As we are all well unaware of, Major League Soccer is in the midst of their conference championships, and millions of fans around the world are counting the days till the MLS Cup on November 23rd. Sarcasm aside, the league has had yet another disappointing season in terms of attendance and viewership. To make matters worse, its 2008 Player of the Year, Landon Donovan, is considering leaving the league to play in Germany.
Galaxy forward Landon Donovan should have been in Los Angeles on Tuesday, picking up his fifth Honda Player of the Year award for being the best player on the U.S. national soccer team.
Instead, the poster boy of American soccer was 5,964 miles away, trying to show Bayern Munich that he now has what he didn’t have before — the fortitude that it takes to survive in the rough and tumble of the Bundesliga.
Donovan is essentially trying out for a spot on the four-time European and 21-time German champion.
In his corner is Juergen Klinsmann, the former German national team coach and Newport Beach resident who is Bayern’s coach.
Klinsmann knows Donovan’s ability as a player, including his blistering pace and his deadly finishing. What he needs to see are the intangibles — the willingness to rebound after being knocked silly by a defender, the ability to fit into a constellation of stars rather than being the lone star orbiting David Beckham.
For its part, the Galaxy said simply that Donovan “will train . . . for the next 10 days . . . and is expected to return to Los Angeles later this month.”
Like the NHL, the MLS is riddled with the same problems in trying to increase its popularity. Both sports are a struggle to watch at times. The “dump and chase” style of NHL play lacks the creativity exhibited in the ’80s, while the MLS skill level simply doesn’t meet the exciting standards of the better European leagues. Unfortunately, both leagues suffer from a lack of intrigue, as their players don’t have the celebrity status or appeal as those from the MLB, NBA, or NFL.
David Beckham’s celebrity was supposed to bring in new fans. It didn’t, and no one can blame him. A league cannot have one representative, albeit from another country. In fact, Landon Donovan should have been the poster boy for the league. Due to the joke of the department that is the MLS Public Relations, most Americans are still unfamiliar with this exceptional athlete. For him, jumping ship to Germany isn’t just deserved, but also necessary. Why stay in a league to refuses to challenge your ability? Sadly, the MLS is becoming a farm system for European clubs and it will continue to be one until it gets its act together.
