The Donovan Omission, Part 3

As I've said before, the guys who went to Brazil for the USMNT are all great professionals. They understand that they have to work with the coach they have, whether they agree with him or not. None of them were ever going to cut off their nose to spite their face. They did a great job representing our country.

Howard may not like or respect JK (or he may love the guy). However, he knows that he needs to do certain things if he wants to play for the Nats again. That said... He has a book coming out in December. I would love to hear an honest assessment of the situation in it.

 

that will have to wait until he retires. Harkes banging Waldo's wife right before WC 1998 took at least 10 years to be fully acknowledged.

 

Racked up 7 key passes in the last match, to make himself number 2 overall in MLS this season (and #1 among US-eligible NT players).

 

Like Bobby Fischer, Landon is retiring while still not far from his peak.

 

Let's hope he doesn't push his likeness to Bobby Fischer too far. It can be bitter ending your days in Balkan exile.

 

But you know, he's past it.

 

The last couple of pages I don't have any blocked comments. I guess Spursfan and the other anti-Donovan trolls have given up on their preposterous argument.

 

My argument is that LD is the greatest USMNT player of all time...
I was only arguing with someone who claimed he never took a break to determine if he wanted to play soccer anymore.
That was all.

 

Actually you were trolling LD on multiple threads and you only changed your tune when Superdave came on a ripped you a new one.

 

Donovan to get a farewell match:
http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/08/26/13/18/140826-mnt-landon-donovan

 

I am not y lee coyote. I do not think I have been ripping on LD all over the place.

 

In fact this is my view right here from May 28th...I always thought Landon could help.

 

Clearly JK chose the 23 that "fit" JK. That JK's choice of what fit JK was detrimental to the USMNT's chances at the WC was exactly the problem with JK, and his choices, as manager of the USMNT. Glad that's now " Als Klahr".

 

The news doing the rounds in South America already:

http://elcomercio.pe/deporte-total/...retira-octubre-seleccion-eeuu-noticia-1752634

In October 10 in East Hartford (Connecticut), the most successful player in the history of Unites States soccer will say goodbye to the NT managed by Jürgen Klinsmann in a friendly against Ecuador.

Landon Donovan, known in the soccer world as "Captain America," will end thus a bright 15 year international career, as announced by US Soccer in its official page.

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The Mexicans are going to be jealous.

 

Thats fair. As I said in my post. I felt we could have used him.

 

Donovan wouldn't have pulled a hammy against Ghana. He knows his body and is a master at managing his preparation to peak at precisely the right time. That, of course, is one of the reasons that JK cut him from the squad. He wasn't willing to mindlessly follow the "one-size fits all" training regime that over-worked our players and led to the rash of soft tissue injuries in the Ghana match.

That's not really the point, though. The point is that if you take all of the available evidence leading up to the WC Roster selection, 99/100 coaches would have chosen LD for that roster. In hindsight, 999/1000 coaches can see, based on LD's good run of form, and the weaknesses of the USMNT at the WC, that the team could very well have benefited from having Donovan on the roster.

Klinsmann made a poor decision. At the time the decision was made, most people recognized it as a poor decision. Things played out at the World Cup in very much the way that those criticizing the decision predicted they would.

Donovan would not likely have been a savior for the team, but he would have given the team a better chance than Brad Davis gave the team.

 

Landon Donovan to get final USA call-up, will play vs. Ecuador in October

http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-fut...n-usa-usmnt-hartford-ecuador-jurgen-klinsmann

Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images
Landon Donovan will get one final match with the U.S. men's national team, as he will be called in to face Ecuador in October.

 

You are joking, right? So, one doesn't take one of their best 23 players because maybe he pulls his hammy against Ghana? Do you know how fu**ing ridiculous that sounds?

So, Argentina and Portugal shouldn't take Messi or Ronaldo, respectively, because they may get injured? I want some of whatever you were smoking when you wrote that incredibly absurd post.

Bottom line is one takes their best 23 and LD was most certainly one of those players - It wasn't even close. If they get injured once they get to the tournament, oh well . . .

 

Cripple is a strong word in this case, but lets remember that we lost our starting striker in the first half of the first game. We also relied on MB to be our creative midfielder at the same time expecting him to take on a deep defensive role, forcing him to run more than any other player in the tourney with decidedly mixed results. As I said many times in this thread while the tourney was on there were moments in each game, especially in the 2nd half and beyond where the options on the field lacked the quickness, vision, passing and game management intelligence that LD still possesses. Finally, in addition to Jozy going down we had two other players who we were counting on to play every minute of every game go down with muscle injuries. If you accept that JK had to push the whole team that hard to compete given our opposition, he did not provide himself with the correct cover for it and LD was one of those major omissions.

So, correct, the team was not crippled by the LD cut. It was not helped by it either and time and distance should make it clear by now that it was just a bad decision by a coach that simply over thought the issue. JK also handled it with a complete absence of class and respect that LD has every right to feel like he had earned.

 

I suspect you are being oblivious on purpose. I think he meant in terms of importance to his team, not comparing quality directly.

 

I prefer Tim Howard's judgement to yours: "still one of our best 2-3 field players".