Galaxy

Apparently the LA Galaxy aren't bothering with that whole "losing a game thing" this season. After today's 4-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo, the Herbalife boys are 12-0-2 so far, tying the MLS unbeaten record. And they're continuing that streak without a couple of their big stars, in South Africa for the World Cup.

What's crazy is not just the streak. In the 14 games they've played, they have 22 goals for...and just 3 against. That's right: in the 1,260 minutes of Galaxy soccer this year (not counting added time), their opponents have managed three goals.

Well, with the MLS collective bargaining agreement reportedly agreed to and the strike averted, it would appear that Landon Donovan will not be heading back to Everton FC any time soon, unfortunately.

I say "unfortunately" -- it's fortunate for the MLS (not to mention the LA Galaxy), who narrowly missed a potentially suicidal crisis. Unfortunate, however, for hopes of seeing Landon continue a very positive period in the Premiership.

However, I will still be following along with the Toffees and rooting for a continuing good season -- already marked by a win over Bolton* today. COYB!

(* - "Bolton" will forever remind me of the "Notlob" palindrome from Monty Python. :)

Landon Donovan's possible final game with Everton FC ended in a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City today. He came on in the 67th minute for Nigerian striker Ayegbeni Yakubu, who had scored one of the Toffees' pair. Unfortunately, Everton let a two-goal lead slip away, losing a chance to make up ground on the team directly above them in the League standings.

Whether or not this actually is Landon's last Everton fixture, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena expects his star back in Los Angeles right away. This despite the MLS players voting to strike if a new agreement can't be reached with owners by March 25th. Not that there's ever a great time to strike, but for a league still struggling for respect in the US, it seems like a particularly inopportune time.

Everton seriously want him back. We'll see how it plays out.

Will he or won't he? I reckon the potential MLS work stoppage will enter into it.

evertonfc.com: "Chance of Donovan Stay"

David Moyes says there's an outside chance that Landon Donovan's stay at Everton could be extended.

The American international's loan deal from LA Galaxy expires after Everton's Premier League visit to Birmingham City next weekend, but Moyes revealed on Friday that there is a chance that the 28-year-old could remain on Merseyside beyond that date.

UPDATE

Grahame Jones at the LA Times has more, including speculation on Landon's lackluster performance with the US team against the Dutch side on Wednesday: "Everton wants to keep Galaxy's Landon Donovan a while longer"

On Friday, David Moyes, Everton's coach, revealed that the club has been in contact with MLS and with the Galaxy with an eye to extending Donovan's 10-week loan spell, perhaps until the end of the English season in May or perhaps longer.

"I am keen to keep Landon and it sounds initially in America that they might say yes," Moyes told the BBC. "I have not got that confirmed yet. I can't say exactly if that's going to happen. If we can make it happen, we will."

Practice and warmup games for the World Cup start in late May.

UPDATE 2

The official LA Galaxy blog has today's comments from coach/manager Bruce Arena regarding Landon's situation. Sounds like he'll be back with LA unless there's a lockout:

"Arena: Donovan to Return on Mar. 15"

Los Angeles Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena said the club is not interested in extending the loan of Landon Donovan to Everton of the English Premier League, despite reports that the Toffees will pursue such an arrangement.

The reports have been confirmed: Landon Donovan will be headed to the UK to play for Everton FC, the other Premiership team in Liverpool. ;)

Actually, Everton is the older of the two teams, with something of a splinter group forming Liverpool FC in 1892. The former had some success in the early 20th century, then again in the 60s and 80s.

More recently, Everton won the FA Cup in 1995 and were runners-up in 2009.

The side have several nicknames: The Blues (setting them apart nicely from the Liverpool Reds), The People's Club, and The School of Science. They also have another name with a great story: The Toffees or Toffeemen.

From Wikipedia:

There are several explanations for how this name came to be adopted, the most well known being that there was a business near the ground named Mother Noblett's Toffee Shop which advertised and sold sweets, including the Everton Mint, on match days. This also led to the Toffee Lady tradition in which a girl walks around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd. Another possible reason is that there was a house named Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House near the Queen's Head hotel in which early club meetings took place.

Their stadium is Goodison Park, with a seating capacity of a little over 40,000. I understand they have been trying to get a new home lined up recently, but there has been some controversy.

The 2009-10 Premiership season has been challenging for Everton, with several injuries holding them back. (As of this writing, they are in 15th place with 17 points, dangerously close to relegation.) This is one of the reasons they are happy to have Landon, who will help them out immediately. In return, the American midfielder will get good experience against a lot of the English footballers he'll be facing in the World Cup 2010.

This is a loan move, which means Donovan will be back with the Galaxy at the start of the MLS season. He will begin playing with The Toffees in January.

Related news stories:

• Everton FC: "Donovan Deal Done"
• BBC Sport: "Everton sign LA Galaxy striker Landon Donovan on loan"
• NY Times Goal blog: "Donovan and Everton Complete Loan Deal"
• Telegraph: "David Moyes welcomes Landon Donovan loan deal to Everton"

Closing a bunch of tabs. This was a particularly good couple of days for cool things to link to.

Jacket Copy: "Balloon boy story is right out of Edgar Allan Poe"

The Balloon Boy story may have been a hoax, but it if was, the Heene family is in good company. No less than Edgar Allan Poe had an entirely fictional account of a balloon voyage published in 1844 in the Sun newspaper.

A.V. Club Interview: "Alton Brown"

There have been [topics they wanted to do a show on but couldn't] and there are, and most of those have to do with boundaries set by what Food Network wants to show and doesn’t want to show. You know, they’re not gonna let me do a show about rabbit, because they don’t want to think about killing the little bunnies. There probably won’t be a Good Eats episode on, you know, anything glandular.

LA Galaxy Blog: "Landon Donovan Named Honda Player of the Year and Player of the Decade"

In addition to being named the Player of the Year, Donovan was also named the Honda Player of the Decade. This honor comes as little surprise as he had won the Player of the Year award in six (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009) of the last 10 years.

BBC Sport: "Republic face France in play-offs"

The Republic of Ireland will have to beat former World Cup winners France over two legs if they are to make it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Giovanni Trapattoni's side drew the 1998 champions for the play-offs to be played on 14 and 18 November and will play at home first.

Cyclelicious: "Bikes On Board: Stuttgart cog railroad"

German commuter trains have rush hour restrictions for bikes on board that many Americans who travel by train and bike are familiar with. "Die Zacke" cog railroad between Marienplatz in South Stuttgart to Degerloch, however, features this fantastic platform just for bikes.

BBC News: "At the centre of time"

Without it international travel would be in turmoil and calling friends in faraway places at the right time impossible. Exactly 125 years after the Greenwich Meridian line was drawn, how and why did Britain become the centre of time?

San Bernardino Sun: "Mayor unveils two-story globe design for SBIA"

A spiffy two-story world globe was unveiled Monday at San Bernardino International Airport as a symbol of world travel and sophistication in the city's plans.

The 19-foot objet d'art sits inside a 30-foot-wide fountain in front of the soon-to-be-completed passenger terminal on Leland Norton Way, said Steve Silver of TranSystems, who designed and engineered the globe.

NY Times: "One Reporter’s Lonely Beat, Witnessing Executions "

Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die. But Michael Graczyk has witnessed more than 300 deaths, and many of those were people he had come to know.

Jacket Copy: "Happy birthday, Ursula K. Leguin"

Today is Ursula K. Le Guin's 80th birthday. The multiple-award-winning writer is best known for "The Wizard of Earthsea" and is thought of for her science fiction, although she has crossed many boundaries.

[...] "I'm following Tolkien's prescription for fantasy creation. You are making a world out of words, and the only thing that's going to hold it together is its inner consistency.

"Writing science fiction and fantasy allow you to back off a little bit, to try to find the problems that always come back, that we never solve. Like gender relations, war -- once there's more than 50 of us living in one place we seem to have war.

If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats: "Heroes of American Literature #17"

John Steinbeck smoking and reading.

Phew! That's it. And Firefox should be feeling leaner as well. :)

Yesterday, both the USA and Mexico clinched berths in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Adding icing on the cake, local boy Landon Donovan scored the winning goal for Team USA. Congrats to both teams!

Here's a FIFA page showing who's qualified around the world so far. I have my fingers crossed that Ireland will make it in too -- their next match is on Wednesday against Montenegro.