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Donovan won't be landin' in MLS
Posted: Wednesday May 03, 2000 03:28 PM
This week's question | Quote of the week | Extra time | Game of the week Believe me, I understand that MLS doesn't have the jing to buy Ronaldo or Christian Vieri or Patrick Kluivert. What I don't understand is the news I learned this week: that MLS recently turned down the chance to bring the best American prospect in years, 18-year-old forward Landon Donovan, to the league on loan this season from Germany's Bayer Leverkusen. That's right. MLS, which needs the buzz that the electrifying young Yank would bring, had a golden opportunity -- and took a pass on Donovan, who was voted the outstanding player of last fall's under-17 world championship. Soon after the MLS season started in March, Donovan's agent, Richard Motzkin, approached the league with the idea, according to MLS executive VP Ivan Gazidis. It made sense to Motzkin and his client, given that Donovan: 1) would play on a first team in MLS instead of the reserve team at Leverkusen, 2) is spending most of April and likely September with the Olympic team, and 3) misses America. No dice, Gazidis replied, even though Donovan was willing to play for any MLS team. "We were very interested in Landon playing in our league," Gazidis says, "but we're not interested in being a developmental system for Bayer Leverkusen with no up-side. If we could have made it a permanent situation, we would have been open to that."
"We had several discussions, and unfortunately it didn't work out," says Motzkin, who refused further comment. MLS was worried that the move would set a bad precedent, causing top young Americans to sign with overseas clubs and spurn MLS from the outset, knowing they could return on loan if they wished. Perhaps, but the league should have made an exception for Donovan, a scarily precocious game-breaker who almost surely would have ratcheted up MLS's profile in a four-month stint between now and the end of August. I saw Donovan play in person for the first time last Friday in Hershey, Pa., where the U.S. under-23 team faced Guatemala. Under the pressure of a must-win game to qualify for the Olympics, he merely scored two goals (and hit the crossbar on a magnificent header) in the 4-0 blowout, displaying far better finishing touch than any American had in the senior national team's 2-0 loss to Russia two days earlier. Donovan may not be ready for senior-team duty right now, but then again he just might be, and there would have been no better way to find out than to watch him compete in MLS. Instead, he flew back to Leverkusen on Tuesday for the final month of the German season. Donovan has a big day coming on May 13, when he and Motzkin will meet with the team's officials to discuss their immediate plans for him, including whether he'll be loaned out next season (to a lower first-division or upper second-division German team) or whether he'll get a crack at Leverkusen's first team (which is currently leading the German Bundesliga). "It would be a lot better for me if they qualify for Champions League," says Donovan, "because the more games they play, the more players they'll need." Best of luck, Landon. Wish you could have spent your summer at a stadium near us. This week's question: The Donovan/Beasley dilemmaFor this week's survey, 30 MLS players responded to the following question: Say you're a 17-year-old American stud soccer player. You have the option of developing your skills in any league in the world. Salary issues aside, which league would be the best choice for developing your game? We might also call this The Landon Donovan/DaMarcus Beasley Survey. Obviously, where you play depends on who offers you a contract, but the question is worth asking: Did Donovan make the right choice by signing with Germany's Bayer Leverkusen? And might Beasley, who won't turn 18 until May 24, be better off somewhere besides the Chicago Fire? The results (decimals come from players who split their votes): 1. ENGLAND (12.5)
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* Good news and bad news with England. The good: As the Chicago Fire midfielder Chris Armas explains, "It would be an easier transition than any of the other foreign countries because there's no language barrier. A player would gain great experience because it's a fast game there, physical and technical as well." The bad: As California-born Jovan Kirovski and John Thorrington have found out, getting a work permit as an American youngster can be impossibly difficult, even if Manchester United wants you. That leaves Holland, where Ronaldo blossomed as a 17-year-old (at PSV Eindhoven) and where American John O'Brien, 22, has been playing (with FC Utrecht and now Ajax) for four years. "Ajax and Holland in general put a lot of emphasis on developing youth," says D.C. United defender Jeff Agoos. "The Dutch also don't put as much pressure on young kids as other countries and give some latitude and understanding to the maturity of the player." That said, MLS was hardly shut out. "In MLS you'll have a greater opportunity to compete on the first team at the highest level rather than for reserve teams, which would be the case in ultra-competitive leagues like Italy and Spain," reasons the MetroStars defender Mark Semioli. "At age 17, a player is still developing mentally and physically, so the creature comforts of living in your home country can't be overestimated. You will have plenty of time to move on when you find yourself both on and off the field." As for Germany, Donovan's new home was mentioned only once -- by German-born MetroStars defender Thomas Dooley, who split his vote between Germany, Italy and Spain. Which brings us to ...
Garth Lagerwey quote of the weekOur favorite MLS backup goalkeeper chooses "anywhere but Germany." Garth writes, "I played there for nine months just like the mythical 17-year-old in your question, a Jason venturing abroad without even the aid of his Argonauts, or more importantly in those testosterone-inundated days, my high school sweetie. I can attest that the stultifyingly conformist mores of the culture ultimately led to the 100-beer weekend a scant four years later." (FYI: Garth is referring to his now-infamous consumption of 100 brewhas in one weekend while an undergrad at Duke.) Garth continues, "Bereft of wine (they only have beer), women (I don't believe Gillette has opened a German branch to date), or at least song (they only have techno, which hardly counts), any soccer development is ultimately overwhelmed and destined for the trash bin of 35-year-old former pros with bad ankles who aren't educated enough to run the 35 millionth soccer camp for screaming tykes." Garth will be giving a reading next week (presumably with German Nobel laureate Gunther Grass) at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla. (Or so we hope.) Extra timeAfter watching the U.S. under-23 team qualify for the Olympics, Bruce Arena says German-based defender Steve Cherundolo "has a chance to be a regular with the full team." For next month's U.S. Cup, look for Arena to pick four or five U-23 standouts, most likely Cherundolo, O'Brien, D.C. United forward Chris Albright and United midfielder Ben Olsen ... Many thanks to Sebastian Moraga of Seattle, who writes in to explain why Spanish-speakers call a bicycle kick a chilena, which was mentioned in last week's column. The term means "a Chilean-style kick," and is so called because a Chilean, Ramón Unzaga, was the first man in the history of professional soccer to execute the maneuver in the 1920's. A few years later, Colo Colo's David Arellano, a Chilean who had learned the kick from Unzaga, used it during a tour of Europe. From that point on, the name chilena stuck ... A groin injury kept American goalkeeper Ian Feuer from starting his third straight match for West Ham United last Saturday, but our man in London, Gabriele Marcotti, passes this along from Hammer Paolo DiCanio on the 6'6" Feuer: "When I first saw him I thought, 'My God, this guy looks like a big bear and doesn't appear very quick,' but he gets down well and seems to get his paws on everything." ... One disgruntled MLS GM calls his team's Wednesday night home contests "our Hunt games" in honor of Columbus and Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt, who made an impassioned plea to league officials last year to continue having a 32-game season instead of shortening it to 28. Hunt may make more money at the gate (he owns both teams' stadiums, too), but our disgruntled GM says his "Hunt games" will have his team's worst attendance figures of the year ... How does the biggest news in world soccer affect the U.S.? Look no further than last week's aborted $30 million transfer of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United. Eindhoven official Hans Gillhaus told me last Friday that the club is going through a financial crisis (it had expected to net more than $25 million on the Man-U deal), which means it would be awfully difficult for his club to purchase the contract of American DaMarcus Beasley from MLS. Gillhaus denied rumors that Eindhoven had recently offered $1.5 million for Beasley ... Finally, the story that won't go away may soon be ending. If all goes as planned, MLS's signings of Luis Hernández (for Los Angeles) and José Manuel Abundis (for San Jose) will be made official in the next week. Game of the weekKansas City (6-0-1) at Los Angeles (5-0-2). 10:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, May 6. Who would have suspected that the Wizards, 0-7 at this time a year ago, would be the hottest team in MLS? Or that this game between the league's only two undefeated teams would be the matchup of the year to date? Look for the Galaxy to contain the Wizards' offense, which is due for a slow night after last week's 5-0 pounding of Colorado. Prediction: Galaxy, 3-1. Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl -- who is a perfect 2-0 in his
weekly predictions -- will keep you up to date on U.S. soccer teams and players
each Wednesday. To send him a question or comment, click
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