You are absolutely correct. It has, however, been a common justification used by people for his ommission. Klinsmann said he was just a little bit behind. Anything else is pure speculation. (Of course many believe there was a hidden reason... the sabbatical etc.) I tend to believe that we may never know for sure. Regardless of what Donovan says he is biased (it may be an honest opinion, but he is still biased). I don't expect Klinsmann to say anything different than he has already said and many are not satisfied by that.
Yeah, at this point that some people will attribute to Donovan the basest least reflective black and white reasons for doing anything have obviously not paid attention to Donovan - ever.
I posted this elsewhere: You know I keep trying to let this go, but when Donovan continues to play so well... The run of creative form that Donovan has been on in the past month is better than any run of form that ANY of the players taken ahead of him have EVER had. Of course the same could be said about the run of creative form that he had in the 2013 Gold Cup. This is the argument for taking Donovan to the World Cup. No one else in our player pool can do what he can do. It is utter lunacy to not put this guy on your 2014 WC squad. Whether the decision was based on personal animosity or some tortured logic involving over-thinking a combination of factors like form and the team's reliance on LD, it was clearly the worst roster decision ever made by a USMNT coach. EDIT: Just to be clear... by creative form, I mean setting up scoring opportunities. He created 35 key passes last month (an MLS record) and another seven last night.
My opinion is the worst decision ever has to have an impact on the field. We did as well or better as could be expected in the world cup, with or without Donovan. The PR impact on some US fans has been bad, but in terms of JK's actual results there's no clear mistake made, let alone worse decision ever by anybody.
Watched LD & Galaxy play last night against the out manned Rapids. He was at another level than the other 21 (20 after the red card) players on the field. His speed of play, vision and ability to thread passes were second to none. It's a shame Klinsmann had cockamamie (personal) reasons to leave him off the WC roster. From a playing point of view, LD was only going to make us better, if not much better, than the side we featured down in Brazil. And with LD playing at the top of his game now, we all should sit back and enjoy the show, because Donovan is truly a one-of-a-kind player that won't be replaced anytime soon.
The fact that we were unable to possess the ball, counterattack, or consistently create chances doesn't represent an obvious impact? Fine. Then find me a roster decision that had a provable impact on the field, Schrödinger.
Is there another player in the entire US pool that is anywhere near the form that Donovan is in right now? It's not even close. On form he shouldn't just be put in for 20 minutes for the fans on 10/10, but should be starting. Maybe retiring is a way to get out of his MLS contract and go play for Everton? I'm sure there's rules against that but I'm betting there are some teams in the top leagues that are looking at these performances and wondering. He's certainly going out on top of his game. He's making Bruce Arena look pretty good too. JK's looking at this thinking "uh-oh, I better wait to the 85th minute to put him in or he's going to tear it up and make me look even more foolish."
Landon doing to the MLS what he did to CONCACAF in the last GC: "Donovan racked up a total of 35 chances created over the past month, more than double any other MLSer. The 35 chances created were actually more than anyone has had in a month since Opta started recording the stat for MLS in 2010. It's also 16 more than Donovan has ever recorded in a single month in MLS since 2010." http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article...andon-donovan-producing-historic-levels-after What a shame we lacked his creative force in Brazil.
Now that the NFL season is starting, I'm interested in how the Desean Jackson scenario plays out. He's clearly one of the best WRs in the game and one whose game makes the eagles better (stretching the field and creating mismatches) but coach Kelly CUT him. Kelly repeated stated that he was cut only for football reasons (sounds familiar....) Many posters here seem to believe that it's a fireable offense (i.e., a coach's job is to manage talent not cut them, DJax is better than player X, etc.) but for Kelly the general consensus seems to be: "let's see how the season plays out". Even if the eagles win the division and lose in the playoffs, Kelly will still be open to the criticism that the eagles could have won another game with one of the most talented guys in the game. I'd be ok with that result and therefore his decision but if the eagles offense sucks this year, Kelly's on the hook. We'll see how we do....
Our results were fine. We look ugly against strong competition with or without Donovan. The roster decision that had a provable impact on the field were the ones Klinsmann made, with a good result.
He's the Bobby Fischer of soccer. Now I understand how baseball fans felt when Sandy Koufax announced he was leaving the game.
Koufax had arthritis so painful that he could barely comb his hair and shave. Unfortunately, Donovan had a coaching situation . . .
Sure, but guy left at his peak. About LD, I have a feeling we don't have the full story yet. That ankle issue lingered far too long. For all we know, he may be playing in pain even now.
Odd, I was just thinking about Sandy today, result of a crossword puzzle baseball player clue. Still the greatest pitcher I ever saw. Made my Yankees look like farmers. However, LD is more fun to watch.
Yes, yes, yes. I think everyone here will agree that since your first principle is that things couldn't have been been better, then it is impossible for you to consider that they could have been better.
When your first principle is good things could have been better, besides being depressive, it's unclear that it's correct. Not necessarily wrong, not necessarily right. Unclear. The worst decision ever by anybody should have a pretty terrible result.
I thought we played better against Italy in 1990 than we did against Belgium. And Belgium didn't look that good against anyone else in this WC (even game with Russia, couldn't even get a shot off against Argentina). Everyone lowered expectations when we were in the group of death, but when we faced a scotch tape and glue Portugal with a hobbled Ronaldo, the door opened up. We squeaked through it and laid an egg. I'm not overly critical - it was still not a given to get out of the group with three teams fighting for one spot. But I'm certainly not in the "that was the best we could do" camp. A July 4 weekend game with Argentina would have had this country enthralled. Belgium hadn't been there before - they could have been had.
That sounds reasonable to me. I wouldn't say we laid an egg. We lost by a goal in extra time against a team that has much better players than we do. Roma preferred a player Belgium didn't even call up to Michael Bradley at the top of his game.
Fair enough - I thought we laid an egg stylistically, although I will admit style doesn't mean much in knockout stages. We rode the Howard Express as much as humanly possible, but it took us until stoppage time to get one flukey scoring chance. If Wondo finished it would be up there for the least deserving wins in WC history. We did play ok in the first half - their best chance was in the first minute (with Beasley making a great play midway through to thwart another that would have been a sure goal if it got by him). Then we had our ears pinned back for the 2H and first OT. At that point, shots were 36-8 and corners were 19-4 in their favor. The old college try in OT2 left everyone with a better taste in their mouths, but it was a pretty disillusioning effort before that.
Of course it could have also been much worse. Rewatch the L1-3 to Costa Rice when Jozy was available and LD started with Deuce.
Did you even watch the highlights that you posted? How many of the US attacking sequences ran through Donovan? All but one? This is your argument against putting him on the team? Heck... even the three goals that were scored against the US came from attacks on Zusi's side of the midfield.
Here's the highlights of the US scoring chances before second half stoppage time against both Germany and Belgium: