Brad Friedel Apologizes for his Landon Donovan Comments--Sort of....

[Hitmonchan107]

I can't help but compare LD and CD to ex-wrestlers The Rock and Stone Cold. Like The Rock, Donovan got an early "push" at the age of 20 and gained massive fame for his goal against Mexico and is still appearing on commercials. Anyone who isn't exactly a fan of soccer might be familiar with LD's name. Dempsey is more low profile like Stone Cold in current terms. He sticks with his profession most of the time, risking mainstream popularity, thus why more hardcore fans immediately recognize him.

[Hitmonchan107]

The REAL comparison should be Wynalda-Donovan and McBride-Dempsey.

[Hitmonchan107]

Here's my summary on both guys:

LD: Better Scorer

CD: Better player

Just because Donovan is more popular or played longer than Dempsey doesn't mean he's superior to Dempsey. Donovan is a finisher whereas Dempsey creates plays and finishes them while making you look like a fool (See: Robert Green and Sergio Ramos).

[76callaghan]

yeah but put them in prem, german or spanish league. and they are average, dempseys team sits bottam of the league and hes their manin striker. Put the same fulham team in mls league for a season and you would expect them to finish well.Brian Mc bride was the best player you ever produced. Great feet in the box,good with his head could of played for a bigger cub if he had come to england younger. He was a good player and yeah it was a graet ball by donavon for everton all be it dodgy defending.

[T90Productions]

Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard all are HUGE players in the USA national team and would not be near the players they are today if they did not play competitively in Europe. Donovan is an amazing talent, possible the best on the team, but if he and all the other top USA players were to play in Europe the USA team would be so much better and thats plain and simple truth guys! All the top players are there! Donovan stays in the USA for the money, fame, and thats just about it!

[Hitmonchan107]

@T90Productions I doubt Donovan is doing it for the fame. He's using the popularity the American media is giving him to make the sport relevant. USA (and territories) and Canada are perhaps the only countries that have sports which overshadow soccer to a point where it's not considered important. Ironically, the national team gets more focus than the NFL playoffs when it's World Cup season.

[mancltymagics1]

@Hitmonchan107

" Canada are perhaps the only countries that have sports which overshadow soccer to a point where it's not considered important" india, china, pakistan, bangladesh, Indonesia,Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, congo, south africa, iran, thailand, burma as well as loads of small countries, football isn't as popular as your trying to make out.and all them countries make up more than half the worlds population and the US likes football more than all of them countries.

[Hitmonchan107]

@mancltymagics1 What are you talking about? India likes soccer. Hell, they have one of the largest stadiums for it.

[mancltymagics1]

@Hitmonchan107

india doesn't like football or i guess soccer, cricket and hockey are more popular than US sports are to soccer. and they have one of the largest stadiums? they don't have a professional league or professional national team. so i think you've thinking of another country.

[Hitmonchan107]

@mancltymagics1 They seem to go batshit insane over the AFC cup.

[mancltymagics1]

@Hitmonchan107

not really, seeing as they've never qualified for it.

[Hitmonchan107]

@mancltymagics1 Well, they suck.

[Herb615]

Donovan is the Pele of USA soccer. That's that.

[nssteph]

(That's why Donovan is more of a household name than Dempsey)

[Hitmonchan107]

@nssteph "Household" is the keyword.

[nssteph]

@Hitmonchan107 Donna Reed seems to think so.

[nssteph]

1. Donovan has been around the USMNT longer.

2. Landy did well in the 2002 WC before Deuce ever laced up a pair for the USMNT.

3. Donovan has always been known as a Mexico-killer. The fact that he's hated/respected by the Mexicans, combined with this performances against El Tri (and US-Mexico matches are among the most watched/publicized USMNT matches), contributes to this legacy.

4. He scored the goal heard around the U.S. against Algeria in 2010.

5. USMNT goals: Landy 46, Deuce 24.

That's why.

[dwreck1971]

@nssteph

Good points.

[76callaghan]

@nssteph Not that i rate either of them that highly but you have to clearly say dempsey is a better player. I havent seen much us football but what you do notice is that the defence on most teams is pretty shit at best. All the moneys been spent on attacking players.Most prem teams have 4 or more world class defenders in there teams an they may even all start at once. Much harder for demspsey to score. Donavon aint a bad player but 5 games for everton compared to dempsey 30 a season!!

[nssteph]

@76callaghan You're right in that Dempsey is clearly the better scorer; that's not even up for debate. Donovan does a better job at getting his teammates involved (see the assist in the Everton match the other day), however. Both are great players (not on the level of a Messi or Ronaldo, obviously, but when looking at them in comparison to what is considered an "average" professional player, taken from all leagues around the world, they are "great" players).

[nssteph]

@76callaghan That said, however, if I were picking players in a Saturday afternoon sandlot game and had first choice between Donovan and Dempsey, I'd probably take the latter.

[skidawg22]

New England Revolution are a perfect example of why we need pro/rel in US soccer.

[FootUnderground]

Quoting a friend from England, "Bit of a non story really. Both average players, Friedel by far the best US player over last 5yrs."

[dwreck1971]

@FootUnderground

Last 5 years? Friedel's been better for longer than that! Your friend from England doesn't know what he's talking about--of course HE thinks Dempsey is average--except that he's been a leading scorer in the EPL for a number seasons been Fulham's top scorer... I don't think most managers or players in the EPL think of Dempsey as "average" at all. I should know, we've talk to some of them. Friedel is practically English at this point--look at his view.

[mancltymagics1]

@dwreck1971

"except that he's been a leading scorer in the EPL for a number seasons "

you mean 1 season? last year, to say he's been a top scorer in any other year is stupid.

[dwreck1971]

@mancltymagics1

I didn't say TOP scorer--I said LEADING scorer.

[mancltymagics1]

@dwreck1971

my point is dempsey and donovan are pretty average players, they are good players for there team and that's it really like bentley and pedersen were for blackburn 4years ago, if they were very good players they wouldn't be playing for LA and fulham would they?

[dwreck1971]

@FootUnderground

PS. Beware what your "English friends" say. I do.

[hdaaap]

landon is not the best usa player...he's never proven his self against the best players in the world. instead, landon plays his trade in america against mediocre competition. as a pro, one would think that you'd want to be competitive and play against the best, landon does the opposite...lmao

[melojordans23]

phone rings during show, wow guys try to keep it professional guys :)

[dwreck1971]

@melojordans23

Ha! It happens to the best of em!

[Chance1316]

im still trying to find out which voice belongs to which picture... help?

[nssteph]

@Chance1316 The voice you hear at the 8:00 mark belongs to Derek. The other one belongs to Brett, who, in this photo, looks like a mix between Brett Favre and Jimmy Conrad.

[dwreck1971]

@nssteph

LOL!!! I gotta make sure Brett sees your awesome description of how he looks!

[dwreck1971]

@Chance1316

Derek is the opening voice (deeper). Brett's voice is more high pitched. Derek sits on the right. Brett on the left.