Landycakes Put In His Place

Clint Dempsey was named Tuesday as Honda Player of the Year for the U.S. men's national soccer team, a richly deserved honor.

Dempsey appeared to be the only U.S. player who showed up and gave a shit during the World Cup last summer, scoring a very nice goal against Ghana for the only goal scored by a U.S. player during the tournament. Dempsey's play in MLS also has been strong.

While Dempsey's victory in the voting by sports journalists was deserving, so was Landon Donovan's omission from the group of the top three vote-earners. Dempsey won with 237 points, followed by Kasey Keller with 184 and Brian McBride with 127.

There's a common denominator among all three top vote-getters: They either play in Europe (Keller, McBride) or desperately want to play in Europe (Dempsey).

That's a stark contrast from the biggest pussy in American soccer, Donovan, who twice has trundled home whining from playing in Germany to be the big trout in the small stream known as MLS and let his promising career atrophy like a forearm in a plaster cast for six months.

It's about time that sports journalists and soccer fans realize that Landycakes is NOT the face and future of U.S. soccer. He's a marketing man's dream as a pretty boy who lives in Southern California with an actress girlfriend, but he's a massive weasel of a soccer player who is content with letting his talent rot on the vine.

Thank goodness America has players who want to prove themselves in the crucible of top European competition like Clint Dempsey. I shudder to think what a team of Landon Donovans would do for the U.S. at the World Cup and other major international competitions.