Donovan Cut - is this the end of Landon?

The reason the story continues is that it keeps getting worse and worse. I mean, you really couldn't even dream up a better script. Cutting Donovan in favor of Davis and Green of all people. Jurgen's son's tweets. Landon scoring a brace and an assist and breaking the freaking MLS scoring record like two days after being cut. (And looking awesome doing it: totally fit and on form, crushing the myth that he deserved to be cut for showing up out of shape and in poor form to camp.) Magee's epic tweet. Jurgen's failure to congratulate Donovan for breaking the record, betraying his personal dislike of the guy. Clint getting hurt and the USMNT putting up a stinker of a performance against Borat's team. Rumors of Green's promised roster spot, poor performance in training and not even getting in the game in our easiest friendly. Jurgen's double-talk and lack of a clear reason for cutting Donovan, including his ridiculously weak "he's a forward not a midfielder" Jedi mind trick. (I feel like I'm leaving out some good ones, but that's plenty.) I mean, really, wtf is next?!?!

 

You mean like Donovan was in his first game after getting cut?

 

Yep. That statement is very interesting. As @NMMatt pointed out, its basically a deliberate admission that he is trying to play the unconventional genius and this is mostly about him.

 

Donovan had 2 days of rest from being cut to playing in that game. But, he's a god, so you know, he didn't NEED the rest or anything. The players that were kept by Klinsmann are less than mortal, can't hack it really.

CLONE DONOVAN NOW FOR THE 2034 WORLD CUP!!!! 11 Donovans and we win in a walk… unless Brazil clones Pele… hmmm… maybe there's a problem with this plan.

 

It could be 100% true, but there is no reason for him to say it. It just adds to the mess.

 

And yet some of them haven't had to give much if anything at all to replace those that had.

Sorry, couldn't let that pass. I hear what you're saying and I think its part of the reason this is some bad business. Its unfairly putting other players in a bad light.

 

I wish you could take this seriously. What would we possibly do with 11 forwards.....

 

Cut them, of course. There are players a bit ahead.

 

Land of Fire?

Cutting Landon is Not Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

This thread:

 

I agree. This all looks very bad for Klinsmann. The only way out of this is a solid World Cup performance. If the U.S. comes up short in a big way, Klinsmann probably won't be able to prove that Donovan's absence had nothing to do with it.

I'm not panicking yet, but it is sobering that it took the US 75 minutes to score against the 85th[?] ranked team in the world.

 

this is pretty much it. landon is fit, and still brings more to the game than most of the 23, but is someone JK just can't understand (sabbatical, favoring quality of life over footy career, etc. etc.), and so doesn't trust.

JK must be looking for a certain kind of mojo in his 23, and he doesn't see it in landon.

lalas got it right immediately, the 23 is all about a coach's preference. come june 16, we'll see what the preference of the unorthodox genius approach is worth.

 

What on earth does it mean that the players are less than mortal?*

Our players are dead?
Undead?
Anti Mortal?
Ante Razov?
@RACING ?


*nota bene: there is one context where the words 'less than mortal' actually make sense together. A free Landon Donovan 2014 world cup jersey** to the first poster who gets them right.

**es gibt nichts, was es nicht gibt.

 

I think in a way both Donovan and Klinsmann have admitted it's a personal thing.

Now the question is, if the manager cannot manage well, if a certain guy he dislikes is around, and the team needs the manager managing well, isn't it fair to get rid of the source of the annoyance?

I think if the manager does a good job, yes, it is his right. He needed peace of mind to set his genius mind to work. With that one guy around, whom he disliked because his character bothered him, or his looks, or his manner of speaking, or whatever it may be, he couldn't have accomplished what he did.

But if the manager does a bad job, then he probably never had any idea, and just took it out on that poor guy to excuse his own lack of ideas. He didn't need peace and quiet to execute a master plan, he just wanted to get rid of someone who saw right through his ineptitude.

If he does a bad job after having the power of even getting rid of a player for personal reasons, he should be fired, no ifs, ands or buts.

 

I can't help wondering if Klinsmann wouldn't be catching quite as much flak if he'd mentioned [not explained mind you, just mentioned] at least one of those "technical reasons" [paraphrasing?]: the reasons he claimed to have told Donovan for why other players worked better for his roster than he did, but that he didn't want to get into during the press conference.

Some of the questions at that press conference were a little unfair, but he could have given better answers to some others. After a ground-breaking decision like this, people expect the reasoning to be laid out as clearly as possible. His answers seemed somewhat evasive and general, and when people hear contradictions like the ones people have been pointing out on this forum, they think he has something to hide. I guess we can't get inside his head, and it might not be in his best interest to go into too many details or specifics. But he gave the impression that not even he was quite sure of his reasoning, and that leaves him with even more to prove.

 

JK makes the mistake that is conventional to almost all "Unconvential Geniuses"....... he thinks he actually is a genius.

 

Sounds like he really meant less than immortal.

 

That is what usually happens when a decision is made by the passions, and then you retroactively attempt to justify.

 

um… that was my point. If Donovan is a god, everyone else must be much much less than mortal. He's not that much better, no matter how much people say he is.

We need more Cowbell Donovan on this team!

 

Absolutely.

I admit that there may be some possibility to a scenario where LD was seen as an undermining agent to JK's authority, but there's not much to go on there. On the other hand JK has shown in his time with Germany that part of his MO was to rock the boat and leave off some sacred cows in favor of lesser known young players. Couple that with his lip service about "comfort zones" and nobodies spot being safe and it begins to look more like a schtick that he is trying to apply again with us regardless of whether it fits or makes sense. It's his role and its how he puts his stamp on things.

 

I love that y'all are taking this so seriously.

HE'S GONE! He may be back if an injury happens (probably will be, really). Y'all are giving yourselves ulcers by angst-ing over it.

It's a child's game played by grown men for way too much money wearing clothing that is best described as pajamas and that you wouldn't be caught dead wearing on the street if it wasn't associated with a sports hero.

 

I agree with that. Differences of opinion I think comes up when attempting to define what classifies a good job.

You've said nothing less than getting out of the group of death qualifies as a good job. I happen to think we could actually play damn well, have the sum of our parts be better than the parts themselves, and still only get o-1 points out of the group. When it comes to quality, we're just that over-matched.

We could play three straight "A" level games, great performances, yet if Ghana/Port/Germ also play an "A" level game, we're going home. That scenario wouldn't mean Jurgen failed to do a good job.

Forget the Landon vs Green/Davis/Wondo conversation for a minute. Any team bringing guys like Omar/Besler/Beasley/Zusi/Bedoya/Yedlin as well as Green/Davis/Wondo, is severely over-matched in this group of death against these level of opponents. Even guys I like, like Mix/AJ, stand no chance of making the rosters of anyone else in our group. This point is often forgotten.

 

My friend, EVERY possible half-baked scenario has been brought up ...... including that one.

 

Such as? We still have a ways to go in the questioning department before we hit unfair. If anything, the questions for JK have been too lightweight. All's fair in love, war, and World Cup.

 

Wasn't me. My minimum standard to keep Klinsmann is, as stated in my Minimum Expectation poll:

TWO POINTS with a GD of -1, or -2 if we play well.

Anything less, and IMO he should get fired.

- We win versus Ghana and lose the other two, he should stay.
- We tie Ghana and tie an already qualified Germany, and lose 1-2 to Portugal, he should stay.
- We tie Ghana, tie Portugal, and Germany wipes the floor with us 3-0, he should go.
- We tie Ghana, beat Portugal, lose to Germany, don't get out of group, he should stay.
- We tie Ghana and lose the other two, he should go.
- We lose all three games, he should be PUNTED.

That's where I stand. I only ask two points and not to get embarrassed in the game we lose. That's all. Or a win. It's humble. It's perfectly possible. It's what would prove to me we're not regressing, that we haven't been had by a charlatan.

 

Who's angst-ing? I suggested a correction to a sentence that didn't make grammatical sense. I didn't voice any opinion about whether it was true or not. I said several hours ago that it was time to let go on the Donovan business and I meant it. Jeez. Why don't you stop taking it so seriously?