Three-time FIFA World Cup participant with the United States, former Premier League midfielder and six-time MLS Cup Champion Landon Donovan joined
Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis earlier this week. The U.S. Soccer Legend spoke on his involvement with 2020 USL Championship (2nd tier) expansion side San Diego Loyal Soccer Club, including his upcoming debut as a coach at the professional level.
"In order for this to be successful, we have to make this the community's team and, the way you do that, is by allowing them to be part of the process and really listening to what they want," said Donovan.
"In sports these days, in professional sports in our country - anyway you slice it - it's become very corporate," continued Donovan. "It's about what sponsorships you can get, how do you fill the seats, how do you maximize revenue. And I think people now, and I'm a big sports fan too, we all know that.... and we've kind of gotten away from the customer."
"We went out, we had twelve listening sessions with over 500 people in San Diego," added Donovan on the process of launching his expansion team. "We had teachers, we had surf community, we had the beer community, we had the business community that we listened to, soccer fans obviously, military, artists. We just talked to a bunch of different people about what San Diego is to them and what do they care about and want in a professional sports franchise. And over, and over, and over the world loyal kept coming up."
Real Madrid visited Houston last July as part of the 2019 International Champions Cup. Manuel Gonzalez / DTUSA
The 2020 MLS SuperDraft brought a few more additions to the Houston Dynamo, bringing the number of players under contract to 25 as of Tuesday morning. South of the border, the Clausura 2020 season got underway in Liga MX and cup action dominates the talk over in Europe.
Here are the top stories of the weekend:
Houston Dynamo add Croatian GK, select four MLS SuperDraft
The Dynamo officially announced the signing of GK Marko Marić from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Monday. The Austrian born player who has played internationally for Croatia is expected to be the starting man in goal this season. The signing was first reported by KXLN's Lester Gretsch back in December.
The club also selected four players in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, two in Rounds 1 & 2 on Thursday followed by the other two in Round 3 & 4 on Monday. The selections, which still have to come to terms on a contract, are as follows:
The second half of the Liga MX calendar year kicked off over the weekend with only four teams not participating in the first week, Apertura 2019 finalists Monterrey and Club America among them. The teams that took three points in their first outing of the year were Leon, Chivas Guadalajara, Atlas, Pumas UNAM, Xolos of Tijuana and Toluca.
TV listings (All Times CT):
For full info on soccer TV listings and streaming services in the United States, visit worldsoccertalk.com
Tuesday, January 14
8:00 a.m. - [Coppa Italia] Napoli vs. Perugia (ESPN+)
11:00 a.m. - [Coppa Italia] Lazio vs. Cremonese (ESPN+)
1:45 p.m. - [Coppa Italia] Inter vs. Cagliari (ESPN+)
2:00 p.m. - [English FA Cup] Tottenham vs. Middlesbrough (ESPN+)
Wednesday, January 15
11:00 a.m. - [Coppa Italia] Milan vs. SPAL (ESPN+)
1:45 p.m. - [Coppa Italia] Juventus vs. Udinese (ESPN+)
1:45 p.m. - [English FA Cup] Manchester United vs. Wolves (ESPN+)
2:00 p.m. - [Ligue 1] Monaco vs. PSG (beINSports)
Thursday, January 16
2:00 p.m. - [Coppa Italia] Parma vs. Roma (ESPN+)
9:00 p.m. - [Liga MX] FC Juarez vs. Pumas UNAM (TUDN)
