees v. Spurs