Landon Donovan played for the U.S. Olympic team that finished fourth at Sydney in 2000, and loved the experience. He told me, while in Australia, that the Olympics were a huge thing for him. He has told me twice in the past six months that he would like to get back to the Olympics, in China next month.
But don’t count on it happening. Even if the presence of the best American player — ever — would be a huge help to the U.S. team.
Here’s why it’s unlikely:
1. The Los Angeles Galaxy.
2. The U.S. national team.
Both those entities are likely to demand Donovan’s time, and neither is going to be happy if he’s off playing in China (or getting ready to) for 2-3 weeks next month.
Consider the scheduling issues:
1. The Olympic team plays Japan on Aug. 7, Holland on Aug. 10 and Nigeria on Aug. 13. (Remember, this is the under-23 team, aside from three “overage” players it is allowed to bring.)
2. The national team plays Game 1 of the next-to-last CONCACAF regional qualifying (this is for the World Cup, people) at Guatemala on Aug. 20. (Four teams are in the group; two advance to the final qualifying group of six.)
3. The Galaxy plays at Dallas on July 27, at San Jose on Aug. 3, at Chivas USA on Aug. 14, home against Chicago on Aug. 21 and at New England on Aug. 30.
If Landon, 26, goes to the Olympics as one of coach Peter Nowak’s three overage players, he likely would miss at least three Galaxy games, perhaps as many as four. And the MLS all-star game on July 24, too.
Unless the U.S. is knocked out in the first round, at Beijing (a strong possibility, in that group), Landon would be hard-pressed to make the national team game at Guatemala — a tough place to play, and a match for which coach Bob Bradley will want to have his full team.
One would think FIFA would have managed its qualifying dates well enough that they wouldn’t overlap with the Olympics. But they do.
And Major League Soccer always is going to have issues with the Olympics as long as its plays in the spring and summer — that is, forever.
Two ways to look at this:
1. The Olympics is the only international soccer tournament the U.S. might reasonably have a shot at winning, in our lifetimes. Let’s send the three most useful overage players we can find (and that pretty much means MLS guys, because club teams in Europe are going to have zero enthusiasm for releasing the likes of Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard). If we work under that assumption, Landon and perhaps Brian McBride, who is unsigned, make sense for Beijing. And perhaps Frankie Hejduk.
2. Write off the Olympics and have it be an under-23 thing all the way (see the U23 player pool here), aside maybe from the nothing-else-to-do McBride. Have Landon around for Galaxy duty (even though it’s become “David Beckham’s team,” in the eyes of MLS and its fans) , and for sure have him ready for that game down in Guatemala, which I’m sure is lovely in late August.
Landon’s wishes — and I believe he would choose the Olympics, if it were up to him — probably count for nothing here.
So, the U.S., in China, is going to need Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore (if their Euro clubs sign off) lead them, with Michael Bradley in midfield and a back line that includes Maurice Edu.
Good luck with that. Actually, the U23 crew is working on a four-game losing streak. Without some serious reinforcement … it’s hard to imagine them surviving the first round in China.
The most curious thing about all this? There is very little information coming out of U.S. Soccer about China. The team won’t be announced until late this month, barely two weeks ahead of the Olympics. It’s as if nobody is paying attention, or is interested, and the U.S. federation barely cares. Another sign that a player of Donovan’s stature is unlikely to be involved. Even as much as he might like to be.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Nell // Jul 2, 2008 at 3:37 AM
That’s too bad for Landon. I’d like to see him in the Olympics – without him, I don’t think we have a shot to win anything.
As for the Galaxy being Beckham’s team, perhaps for MLS and some fans, but I don’t think the Galaxy, or the coach, Ruud Gullit, feel that way. They know with Beckham alone, without Landon, they can’t win a championship.
2 Damian // Jul 2, 2008 at 3:07 PM
The thing is no prominent national soccer federation really cares about the Olympics, so they are not going to pick the types of players that would infuriate their clubs or national team coaching staff.
Landon misses enough games with the Galaxy, so they won’t let him go when WC qualifying is already taking him away.
McBride won’t happen. He’s retired from international scene, unless you’ve read otherwise.
Forget about Altidore and Adu, also. They’ll be in training with their Euro clubs, and being that they just got there and still are in the phase of proving their worth to their clubs, there’s no way they’ll be skipping out on their teams for the lame Olympics. The big picture of international soccer does not care about a U-23 tournament.
I would be shocked if any Euro-based players would be called in for Beijing, and allowed by their clubs to go. The overage guys will certainly be from MLS.
3 Luis Bueno // Jul 2, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Argentina cares about it; at least they did in 2004. As for the US, I don’t expect for many Euro-based players to be on the squad either for the US. The moment Altidore joined Villarreal, his chances of playing in China went from automatic to nil.
4 phillypride // Jul 2, 2008 at 5:52 PM
The U23 losing streak doesn’t worry me since they fielded a team of mostly bubble players. If they had the same team they used for qualifying, they could do very well in China. Without Freddy and Jozy, I see them struggling. They should put Orozco and Spector as center backs and leave Edu and Bradley in the midfield. After all, those could be our future full team pairings. Use the over age players to replace Jozy and Adu at the forward positions.
5 papa bear // Jul 3, 2008 at 1:48 AM
Actually, as part of the deal for allowing players to play in the Olympics, FIFA mandates that any player who qualifies for his nations U-23 team who is selected MUST be released. It’s no different than a friendly or WCQ or any other FIFA match day.
A club can ‘suggest’ that they not pick a player but they can’t hold him back.
Barca was furious that Messi wanted to play but they can’t do jack about it, thus why he is playing. I mean he is missing Champions League Qualifying for this. Do you really think Barca would allow him to leave if they had a choice?
6 Drew-ROC // Jul 3, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Damian- look at Argentina’s roster. They CARE.
Phillypride-Spector is out with injury.
It’d be nice if US Soccer would work more with our media to help their own cause.
7 Damian // Jul 3, 2008 at 1:27 PM
OK, 1 team cares. Maybe there’s another. I wasn’t being literal. I was being figurative.
Do you remember Olympic soccer matches and memories like you remember those from senior international tournaments? Can you recite the Olympic champions going back like you can with the World Cup or Euros without using Wikipedia?
I am fully aware that if a player is picked for his country in the formal manner, the club can’t stand in the way. But, rest assured, there are political repercussions and relationships become strained as a consequence. And that affects the player on some level down the line.
So Messi is playing. That’s foolish. What does he have to prove? Argentina has enough talent under 23 to win the gold without Messi. Maybe he wants to play, but this is clearly a decision made with the immaturity and lack of judgment of a kid, which he is. He has a history of injury problems. I hope it comes back to bite Argentina come WC qualifying, the fact that he will have played a couple years straight without significant rest (except when he resting with injuries). You think Barcelona is happy about this, that he plays the 07-08 season, then straight into WC qualis and the Olympics, then straight into the 08-09 club season, with qualifying going on as well. Not that I want Barca to win anything, so I don’t mind so much.
The point is there are far too many fixtures on the schedule for international players to play, you have to prioritize your schedule, and understand where you make your money. There’s a reason every major Brazilian and Argentine moves to Europe to play the bulk of their careers, especially the prime years. Do you think they can make anywhere near the money they have playing in Argentina and Brazil? Do you have any idea of the shape of South American economies?
If Messi is such an athlete that he can handle playing every tournament and his performance and physical level never dips, then so be it. But I’m willing to bet that’s not going to be the case, particularly with a player who has had injuries below the waist for the past couple of years.
My ‘grand scheme of things’ point is people have to make decisions based on the big picture, based on long term reward.
8 LJ // Jul 3, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Stuart Holden
Robbie Rogers
Aurturo Alvarez
Marvell Wynne
Dax McCarty
Brek Shea
Chris Seitz
These guys could make an impact. Obviously not LD, Jozy or Adu, but still are something.
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