You're trolling because you already know the answer to that question. Yes, Donovan had failed to score a goal for a total of 7 games. That is not the only data point for Donovan's ability, since we've been watching the guy for the better part of a decade and a half. And, obviously, it wasn't a particularly valuable predictor, since here we are coming down the stretch of the season and he looks like pretty much the best player in the league. So if Klinsmann left him off the squad because of a tiny sample of 7 games, then he's incompetent and should be fired.
If that were the reason, he wouldn't have called him again. And he was there, scoring and assisting in the game that locked the tickets for our team.
See, I don't think there's a shot in hell. That's where we differ. It didn't have to do with the player but his actions. It's not Landon centric, it's team centric
It's the assists that truly bum me out, and where he is different versus the rest. #1 in key chances created among the Americans as well. He's really focused on play making now. We needed that badly in Brazil. Badly.
I don't buy that. He can still hold a grudge for making the team use weaker players until he was in the right mindset to contribute. And the reason we were able to book those tickets so early was not because of Landon, as he didn't play in qualifying until we could qualify
Why? Jurgen told us he was "a little bit behind." You have now seen statistical evidence that he was not. You're honestly basing practice for 1 week in camp over actual games? Also, if you want to know how he performed in camp - I suggest you google it. Landon is nothing but brutally honest. Tim Howard also commented. I literally don't know what this means. He missed 1 game. Jurgen then kicked him out of the others.
If you have not ascertained by now that the Donovan omission was personal, then I believe that you have not searched out all the facts. Unusual for someone who has been here since 1999. Donovan was not going to Brasil as long as JK had the final say, and he did so without any other consultations. Gulati was blindsided and it was not in anyone's best interest to change that decision so late in the game. LD lost out and in spite of jumping through all the hoops JK set up, LD was still kept him off the team because "he was a little bit behind". Crock of shit then, crock of shit now.
I predict this thread will reach 150 pages mark at the day Donovan retire since becoming the big soccer forum record.
There is no evidence he wasn't behind in camp! Unless MLS games after camp means he played well during camp? Which doesn't add up.
He actually assisted on both goals away to TJ in CCL: 1 ws a through ball to Keane, and he would've gotten an MLS assist on a set piece delivery headed down by Omar for Keane's goal. Big game player. In any case, quibbling over stats is silly; before the season's over Donovan will have proven he is still the best attacking player in the pool by a good margin. People scoff at comparing Donovan to Messi, but he is our Messi. We don't have another player that sees the game as well as he does and probably won't again for awhile.
Mind boggling only to the hand full of posters who have been anti-Klinsmann from day 0! If you are going to make a case based on MLS performance, see Wondo! Here is Whoscored ranking of MLS players: http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/23...PlayerStatistics/USA-Major-League-Soccer-2014 Here is Castrol: http://www.mlssoccer.com/castrol/index
So you want us to believe a stat that has Omar Gonzalez as the best US attacking player in MLS, and second best in the league ahead of Robbie Keane and just behind Henry? Even if you take those indices as gospel, the Castro index puts LD ahead of all USMNT MLS players except Dempsey and Wondo, and the WhoScored index puts him tied with Zusi and ahead of Wondo (with Brad Davis, weirdly, ahead of all of them, including Dempsey). You really want to hang your hat on that kind of voodoo statistical crap?
In Camp: 1. He placed in the top 1/3 of the beep test. 2. Tim Howard said he was one of the top 2-3 players. 3. Landon Donovan - known for his brutal honesty, said he was competitive. Following all of that evidence, Landon Donovan has been a force in MLS - and is producing at a rate higher than others that went to Brazil. Seeming to back up his statement that he was competitive in camp. vs. Jurgen saying he was purely a forward and that he was a "little bit behind" others. Problems: he has been playing and producing from midfield, and has historically done that for the USMNT. And he is out producing some of the players that went to Brazil. Not hard to look at that list and realize it was all personal.
One of the things that really hurt us was that the backup to Altidore was Dempsey (given our player pool, a defensible if arguable decision) but our backup to Dempsey was nobody. Or Bradley playing completely out of position, if you want to go that way. The backup might have been Diskerud or Zusi playing centrally behind Dempsey and in front of Bradley, but they weren't. (Another very defensible if arguable decision.) To me, that was where we missed Landon most inarguably; he should have been the guy playing behind Dempsey, being the playmaker. I'll say it again...my suspicion is that Jurgen didn't like the way the next generation in general, and I'll bet Jozy and Bradley in particular, deferred to Landon in camp, so that's why he made the cut before the friendlies. He thought Jozy and Bradley would step up if they didn't have Landon to lean on. Further, he felt that Landon might still be useful as a role player, a late game sub, but just didn't have what it takes to be the level of player for Jozy and Bradley to defer to. (A relevant analogy might be how the 2006 team was Reyna's team, and Reyna couldn't hack it.) If that's what Jurgen thought, it's hard to argue with because we didn't see how the players acted and reacted and interacted in camp. Except, the next gen players in general didn't play well, and in particular, Bradley was very poor (for whatever reason) and Jozy barely played. So if we judge the decision on the question of, did it work (which is all we have to go on) no, it didn't work.
Juergen is very smart in how he deals with players and especially deals with the media. He understands how to push the media around without being a jack-a** like Arena was. Juergen is comfortable going all in even if the odds are not in his favor and finding a way to win. It is how he was as a player and how he seems to want to coach. It is why he succeeded internationally with the US and Germany to a lesser extent (outside of the WC), but struggled at the club level.
Equally, there is no good evidence that he was poor in camp. The only person who said LD was behind is JK. I'll trust my eyes over JK's mouth.
I don't get this statement. I see JK as being really poor at dealing with players. I don't remember either Bradley or Arena having problems with players after their cuts for the WC squad. It seems to me that JK has spouted a lot of platitudes to the press regarding players, and then has been incredibly inconsistent in the way he actually handles them when they don't do what he wants them to (See Dmpsey, Bradley, Altidore, Chandler, Jones... etc.)
The LD decision should be excluded because that was just bizarre. What I meant by smart is that he is able to talk them down, yet make them drink the Kool-Aid. It is a difficult thing to do. He knows how to be critical, but not enough to run him out of the team. We hear of a lot of falling out at the international level. Juergen has avoided this. Listen to Brian Ching and Jimmy Conrad talk about 2010. Although they never got another chance. I don't think Landon would have gotten another chance if USSF did not step in.
Gotchya... that's why I excluded Donovan from my list. I understand what you're saying about other players, but I think we need to remember that these guys, above all else, are professionals that want to play in the world cup. They are gonna do pretty much whatever they can to not get "run out of the team". This is also, largely, a group of guys who were know in the 2010 WC for their excellent fitness, their fight, and their never-say-die attitude. It seems to me that the last thing they need is the sort of mind-game motivational mumbo-jumbo that JK brought to them. Finally, both Ching and Conrad were devastated to be left off the 2010 squad, but you didn't hear them complaining to the press about the process through which it happened like you did Goodson, Evens, and even Yedlin (who talked about coming into the locker-room, not knowing what was going on, and seeing guys crying). That's poor player management in my book. Even the guys that made the squad are not going to trust JK to do right by them and treat them respectfully as professionals.
Let me throw another weird ingredient into this mix: the freakin' Mexican coach said how sad he was that Donovan was retiring because Landon was still a real good player and the Mex-USA games would not be the same. So apparently Herrera has more respect for Donovan's ability that Klinsi. I actually LIKE JK, I just think he fooked this one up completely and REALLY hurt us in Brazil.
This really goes hand in hand with the video of JK talking to the team for the first time after the cuts. Most of you have probably seen it. The one where two of the players are playing ping-pong and he says "one more" before addressing the. The team looked absolutely depressed and unexcited. Like he had ripped their hearts out. I really get the feeling watching that vieo that the players are thinking "we don't have our best possible 23". And they are thinking some people really got screwed.
They were keeping their emotions in check out of respect for the 7 players in the camp who got cut. It was the mature, natural response. Believing the mood would have been different had Donovan not been cut is an insult to the other six players who shared his fate that day.