LD: enough with the playa-hate

Sign #432 that the US has arrived at a soccer nation: the on-going obsessiveness over trivial details of star players' lives. Case in point: WCIS calls LD a pussy because he likes massages. Then Soccer Thoughts rebuts the notion. DF in Deutschland feels compelled to weigh in with our opinion: this debate is ridiculous.

OK, one thing I do think warrants discussing is the LD and Bayer Leverkusen issue. Donovan's failure to succeed over there and his quick return have long been taken as indications that he's a pathetic weakling, and that he gave up a brighter future for the comforts of home. The truth is, as ST points out, that we just don't know what LD would have been like had he played over there. It's possible that he would have been even better than he is now, but it's also very conceivable that he would have been worse if he didn't get playing time (which happens even when deserved at times if you don't fit the coach's system), or was just plain miserable. And consider DMB: he was having the best year of his life at PSV, but wasn't by any stretch of the imagination the best player for the US during 2004-05. I think that was clearly LD, who led the team with assists over that span, and both assists and goals during the final round of WCQ. In other words, club success in Europe by no means guarantees good form for your country. LD improved for the US after leaving Leverkusen.

But perhaps more to the point, why do people feel compelled to hate on our star player so much? I think it's another sign the US is moving up in the world--now we can take for granted and even disparage one of our star players, much the way that stars in other countries fall out of favor with the media and supporters despite enormous talent and contribution (e.g., Del Piero in Italy, Becks off and on in England). Andrea Canales' ambivalent Soccernet profile of Donovan (which spurred the aforementioned debate in the soccer blogosphere) illustrates the point.

So I guess I do have more of an opinion on all this than I let on initially? Do I think it matters that Landon had a teddy bear that his girlfriend gave to him when he was 16? Hell no. If you can win the Golden Ball at the FIFA U-17s and you play for the US, I don't care if you surround yourself with My Little Ponies and listen to the Backstreet Boys while painting your toenails with pink glitter. (Hm, having written that, I think I would have a problem with that, but it's not what we're dealing with here so let's move on.) Do I think LD's devotion to his family and girlfriend (who is, by the way, a starlet who is likely hotter than anyone who posts or writes about soccer on the internet will ever date, even self included) is a sign of weakness? Just the contrary. I think it proves that his priorities are in the right place (people before career), even if that's not what pleases USMNT fans (again, self included).

But more than anything else, I just don't care that much. This guy is an insane soccer talent and has contributed more to the USMNT in big games than any other player on the roster. He's the all-time assists leader for the US and the third-leading goalscorer at the age of only 24. Moreover, he's shown an unstinting degree of commitment to the US cause, consistently turning up to play in friendlies and WCQs alike, logging more minutes than any other player every year since 2002. I say let's put aside the weird, useless obsession with meaningless trivia about his personal life and support the leader of the US Men's National Team and one of the best players (if not the best, as measured by on-field performance) that has ever played for the Nats.