Landon Ruled out of Friendly in South Africa

Due to a calf strain obtained by Donovan during one of the stops on the traveling David Beckham circus of post-season friendly matches, Landy has been ruled out of the Nov. 17 friendly against South Africa.

Although it is an injury, this continues a little run of Donovan-less United States teams taking the field. This is a good thing on many levels. It gives young guys like Altidore and Adu to possibly start this match, as well as give the whole team an opportunity to play without one of the mainstays in the history of the program. Nothing is promised, especially health in 2010.

While I do respect everything Donovan brings to the fold for the US National Team, he is somewhat falsely put on a pedestal as a US Soccer god. His career has been filled with ups and downs and right now is a middle period. This middle period is a bit disconcerting, for Donovan never seems to truly control a game with his skill. He will either break it open with a handful of spectacular runs and displays of speed or will be marginalized to some extent, being kept from running at defenders and making those plays that win games. This is not a slight on Donovan at all. He is what he is, and he is damn good at it. Great even.

Players, coaches, and fans alike need to stop relying on him though. And we are finally getting to that point where he is not as vital to the cause as he was once considered a short time ago. Now we have young players waiting in the wings such as Freddy and Jozy that look to have that potential of being able to both control entire games and make that one play that leaves the viewer speechless and leaves their team with a victory.

And that leaves us with the question of a starting lineup. With Donovan having to be held out, it appears very likely that at least one of the child prodigies, Freddy or Jozy, will get the start. My guess is Freddy will get the nod as Bob will definitely want to keep as much pressure off of Jozy in his first experience at the national team level as possible. Both will most certainly be on the field in some capacity, and I for one am pumped for the possibility of seeing these two work together for the first time since the U-20 World Cup. If what we see on the 17th is even half as good as their ESP-like performances against Brazil and all of the others, we’ll all be in for quite the coming out party. The program is in a great place right now. But you knew this, didn’t you?

P.S. Let’s see some possible lineups in the comments section, show Bob how it should be done.