Cheated? Stole? Are you being serious? Remember in the movie Wall Street when Charlie Sheen was begging Gordon Gekko not to liquidate an airline because the workers would be out of a job with nowhere to go, and Gekko coldly responded "It's all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation." That's how I feel about whoever coaches the USMNT. Ultimately, I really don't care about anything besides results. Would I be happy to see certain players achieve success? Sure. However, sentimental emotions run a very distant second to winning. That's just a fact of life, whether it's coaching or pretty much any profession. Results are what count. JK couldn't do anything to make up for it? So if he won the WC this year, you'd still be "bitter" about Donovan not being there? I think I'd get over that in about two nanoseconds if I saw our team lift the bizarrely shaped golden trophy. In fact, I'd probably be too ecstatic to worry about any players who were left behind. I never play the "you're not a real fan" card...but you aren't. Your post is basically a signed confession that you're a much bigger LD fan than a USMNT fan. Sorry, JK's results to date simply torpedo any arguments that LD should have been included on the roster. I wonder if some of you would have been happier to have finished in last place as long as LD was there than to achieve the success we have had without him.
Why do you care? You couldn't find a better example than to cite a villain in a film who got his comeuppance for that very attitude? That's great, so why do you care so much about what other fans think or feel about it? Actually they don't prove anything. If you had bothered reading the thread before coming in here to attack certain posters in a very personal way, you might have seen how we've already covered this ground rather thoroughly. We have no idea what the effect of leaving Donovan off the roster was. The best we can say is it didn't matter as far as getting out of the group. We overcame a bad decision. And certainly posters are entitled to that opinion without you coming in here to question their loyalty.
People are still talking about this? It was ridiculous then and even crazier now that we have moved on.
Stupid choices tend to live in infamy and are discussed forever. It is often called history. Bad draft picks, dumb trades and comically bad coaching hires become legend. Sam Bowie and Greg Oden will always be Portland legends for example.
The bolded sentence amused me - I guess "never" isn't a very long time? You know, I'm not sure why I personally upset you. If you don't care about the "Donovan omission" then that is fine with me. To answer your question - would I rather have the team fail to show that Klinsmann was wrong: the answer to that is no. From what has been reported, my best guess is that Klinsmann became upset with Donovan's comments about whether he could practice 12 days in a row, and he quickly booted him and 6 other guys off the team. I think Klinsmann is just as liable to act with emotion as I am, perhaps more. I am a fan, and I can be sentimental if I choose to. But Klinsmann should be a bit more pragmatic. JK's results to date do not in any way torpedo any of the Donovan arguments. The results on the field have called out for Donovan, to anyone who has watched his career on the national team.
the moment we advanced the main narrative of this World Cup became "survived group of death" and "back to back knockout stages" not "Donovan excluded". It fades even deeper should there be a victory over Belgium.
I'm happy for the USMNT but still think with Donovan the US could be a lot better offensively. Zusi, Bedoya, and Davis have nothing LD.
Make no mistake, when we go out, get ready to hear the phrase "what could have been" until your ears bleed.
But then other people would still be talking about it! They must be stopped! Otherwise they might disagree with me or take an interest in something I find uninteresting.
What was ever so ridiculous and crazy about talking about Donavan's omission? It would have been crazy had we not talked about it.
I was wondering the same thing. The omission was a month ago. Maybe this could be combined with the fire JK thread.
You are so right. Brad Davis and Julian Green has proven each and every one of us wrong. Look, congrats to JK, he has had a good tourney so far. One where he handicapped himself down with his roster selection.
Eh. I don't think any of those guys would have made a big difference. Davis, Green, or Donovan. It's just that we don't have 23 players in our pool who can make a positive impact in the World Cup. Boyd is probably the player who was left off who would have made a difference, but even then that was just do to Jozy's injury.
It's Donavan. Maybe you're thinking of somebody else, but we're talking about the guy who is a 20x better soccer player than Brad Davis and (I forgot his first name) Green combined.
Not on this team though. Not on this team. If the coach is the leader so be it. Nasri is 20 times better than his replacements...he didnt go. It is what it is. There are issues there that none of us will probably ever know and frankly I could give a ******** after getting through to the next round and moving on. Good on em for working hard to make it happen. Such a pathetic argument.
Same coach put him in that position to succeed. Same coach decided he wasnt where he needed to be for this world cup. Cognitive dissonance anyone? The pathetic argument is that the squad is weakened. Just like the squad is weakened if Nasri is out of France. But it doesnt matter because coaches decide these things and we can never really ever know if it is truly weakened or not. We cant know. It is an exercise in futility on some level. I dont mind discussing it but now it is just a meme or something to cling to in order to attack Jurgen. It is a home for the person who just cannot enjoy advancing or positivity. It is far easier to be negative and critical. Far far far more difficult to give accurate praise. I have no idea and neither does anyone else about why he was left off. We have some clues but ultimately the coach with the best winning percentage in USMNT history can continue on as far as I am concerned. Till one of you guys gets a coaching job and proves to me you can actually cut it in the real world instead of fantasyland.
What is exactly is the cognitive dissonance here? Are you saying my belief that Landon Donavan is better than Davis and Green contradicts with my belief that Landon Donavan should not have been left over the WC roster? Are you saying Brad Davis and Julian Green are better soccer players than Landon Donavan and by leaving him off the squad has not been weakened because we are not missing his skill-set? And you're accusing me of cognitive dissonance huh? Haha. You act like you have a very good idea as to why he was left off.
I was One of the coaches being considered to coach the Metrostars before they went with Firmani in their opening season. I did not have enough name recognition even though I am well known under another name in NYC soccer. Also I was known for other things outside of soccer that hurt me. A lot of the players who played under me were on that first Metrostar team. Have a few claims to fame with the US open cup. Is that good enough for you? A former captain of the US national men's teams was one of my players. With assorted others. I would have kept Donovan for his ability on the counter attack. I would have another target player besides Altidore things like that. I would have our backs step up when the opponents make a pass. Get a lot of intercepted passes doing that which is the best way to start a counter as you well know right?