Once a Toffee, always a Toffee...

Landon Donovan's sweet-tooth for competitive football has come back! LD will be gearing up once again for Everton in a two month loan spell slated to begin on January 1. 

Finally, Donovan provides me with fodder to boast about, rather than shake my head in disdain. Some of you may have heard Brad Friedel's remarks last week insinuating Landon preferred the big sponsorship money offered to sportsmen in the USA rather than the fight for the first team in a European league. To my surprise, many people (who I can only assume know nothing about world football and its accolades) vehemently rebuked Friedel's statements. They expressed disgust with Friedel, who has been a starter in the English Premier League, the best league in the world, for about 10 years. Shocking. As you might imagine, I stood with the old man on this one. I was crossing my fingers to hear about news of a move.

To my delight (and many other's), Donovan has made the leap once again. This loan, as the last spell in 2010, I, along with the Toffee faithful, will be crossing my fingers for a permanent move. Let me be clear - I could care less about Everton, but in terms of our country's best player of all time's footprint on world football - I'm rooting for a permanent move that will lead to something big for Donovan.

Go Landon and go Toffees!

Dortmund Ultras Are AWESOME

German champions Borussia Dortmund not only have a talented squad, but some of the best fans in the world. Check out this video detailing their preparation prior to the team's match against Wolfsburg last week (which they eventually won 5-1):



That's dedication.

Happy Birthday Alessandro Del Piero!!!!

To the player who drew me to the sport of soccer all those years ago: Happy birthday Alessandro Del Piero! The 37 year old has inspired the world with his play - and hair - for many fruitful years. Tanti auguri!

Check out this compilation video Juventus made in honor of their capitan:



Though I would like to applaud Juve for their efforts, I can't help but be fed up with the Old Lady. Happy birthday Del Piero...enjoy the bench. And oh yeah, you're done after this year. Juve let their most important player in history know they are not re-signing him at a Board of Directors meeting. Not man to man. Not anything out of the ordinary for an extraordinary player. Shameful and classless.

But you know what, Del Piero pushes on. All the while, he has displayed the most professional attitude possible, fortifying the belief that he is one of the classiest footballers in the game. For his humble attitude, uplifting spirit, and goal against Germany in the semis, I wish this special, special player a buon compleanno!

Messi's World...?

Messi has officially made my Monday. Upon browsing the Barcelona man's Facebook page this afternoon, I noticed a series of videos in his news feed that seemed interesting. Interesting immediately turned into hilarious upon viewing.

The fact that all the videos are 11 seconds long, contain similar five word professions of love spoken by Messi himself, and are branded with the above Transformer/Batman hybrid logo, made these videos a riot.

For your pleasure:

"I love every goal."



"I'll always play like that boy from Rosario."



"I love to help children dream."


"I love to team up for my country."


Though I respect Messi's strength as a player and humble character, these videos have left me puzzled. What do they say about you Messi? That you can only explain yourself in vague one-liners in 11 second video clips? Am I the only one who thinks these are hilarious (and weird)?!

Perhaps there are fuller versions of each to come.

Get Well Soon Antonio Cassano...

...you wild son of a b*tch.

Sad news from the AC Milan camp today regarding Antonio Cassano's mystery illness after the Rossoneri's match with Roma on Saturday.

The player has suffered a stroke and will need heart surgery to correct an existing problem. Though the procedure is said to be relatively safe, it's still scary as hell, especially for such an exuberant man like Cassano. He is slated to miss a few months.

See this article from Football Italia for full details of the dilemma.

Get well soon Antonio.

Landon Donovan: Love - Hate Relationship

Love Landon in red, white and blue.
Nothing made me prouder as an American soccer fan when Landon Donovan slotted home the injury-time winner against Algeria that heroically sent the USMNT through to the knockout stages of the World Cup in 2010. It was a moment, that's for sure. A big moment, if not the biggest in US Soccer history (see above photo). I am forever grateful and a fan of Landon Donovan for his devotion and accomplishments for this country.

"Stop being meanies NYRBs"

Hate Landon in the MLS.
Landon Donovan the MLS player infuriates me. His cocky, over confident attitude just comes off as petulant to me. He is a real competitor - I'll give him that - but sometimes his do-no-wrong disposition is grating. Donovan's a great player, but he's sort of prone to complaining and whining. Just play hard like you do for the USMNT, dude!

Recent hate Full disclosure: I am a New York Red Bulls fan.
Landon's recent comments following a scrappy semi-final first leg with the New York Red Bulls, I thought, were unprofessional:

“There a few plays where they took some cheap shots at us. In all my years in this league, I’ve not played against a cheaper team, and they’ve been doing it all year. We saw it a few weeks ago with [Thierry] Henry kneeing someone in the back. We’ve seen that stuff all year. You just deal with it, and at the end of it, the cream rose to the top, and the better team won.”

"What a d*ck." First thoughts that come to mind after reading that. Talk about attitude. The game was heated, there were tackles on both ends, and frankly, I believe LA embellished more than a few fouls (DAVID BECKHAM *ahem). Even if Rafa Marquez (the biggest baby/waste of space in the league) threw a ball at you at the end of the match, there's really no reason to denounce the whole team like a sad clown in public. As far as I can see, the Red Bulls are just as competitive and hard-nosed as any other team in the league. Forget about the little tidbits you're griping about and be happy you won!

When did footballers start getting soft? Cheap shots, Landon...really? You know how you counteract cheap shots (other than b*tching to the media after the match)? You win. You play hard and you win. You did that on Sunday...so why drone on and complain? Just shut up and play.

Tune in to leg two of this semi-final on Thursday at 11pm ET.

And one other thing: WE'RE RED, WE'RE BULLS, WE'RE REDDDDD BULLS. GO RED BULLS.

Marco Borriello: Complaining in Video Games Too

News flash - Marco Borriello is never happy with his playing time, not even in the virtual world. Maybe try scoring more? See this little gem that popped up in my FIFA '12 Career Mode with Roma:

My reaction? "God, shut up Borriello." This is the guy who lip readers quoted as saying "I'm on the bench and I've scored 25,000 goals" when passed up for selection. Dude...shut up!

Anyone else have funny player gripes pop up on the new FIFA?