The vaguely increased profile of MLS (thanks, David Beckham!), plus the U.S. showing in the Confederations Cup showing last June, means that many of the top players on the U.S. national team went from being hidden talents to scouted commodities over the last season. While some might say that the loss of talent to Europe is a blow to the talent pool of MLS, I see it differently; MLS is, ultimately, part of a talent continuum. Talent flows from level to level, until it (hopefully) lands where it can perform the best. If you’re good in MLS, you can be bought by a better league; if you’re good in that league, you can continue to advance until you reach a level where you can’t actually continue to advance any further.
That being said, not every MLS player should automatically end up in the Premiership, or even (as Freddy Adu has proved) in Portugal. But that doesn’t mean that MLS is as high as they can go. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top American moves this last month and see how they’re doing.
Landon Donovan
The script for this move from Landon “Landycakes” Donovan went like this: after failing to impress at every European venue he’d ever played for, Donovan would go to Everton, underwhelm, and once again raise the lingering doubts that he really didn’t have that mysterious “it” factor needed to compete at the top levels of the game.
Apparently Donovan’s ex-wife got all the scripts in the divorce, because that’s not how the story’s played out so far. Donovan’s been an absolute revelation for Everton since his arrival, and seems to be only getting better. He even got the scoring monkey off his back, netting once on Tuesday while having another cleared off the line. It’s a different role for him, of course; he’s not the main playmaker on the team, but instead someone who slots in to fill a role. His versatility has always been his best assett to non-MLS teams, though, and he’s been playing fantastically. I wouldn’t be shocked if Donovan stayed at Everton well past March; he’s their kind of player. Inexpensive, versatile, and talented.
Kenny Cooper
Kenny Cooper was sold from FC Dallas to TSV 1860 Munich towards the end of the MLS season (or the beginning of Bundesliga 2, if you want to look at it that way). Cooper started off his loan by scoring more goals in his first game than Landon Donovan had ever scored in his multiple loan spells in Germany (that is, one).
Unfortunately, Kenny Cooper’s strike rate went sharply downhill after that; he ended up only scoring once more in twelve appearances, and saw his playing time gradually decrease before a knee injury in November dropped him out of the rotation completely And so this morning, Cooper (with an eye on the looming World Cup and a vacant striker position) was loaned to Championship side Plymouth Argyle. 1860 manager Ewald Lienen is quoted as saying that there was no difficulty with Kenny, but perhaps some difficulty with his father (who pretty much engineered the move).
This, of course, isn’t Cooper’s first foray into the English game; he spent three seasons with Manchester United early in his career (which ultimately ended after playing seven games on loan with Oldham in 2005). However, Cooper was pretty good with Dallas and seems to just need to find his level; hopefully Plymouth – managed by former New England assistant Paul Mariner – can provide that for him.
Ricardo Clark
Just as Germany was losing one American international, another one was coming in. Ricardo Clark – defensive midfielder for the Houston Dynamo and the U.S. men’s national team – moved on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga earlier this month.
Unfortunately, there’s an issue there. For most of the season, Eintracht Frankfurt played either a 4-1-4-1 or a midfield diamond with two strikers up top. Either way you look at it, there was only one position available in Clark’s defensive midfielder role; that position was played by Chris for most of the season. After an injury at centerback forced Chris back into the defense (where he’s also capable of playing), Eintracht struggled briefly before switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Clark is really only able to play in the central midfield of that formation (the “2″ row); since adopting that formation six games ago, however, Eintracht hasn’t lost and those two midfielders have stayed the same (Semin Teber and Pirmin Schwegler). Clark, meanwhile, hasn’t even made it to the bench (admittedly, however, he’s only been available for one game so far). Barring a formation breakdown or a loss of form, Clark’s going to have a hard time breaking into this side.
Personally, I have to be honest: I’m really nonplussed with Ricardo Clark. Always have been; he’s a strictly defensive player playing alongside Michael Bradley, who also strikes me as a better defensive player. Playing two defensive midfielders, without a lot of passing range or creativity, strikes me as a bad formation for the U.S. But that’s just me.
Stuart Holden
The Dynamo have known all offseason that they could possibly lose Stuart Holden; that possibility became reality yesterday when Holden became the second piece of Owen Coyle’s “new-look” Bolton. Coyle has made no secret about his desire to inject some attacking flair into a realitively stoic Bolton side, and he’s probably hoping that Holden can inject some pace and flair into a side that’s been built around neither element.
Holden has shown flashes for the national team, but Bolton seems like a huge step up for him. For one thing, he’ll be playing on a team that’s currently battling to avoid relegation; keeping a team up is a big task for any new signing. Plus, Holden – as a Coyle signing – will be under increased scrutiny. Coyle really wants Bolton to play more attacking football, but it’s not the nature of the team. On top of that, Holden’s deal is the least secure of the four. Where everyone else has a team to go back to, Holden does not; he’s on a contract until the end of the season. Essentially, that means that he’s really playing for two positions: one on the national team and one on a club team. That’s a lot of pressure for him to handle.
One thing you won’t see: Stuart Holden playing against Liverpool on Saturday. Holden’s got a slight thigh strain that’s ruled him out of the game.
Freddy Adu & Eddie Johnson
When these two went to Aris Thessaloniki at the beginning of January, it should’ve been a revitiliazation. Instead, they’ve got a grand total of thirty four minutes over about four games that they were eligible for…and all thirty four of those were played by Eddie Johnson. So apparently Freddy Adu’s not very good in Greece, either.
So, Landon’s spicy better-half is available?
Pics, plz, k, thnx. Bye.
Perhaps you should write about Johnson and Adu before every game. It seems to have inspired them! Here’s hoping they keep up the good work.