Not even Brazil lost this badly. Manchester United 7, LA Galaxy 0 — as reported in The National by our correspondent in Pasadena, Gregg Patton. Wow. The Galaxy probably is the marquee franchise of Major League Soccer, with the four MLS Cup championships, and all … but all that was left of them after their […]

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For a while, there, I feared for the republic. Any criticism of the U.S. national soccer team was met by outraged rebuttals from fans and soccer bloggers-cum-reporters. They were unwilling to countenance the notion that the U.S. effort in Brazil was anything but The Best Possible Outcome or that Jurgen Klinsmann was anyone other than […]

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This comes up every four years. Or every four years after the U.S. national team has, at least, made the second round of a World Cup. Like this time around. “Is soccer about to make a breakthrough in the U.S.?” Will it be mentioned in the same breath as football and baseball and basketball? Or […]

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Landon Donovan had not scored a goal in Major League Soccer this season. Which was a part of the cover given to Jurgen Klinsmann when he tossed Landon off the U.S. national team’s World Cup squad. Landon rejoined the Galaxy, was in the lineup for the home match with Philadelphia last night, and what happened?

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It wasn’t right. It wasn’t smart. But anyone who says they didn’t see this coming had not been paying attention. Landon Donovan, booted from the U.S. national team. He will not play in the 2014 World Cup … and the average American fan is aghast. Yes, this is the Landon Donovan who is the leading […]

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A month ago, I noted with alarm that Landon Donovan, the greatest soccer player to play for the U.S. national team, appeared to spend a lot of time walking during a Galaxy game in Tijuana. Which led me to wonder if he were pacing himself … or carrying an injury. And it may have been […]

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This is embarrassing, right? It’s one thing for the LA Galaxy to fall out of the Concacaf Champions League in the quarterfinals at the hands of, say, Monterrey. It’s another to go out against Club Tijuana, which is what the Galaxy accomplished tonight, losing 4-2 in TJ to go out 4-3 on aggregate. A couple […]

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Let’s start with full disclosure: I have not been in the same room with Landon Donovan since 2009. Rarely even in the same hemisphere with him. In touch, in contact from time to time, but not in the same place. My perceptions of him are based on lots of conversations from around 1999 to 2009. […]

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Earlier this month, the story was that Landon Donovan might look for a move to Europe at the end of the year, when his current four-year, $10 million deal with the L.A. Galaxy ran out. It didn’t sound quite right. Landon is 31, which is about the time that Europe’s top leagues look to part […]

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This is a story that probably has lots of states-side soccer fans wondering, “What the hell?” Clint Dempsey, Tottenham Hotspur forward, maybe not their first choice to lead the line (as the Brits say), but a solid player who would get a lot of time again this season … giving up the world’s greatest league […]

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