You obviously follow this stuff more than I do (what the hell is a beep test) but I just don't have any amount of doom and gloom in me about this team. USA soccer has been swinging on that ledge between legit international team and a mid/bottom rung team that qualifies for most tournaments. Call me crazy but I just don't think Landon Donovan is going to be the difference between A) getting out of the group, or B) winning games outside of group play. I always found it odd how he would go to Europe and seemingly come running back to the MLS as quick as he could.
I don't know, to me he just never seemed that great and was always trying to make plays beyond himself. I will admit that he has had some big moments in international play. He's also had some very underwhelming performances.
A beep test is a series of sprints with progressively shorter periods to complete them, and if you don't make it you sit out. Maybe it isn't a perfect analogy, but in training camp a hockey coach might have the players do ladders to show how fit they are? And if you wanted to show everyone who's boss and there was a high profile guy who might not be super durable, you might have that kind of drill to prove that he isn't worth keeping around, and to cover your ass if you want to run him out of town. Now if you jumped forward to the olympic break, when guys are dealing with the wear and tear of the season, you might want to do tactics at practice instead of fitness, because by now you should know what your players are capable of doing. This isn't preseason, this is the olympic break.
David Moyes overtrained the crap out of guys at Man U this preseason, ignoring the evidence about not overtraining guys and making sure your world class player Robin van Persie, notably a fragile guy when it comes to groins and hamstrings, isn't out injured when you need somebody to score goals. David Moyes is now unemployed after the worst Man U season in the Premier League Era. Maybe not a perfect comparison but do you want a Randy Carlyle-type luddite to run your team?
Regarding Donovan in Europe, he went on loans mostly and to big clubs. No American player has ever really stuck at a big club. Dempsy had all his success at Fulham which is sorta Florida Panthers esque, but struggled at Spurs, maybe the Blues plus Canadian media. Bradley didn't play at Roma once they started to have success so he went to MLS. Donovan could have stuck at Everton but they have no money and their stadium is old. Also his loans mostly corresponded with MLS offseason, ie 3 months starting in January.
And Donovan did get us out of the group last time.
