I don't care if you love Landycakes or you hate him, you have to give him credit for best attacking player to put on the US jersey.
You can't argue with the facts:
92 USMNT Caps - 13th all time
32 USMNT Goals - 2nd all time (With three more goals he'll pass all time leading goal scorer Eric Wynalda...thankfully)
25 USMNT Assists - 1st all time
89 USMNT Points - 1st all time
Those are the stats of someone finishing his career, right? After all, he just passed John Harks on the all time Caps list. The people below him are some of my favorite all time US Players (Eddie Pope, Brad Friedel, Tab Ramos and Chris Henderson). However, Landon is only 25 years old.
Yes, he was born March 4, 1982. It is hard to believe it has been 8 years since we started reading about this young phenom moving to Germany to play for a Bundesliga side, Bayer Leverkusen. It is hard to believe he made his debut in MLS 6 years ago. But here we are in the midst of the 2007 Gold Cup with Landon Donovan leading the charge against the rest of CONCACAF...and doing quite well. For my money he hasn't been the most exciting player on the field, I'd give that award to Clint Dempsey. He has been consistent and he has his team winning. Donovan showed his maturity, class and leadership by passing to Eddie Johnson instead of shooting against Trinidad and Tobago.
Let's look a little further back against Ecuador in March. True, it was a friendly but Ecuador was a good team in last year's World Cup...and Donovan scorched them for a hat trick. And not a 3 goal from the penalty spot hat trick, a highlight reel hat trick.
Landycakes is the real deal and he is just hitting his prime. Sure, you can debate his quality as a club player since he didn't last long in Europe...but that has not kept him from producing for the US Men's National Team. At 25 years old he has plenty of time to rewrite the history books with his name on top of every category. Heck, he'll do that this year for all of the points categories. He'll get the all-time Caps title as well, it might just take another 7 years to pass Cobi Jones' 164 Caps.
Hola, soy Bonji - Hey folks. You may know my first blog, From College to the Pros. Well, the Black Panther and I have been friends for awhile now and I've decided to start writing some of my other musings over here. I hope you enjoy.