Alert: Klinsmann announces roster for May/June camp on Thursday (announcement included in this thread)

I am pretty sure Klinsmann does not think that way. I feel as if, in his heart of hearts, Klinsmann takes qualification for granted. Sure, he says all the right things, but I somehow don't buy it.

In fact, I feel as if Klinsmann thinks his job is, before anything else, to take the US deep into the knockout rounds of the World Cup itself. For example, he sure seems to care a lot more about friendlies against high-quality opposition than any previous USMNT coach.

It's all a huge gamble. It could well pay off. The overall scheme -- of which delaying Landon Donovan's return is only a part -- seems to be to establish his own total authority as coach, get the whole team to buy into it, increase the confidence of the team, mold them into a powerful unit, and get them to play the right style to beat high-caliber opponents.

It's not a gamble I would have made, however. The downside risk of missing the World Cup is too great, and the upside seems to me as if it would still be achievable with a more flexible coaching strategy that placed a higher priority on securing qualification as quickly as possible.

Earn nine points in WCQs in June, and Klinsmann looks like a genius. Heck, 13 points in the hex might already be enough this cycle for a top-three finish.

Earn four points in WCQs in June, and we'll all be chewing our nails till October and probably till November.

 

I seriously doubt your doubts are accurate or reasonable.

Maybe -- or probably, since there have been numerous instances and examples throughout his career to back this claim up -- LD values his health and well-being more than his bank account.

Players donating (or giving up) their salary is not uncommon.

Gooch gave up a year's pay (or maybe it was only 6 months) when he was out of action but under contract for AC Milan.

Yes. And it is over with. Now we are discussing and analyzing JK's choice.

 

Rico Clark as an example ain't better than Williams.

 

At the time of Rico Clark, who was better than Rico Clark who was left off a roster because he was one of Bob's guys?

And it is debatable which one is better. Clark was an extremely useful player.

 

Dude we follow footie too, you can't just make stuff up to fit your arguments.

It is not all a common occurrence for players to forego pay. It does happen, but when it does it makes headlines. Gooch did not go without pay. He offered to play for Milan for a year for free. As far a I know Milan did not take him up on his offer and released/ loaned/ sold him. If you have a link that says otherwise then I would be happy to read it.

 

Agree 100%.

1000% with the bolded section.

 

It does happen. Donovan did it earlier this year.

(the fact that LAG and ACM had different response to similar gestures from players -- that LAG has not yet loaned out Donovan this year put did apparently opt not to pay the player -- doesn't remove the gesture themselves.)

I think the point that LD values his health and well-being as much as he does is a fair point to consider in this discussion.

 

And Donovan wasn't playing with his team's qualification? Everyone agrees not having Donovan endangers our qualification. But when Donovan decided to do it himself, he is defended as "doing what he needed to do for himself to be sharp again" or similar arguments; whereas Klinsmann's decisions - which might also be thinking mid- to long- term - are automatically foolhardy, egotistical decisions?

 

Grant Wahl says

Self-imposed. An absence by choice. An illness not diagnosed. When people forego pay it is not written in the way Wahl did.

 

Nice to see well thought out posts that acknowledges that there are different rational points of view as opposed to the typical simple-minded the coach is a moron stuff.

Clearly has me thinking is that a risk we should be taking?

 

Well if Landon is going to be playing at his 2010 level again I don't see how it is a bad decision. Landon will be pissed and motivated to deliver some of his best performances. The Donovan of today is one the team can use no doubt, but I think Klinsmann wants the Donovan the team needs. Which is him back at his 2010 level.

Today's Donovan does not tip the scales in our favor like his 2010 version would.

 

If there is one prediction I can make fearlessly it is this: If Klinsmann gets 9 points in WCQ in June, the number of current anti-Klinsmann posters who attribute that to Klinsmann AT ALL, let alone to his "genius" will be 0.

 

It will be all luck.

 

I don't know about that. How many people said similar things after the CRC/MEX games?

 

did you see his last game? I am not at all worried about his level.

 

Yeah that was not a good game. That was Robbie Keane, the captain, making the difference. Landon played okay. It looked like a practice session for the Galaxy. You can say you are not worried about his form, I will say that is not Donovan at his best. His stats looked good, but the performance wasn't great by him.

 

You mean gave him credit for those points?
Only the mild skeptics gave him (grudgingly) credit. All the others who are lined up micro-analyzing every word he utters as if he were testifying in court had a nice selection of mitigating factors or reasons we should minimize the importance of those points. I even had a nice little semantics argument with what's-his-face (guy who's banned from N&A) about the semantics of "historical" and why the Mexico tie supposedly wasn't...

 

Again you are trying to equate two things that are not equivalent. Gooch had team doctors diagnose a physical injury. Gooch also offered to forego pay, LD was docked. This also does not make this a common occurrence as was in your orignial supposition.

Look I get many of you ugys are angry but some of the stuff being hurled borders on bizarre. This is not the first time a coach has left a favorite out of the roster.

It is obvious to me Klinsi thinks we can get to Brazil with or without LD.

On a side note I wonder if there is a demographic segregation of those who understand (even if they disagree) and those who are unable to comprehend any logical reasons for Klinsmann's choices. I get the "whole earn your way back you are entitled to nothing you quit us mentality" as well as the need for some time off to rethink your priorities. I really do not understand the whole he is entitled to a spot if and when he wants it mentality.

The latter argument is especially weak when you consider that LD has been a virtual non-factor during JK's tenure. I think Ld can be a valuable part of the team, but we need to learn to generate some offense without him since he is nearing the end of his playing days. The more rest he gets now the better he should be come Brazil.

Lastly deep down inside I believe we make Brazil with or without LD, and if we cannot do that in concacaf then we really suck.

 

Well...I think it's useful to separate the gameday managing from the things that happen when JK gets in front of a microphone. When he talks, it's a stream of silliness and weird, often contradictory and usually unhelpful nonsense. He really should talk less, or have a PR person stapled to his hip.

His gameday coaching has improved, I think, and his moves during the last two games were sensible and thought out, even if they didn't always work.

I could care less about the "historical" nature of how we get points in the Hex. Points is points, and it should be a different standard of evaluation than how we looked at the gaggle of friendlies prior to the games getting real.

So I think it's important to make that distinction when being critical of JK.

 

It does say that Donovan was never diagnosed with anything. This is the face of American soccer. If he was depressed or anything like that do you seriously think reporters would not report that? The Galaxy would certainly not decline to pay Landon if it was a diagnosis like that. This is the sports world where PR is always important. The Galaxy would not choose to not pay Donovan if the problems he had were more than fatigue. Yeah you can say who knows Landon's body better than himself? No one will say I know better than him. The problem is that Landon made his absence be something not medically-diagnosed or approved. So you have nothing else to go on except his quotes, which continuously allude to him being bored/ tired of the game. Every athlete that I know of that is at the end of his career contemplates retirement using that sort of rationale. If the game is not fun anymore they say, that's when they know it's time to leave. That to me does not scream mental illness. That is fatigue and lack of motivation. Sure Landon can be an exception like everything in the world, but how likely is it? Judging by the way he acted and how he himself admits managers and the club have responded it does not seem likely.

 

Which is why you definitely qualify as one of the "mild" skeptics. All your arguments generally show a very even tone.

 

a) that's not my question;
b) my question to you remains: should a doctor have diagnosed him with 'fatigue' (-as suffering from)?
c) show us some proof of his self-diagnosis

You think that:
- Donovan was not injured;
- but instead, suffered from a case of fatigue;
- burnout is fatigue;
- both are not injuries;
- he should not have diagnosed himself;
- fatigue does not require treatment - as "it it life";
- the performance level of professional soccer players' is not hurt by fatigue.