Here are a couple things involving US soccer that you might have missed.

Donovan Wins Honda Award

Landon Donovan won his 6^th Honda Player of the Year Award and earned the Honda Player of the Decade.  Donovan has scored 5 goals and added 10 assists in 15 games this year.  He figured in 12 of the US’s 19 goals in the final round of qualifying for the World Cup.  He was also a key player in the US’s victory over Spain in the summer on the US’s run to the finals of the Confederations Cup.  Donovan has also been a target of many European clubs, most notably Livorno and PSG.

In 120 games, Donovan has become the national teams all time leading goal scorer with 42 goals and all time assist leader with 42 assists.

In my opinion, Donovan is the best American field player of all time.  On the field he has produced far beyond any player in the US’s history and off the field his commitment to MLS and US soccer has pushed American soccer to a higher status.

Donovan’s year hasn’t been all sunshine and accolades. He endured an unsuccessful stint with Bayern Munich at the beginning of the year.  In the spring he was heavily criticized for his comments on Galaxy teammate David Beckham in Grant Wahl’s book “The Beckham Experiment.”  At some point in 2009 his marriage with Bianca Kajlich dissolved.

FIFA Approves Jermaine Jones Switch

German American and Schalke midfielder, Jermaine Jones, has finally received clearance by FIFA to represent the US.  Jones is currently rehabbing from a surgery to fix a broken shin.  The tenacious and skillful defensive midfielder has been tipped to step into a starting role with the national team.

US U17 Roster for the World Cup Released

U17 coach Wilmer Cabrera has released the roster for the upcoming tournament.  This group is very talented and attack minded.  I know some of you might be turned off to our youth national team setup after our U20′s were out classed in Egypt a month ago.  Our U17 group is far more talented and more highly regarded.  They have a unique attacking and creative style that hasn’t been seen from a US team since Fredy Adu played for the setup.

The team has a few noticeable absences in the likes of Charles Renken, Joseph Gyau, and Sebastian Lletget.  It isn’t clear if they chose not to join the U17′s or if Cabrera omitted them.  All three players are with foreign youth academies.  Gyau and Renken are with German club Hoffenheim while Lletget is with the highly regarded West Ham system.

Full Roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Keith Cardona (NY Red Bulls; Glen Rock, N.J.), Earl Edwards (La Jolla Nomads; San Diego, Calif.), Spencer Richey (Crossfire Premier; Seattle, Wash.)

DEFENDERS: Zachary Herold (West Pines United FC, Port St. Lucie, Fla.), Perry Kitchen (Chicago Magic; Indianapolis, Ind.), Boyd Okwuonu (Celtic Green; Edmond, Okla.), Tyler Polak (CSA Legacy; Lincoln, Neb.), Jared Watts (North Meck Storm; Statesville, N.C.), Eriq Zavaleta (FC Pride; Westfield, Ind.)

MIDFIELDERS: Marlon Duran (Latino Americana; Ducanville, Texas), Luis Gil (Pateadores; Garden Grove, Calif.), Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Jr.; San Pedro, Calif), William Packwood (Birmingham City, Concord, Mass.), Nick Palodichuk (Washington Premier; Battleground, Wash.), Alex Shinsky (Super Nova FC; York, Pa.)

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (NY Red Bulls; Barnegat, N.J.), Victor Chavez (Real So Cal; Fontana, Calif), Andrew Craven (First Coast Kickers; St. Simons Island, Ga.), Stefan Jerome (West Pines United FC; Davie, Fla.), Jack McInerney (Cobb SC; Alpharetta, Ga.), Dominick Sarle (BW Gottschee; Huntington, N.Y.)

The U17′s kickoff group play on October 26th against Spain.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 6:25 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.