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Donovan’s Everton debut ends in draw at Arsenal

Written by Miles on January 9, 2010 — Leave a Comment

Associated Press - Landon Donovan debuted for Everton on Saturday, setting up one goal in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal on a day when snow disrupted the Premier League.

Donovan is on loan for 10 weeks from the Los Angeles Galaxy. The MLS and United States star sent a corner kick in the 12th minute to Leon Osman, whose header put Everton in front.

The lead lasted just 16 minutes. Denilson charged down a clearance, and the ball fell to Andrei Arshavin on the edge of the penalty area. Arshavin fed Eduardo da Silva, who touched a pass back to Denilson and his low strike deflected off Osman past U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard.

With snow blowing around the stadium, Donovan came close to restoring Everton's lead at the start of the second half. The American weaved into the penalty area, but his curling shot drifted wide.

Everton replaced Donovan with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in the 68th minute and went ahead again in the 81st minute. Steven Pienaar raced onto a pass from Tim Cahill and chipped past goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Everton remained in the bottom half of the standings. Third-place Arsenal squandered a chance to take second place from Manchester United, which profited from a contentious own goal to salvage a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.

United, winner of the last three titles, is one point behind Chelsea, which got a game in hand after its clash with Hull was one of five matches to fall victim to the deep freeze gripping the country.

At a freezing St. Andrews, Birmingham went ahead in the 39th when United failed to deal with James McFadden's corner, Lee Bowyer headed the ball back across goal and it bounced off Johnny Evans to Cameron Jerome, who slotted home from six yards for his fifth goal of the campaign.

United tied it in the 63rd amid confusion. Scott Dann was under pressure from Park Ji-Sung when he turned a low cross from Patrice Evra past his own goalkeeper, Joe Hart, but the referee's assistant appeared to have been flagging for offside against Wayne Rooney.

Referee Mark Clattenburg consulted with one of his assistants before awarding the goal, leading to protests from Birmingham players and manager Alex McLeish.

Birmingham had a man advantage from the 84th after Darren Fletcher was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jerome having been booked just before halftime for a challenge on Bowyer.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/81067147.html#ixzz0cA8A7bMD

Posted in LA Galaxy Soccer | Tagged , ,

Why Everton Is The Right Fit For Landon Donovan

Written by Miles on December 15, 2009 — Leave a Comment

From: Sports Illustrated

Landon Donovan's proposed loan move to Everton isn't official yet, but it does seem clear the Los Angeles Galaxy star is headed back to Europe somewhere to keep in form during the MLS offseason.

Trying to extrapolate how he'll do after failing during three previous tries in Europe is difficult, partly because there's not much evidence to go on.

His stints with Bayer Leverkusen were brief, and Donovan himself admits he wasn't ready for the high stakes. His brief time at Bayern Munich in early 2009 was an odd affair -- other than the embattled coach, Jürgen Klinsmann, no one on the squad thought much of the all-time U.S. leading scorer.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge condemned Donovan with very faint praise, calling him "interesting," while club president Uli Hoeness was far more scathing after both Donovan and Klinsmann had been excised from Bayern.

"Klinsmann's only idea for strengthening the squad in January was Landon Donovan," Hoeness said soon after Klinsmann was fired in April. "[Youth-team coach] Hermann Gerland told me the guy wasn't fit to play for his reserves."

The one Bayern Munich teammate possibly in Donovan's corner was German national-team striker Miroslav Klose, who described Donovan as "outstanding," and "quality." Klose backed up his words as well, extending his friendship to the extent that Donovan recalled the German's kindness as one of the best parts of his experience in Europe.

People will debate endlessly whether Donovan is best suited to succeed in Europe in a specific league -- and whether his inability to latch on to a club in Germany is due as much to the club being incapable of adjusting to a player with a different skill set. The arguments are rather academic, though, as Donovan has never played league matches in other European countries. Read more »

Posted in LA Galaxy Soccer, LA Galaxy Transactions | Tagged , , ,

Landon Donovan Wins MLS MVP

Written by Miles on November 20, 2009 — Leave a Comment

From: Washington Examiner

Long considered the best player in the U.S., Landon Donovan is now the best player in Major League Soccer.

The Los Angeles Galaxy forward and six-time national player of the year was named the MLS most valuable player on Thursday for the first time in his career.

Despite all his accolades as the leader of the U.S. national team, Donovan had yet to be recognized by his own league until this season when he helped the Galaxy race to the MLS Cup final and overcome some of his own off-the-field distractions.

Los Angeles will face Real Salt Lake for the MLS title on Sunday night in Seattle. Donovan beat out FC Dallas' Jeff Cunningham, the league's goal scoring leader with a career-best 17 goals, and New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph for the award.

"I think rewarding is the right word," Donovan said. "We've worked very hard to get where we are with this team. Sometimes you almost feel bad that we keep winning awards and keep getting this and that. When you think about it, we deserve it. This team has worked really hard, but if we don't win Sunday these things aren't going to mean a whole lot."

It's already been the longest and most trying year of Donovan's career. Read more »

Posted in LA Galaxy Soccer

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