Red Bull coach Hans Backe and captain Thierry Henry may not have had any comment on Landon Donovan calling their team cheap, but count on Luke Rodgers to fire back at the Galaxy star before tomorrow’s Western Conference semifinal.
“In my eyes, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. A lot of their players were doing the same thing. One of our players has a big gash in his leg from Beckham’s tackle, but no one’s complaining about it on our side,’’ said Rodgers, who takes a no-quarter-given approach to the game, and a classic English get-on-with-it attitude to physical play.
“No one’s moaning here. I don’t understand why everyone’s complaining. I personally just think it’s part of the game. I don’t think anyone expects two big teams with players that really want to win just have it be a really pretty game and shake hands after the game. Certain things will get said. In my eyes, it’s part of football.’’
Give Rodgers this much. He doesn’t appear to have a phony bone in his body. No filter, no Crash Davis School of clichés in his repertoire.
Recall, it was Rodgers who was quoted in the Post as calling Donovan a (jerk) in the wake of the team’s 1-1 draw at Home Depot Center on May 7, and saying playing a game with the Galaxy star present was like having “two referees on the pitch.”
Donovan shot back with a snarky tweet, “I’m confused. Who is Luke Rogers?” One can only presume he intentionally misspelled Rodgers’ name. And after Sunday’s first leg of the semifinal at Red Bull Arena _ one that ended with a postgame melee _ Donovan called the Red Bulls “the cheapest team (I’ve) played against.’’ It’s not an accusation Rodgers was going to take lying down.
“We’re not a cheap team,’’ Rodgers shot back. “We’ve already beat L.A. once. If calling a team cheap is the will to win, and tackling and putting everything into winning the game, then I don’t call it a cheap team: I call it a winning team.
“When our backs are up against the wall, we do produce; it will be the same Thursday. Who would have thought we’d go to Dallas and win 2-0 at their place and go to Dallas again at their place and win 1-0? They’re a great team.
“It’s a playoff game, and I expect Thursday to be exactly the same. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. I know a lot of our players are quietly confident we’re going to win.”
And some not so quietly.