Landon Donovan pulled off a respectful move when he gave David Beckham the captain’s arm band recently.
Now with Beckham out injured for six weeks Donovan will wear the arm-band again but consider the selfless nature of the move. Others would not have acted first, others would have fought to remain captain at the expense of others. Donovan thought ahead to the benefit of his team and Beckham.
Here is what Landon told me at the Home Depot Center today while taping an interview for HDNET:
“I’m not stupid,” said Donovan. “I understand how things work. Deep down I knew David probably wanted to be captain at some point. There is no need in hiding it or nottalking about the white elephant if it’s there. I talked to him about it and asked him what he thought about it. He said he didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes but he’d be honored to do it if felt that way. I thought it was appropriate . There is no issue or hard feelings. It is what it is . Of course I’m human I want to be the captain too. We both understand that were going to play and act the same way whether we are the captain or not.”
Great move.
Speaking of moving there still is the rumor that Frank Yallop will be fired and Jurgen Klinsmann will eventually head up the Galaxy. Rumor nothing substantiated yet it is odd to see assistant Tim Hanley relieved and Paul Bravo moved into a different role.
The Galaxy take on Real Salt Lake and a trio of new Argentines tomorrow night on HDNET. Prior to the game that airs at 9 (CST) there will be a half hour soccr special on HDNET.
Glenn

The Dynamo Soccer Report with Glenn Davis airs tonite on Channel 55 at 6pm.
Glenn sits down with Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear and former Cy-Falls High School star and Hermann award winner Chris Gbandi of FC Dallas.
The show also features Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly and Chicago Fire midfielder Diego Guitterez as they help the fight against malaria in Africa.
Shellas Hyndman SMU coach on the travesty that is the lack of mens NCAA Division 1 soccer.
Ronaldinho, Cuauhtemoc Blanco , Jurgen Klinsmann and more on the show tonite.
The show re-airs tomorrow at 5pm on Channel 55.

It was missed opportunity from the LA Galaxy in the Superliga last night.
After six rounds of penalty kicks the Galaxy were defeated after defender Abel Xavier’s penalty sailed wide.
One round earlier Landon Donovan taking a penalty for the title was denied by Miguel Calero in goal.
Calero clearly won this tournament for Pachuca with his play.
The Galaxy played suprisingly well and created excellent chances in the second half and overtime that were not taken by strikers like Alan Gordon and Edson Buddle. Calero also was spectacular and robbed Landon Donovan earlier in the game.
Finally the Galaxy tied things at one with an amazing bicycle kick from Chris Klein.
The squad seemed to live up to the competition and had chances in overtime.
David Beckham went off with an injured knee that just makes you question how the Galaxy have handled the superstar.
Rumors swirl around the dismissal of Frank Yallop with Jurgen Klinsmann being lined up by the Galaxy?
All in all the Superliga has proved out the quality of MLS and that the gap is narrowing between MFL teams and MLS.
The event will grow in stature in the future.
Thoughts on last night’s Superliga final?

The Galaxy and David Beckham may be long-shot for the MLS playoffs but tonite they have a shot at winning the Superliga title against Pachuca.
The Galaxy did beat Pachuca in Superliga group play but the degree of difficulty is at a high tonite against the top Mexican squad.
LA comes off a poor loss to Colorado this past Sunday 3-0. Beckham and Landon Donovan were rested in this game and did not even travel to the Rocky Mountain State.
Pachuca lost in Mexican League play 1-0 to Santos Laguna who are perfect so far. Can’t see the Galaxy getting by Pachuca unless they are just not interested. Here’s hoping the Galaxy and MLS represent itself well tonite.
Rumor out of England has Jurgen Klinsmmann lining up for the LA Galaxy head coaching job. Would that mean Frank Yallop heads back to San Jose if this were to be true. Don’t tell me Yallop all of a sudden has become a poor coach.
Thoughts?
Glenn

Antonio Puerta has passed away after collapsing during a Spanish La Liga match for Sevilla against Getafe this past weekend. These moments always have a sad way of tugging at your heart-strings and putting it all in perspective.
Sadly , Puerta was only 22 years old and leaves a pregnant girlfriend.
A young soccer talent has passed yes, but Puerta the human being is who will be missed by family, friends and all who knew him.
During the Getafe match he collapsed, walked off the field under his own power and then collapsed again in the locker room.
Cardiac resucitation was performed underneath the stadium while the game played on according to the BBC.
Prolonged organ failure was cited .

Now I like others am excited about the opening of the collegiate soccer season this Friday.
What is better than talented soccer players representing their school just like in other sports . It is a dream come true for any student-athlete.
It’s great if you are female in Texas but if you are male you must look for your opportunities out of state.
Only Southern Methodist University and Houston Baptist University (first year provisional) have NCAA division 1 programs for men in soccer.
It is a travesty sadly that in one of the top soccer states in the nation in Texas, top soccer cities in the nation like Houston that Universities and Colleges who consider themselves international don’t have NCAA mens division one soccer and hide behind gender equity. So who is getting hurt now?
University of Houston, Texas AM, Rice , UT among other should be ashamed that they are not willing to provide the opportunity to play soccer in ones home state and hometown to area male athletes.
Call these institutions athletic directors and sign our petition at www.glenndavissoccer if this issue tugs at your heart.
If not, we can continue to watch our best male soccer players head off to top programs around the country and win national championships like UConn did in 2000 with five Houston area products. Is this just pure laziness from Athletic directors/
To sign a petition to be presented to regents go to www.glenndavissoccer.com and see what SMU head coach Shellas Hyndmann has to say about universities hiding behind gender equity this Friday at 6pm on the Dynamo Soccer Report with Glenn Davis.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco is living up to it in MLS. I have just called the KC/Chicago game at Toyota Park and you have to give credit where credit is due.
The Wizards completely dominated the first half yet left down 1-0 after the brilliance of Blanco.
His free kick was a thing of accurate beauty as he got it up and over the wall and down underneath the cross-bar to beat Kevin Hartman in goal for the Wizards.
A half they never deserved to be up courtesy of one moment of brilliance.
Yet that was not it. In the second half Blanco got more of the ball, assisted on the second goal to Calen Carr and clearly was the player your eyes were drawn to every single moment he was on the ball. Subtle touches, extraordinary vision and his competitive instinct are sticking out. I love that he is responding to performing in MLS with a level of accountability as a player.
The Fire don’t win this game without him.
Blanco is putting people in seats, winning games for the Fire and definetly deserves the praise of so far adapting to MLS.

The Chicago Fire are in a must win situation tonite against the Kansas City Wizards at Toyota Park.
The game is exclusive on HDNET starting at 7:30 CST.
The teams met Wednesday that ended in a chaotic 3-2 win for the Wizards.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco continues to produce in MLS and has lived up to it both on and off the field.
Blanco is expected to start in a lineup that could include former Manchester City striker Paulo Wanchope, Justin Mapp, and Chris Rolfe.
The Wizards will counter with the third leading goal scorer in MLS with Eddie Johnson.
The Dynamo Soccer Report tonite at 5pm includes a piece on San Jose coming back into MLS along with an interview with their owner Lew Wolff of the Oakland A’s in MLB.
We also speak with former Houston area youth player Arturo Alvarez plus highlights from the Dynamo win over FC Dallas last weekend and much more.

The Chicago Fire are in a must win situation tonite against the Kansas City Wizards at Toyota Park.
The game is exclusive on HDNET starting at 7:30 CST.
The teams met Wednesday that ended in a chaotic 3-2 win for the Wizards.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco continues to produce in MLS and has lived up to it both on and off the field.
Blanco is expected to start in a lineup that could include former Manchester City striker Paulo Wanchope, Justin Mapp, and Chris Rolfe.
The Wizards will counter with the third leading goal scorer in MLS with Eddie Johnson.
The Dynamo Soccer Report tonite at 5pm includes a piece on San Jose coming back into MLS along with an interview with their owner Lew Wolff of the Oakland A’s in MLB.
We also speak with former Houston area youth player Arturo Alvarez plus highlights from the Dynamo win over FC Dallas last weekend and much more.

It was valiant from David Beckham to fly back across the Atlantic to play for the Galaxy after playing for England against Germany yesterday. Chivas USA smacked the Galaxy with three second half goals to coast to a win against their rivals.
Times are tough in LA and the bottom line is that the Galaxy support system is not good enough to support a player like Beckham.
Raw, youthful defenders, some aging players and the bottom line is the mix is not right in LA put together by the organization.
The team is struggling and is a long, long shot to make the playoffs.
At games end Beckham could hardly walk off the field after playing two games in two days