-
Comment -
Klinsmann: Donovan snub one of my hardest decisions in football
Klinsmann: Donovan snub one of my hardest decisions in football
The former striker says he has "the utmost respect" for the way the LA Galaxy forward has conducted himself after his shock exclusion from the 23-man World Cup squad
Jurgen Klinsmann has admitted leaving Landon Donovan out of USA's World Cup squad was one of his hardest decisions as a coach.
The 49-year-old announced on Thursday that Donovan was not in his plans for the finals in Brazil, despite holding 156 international caps and scoring 57 goals for his country.
Donovan's omission caused shock when it was revealed as the forward had been expected to be an integral player for the USA, in what would have been his fourth World Cup.
Klinsmann felt the 32-year-old was not sharp enough to be included in his 23-man party, but revealed that delivering the news had been tough.
"That was certainly one of the toughest decision in my coaching career, to tell a player like him - with everything that he has done and everything he represents - to tell him that he is not part of the 23 right now because I just see some other players slightly ahead of him," the Germany coach said.
"He has been in that final 30 roster over the last 10 days and he did everything right, he was always positive, he took it in the best possible way.
"His disappointment is huge, I totally understand that, he took it very professionally because he is an outstanding professional player and he knows that I have the highest respect for him.
"But I have to make the decision as of today, I have to make the decision with what is good today for this group going to Brazil and I just think that the other guys right now are a little bit ahead of him. I told him that and he understands it, but obviously he is very disappointed.
"The door is not closed for them because we still have a couple of weeks left and, God forbid injuries do happen, you need to call them up and hope that they stay sharp, in shape, in rhythm and that they take it positively."Comment -
that's bullshit, nothing but camera talk. the tweet is more a representation of his attitude towards donovan and the mens national team.Comment -
You guys need to relax about Donovan...I thought he should have atleast made the team too but at this point he's really not that good anymore....He's also admitted he can't fully give his all either recentlyComment -
Brad Evans ✔ @brad_evans3
Follow
You got off easy this time @Cristiano
2:10 AM - 23 May 2014
6,385 RETWEETS 6,000 FAVORITES ReplyRetweetFavoriteComment -
I must say I thought Donovan was gonna rail klinsman a little. Maybe he's saving his digs for ESPN when the team is getting run over.Comment -
Almost 150 posts and dopie hasn't shown his face to badmouth the foreigner leaving off the all american boy that's an upset in itselfComment -
Real question here. If our real athletes played soccer would we be the best in the world?Comment -
the best athletes are in nba. their iqs are too low to dominate soccer.Comment -
3rd world peeps playing for food, and housing, and not to be put in jail. they have more incentive to do well.Comment -
This isn't fukkin 1990 anymore either.....The US is not an elite soccer country but we're pretty damn solid.....consistently ranked in the top 15 in the world and can potentially upset anyone.....Part of the reason we are considered to be in the group of death is because we're fukkin it instead of some scrub team from our same drawing
I hate all the unnecessary trashing of our team from ignorant people.....Yeah we're not Spain or Brazil but can we get just get past that.....I guess not
Comment -
I'm not real educated on the state of soccer but this seems out of spite and unnecessary. Case in point, his son's tweet. Dirty Kraut.Comment -
The USA players thought donavom would be on team as well. Klinesman is a petty man and not looking in the best interest of USA soccer. He is just embarrassing this country with his antics.Comment -
No way in heck.
Yes we are, but we are getting respectable like moneyline says below. But respectable and elite are miles apart.
We missed nine world cups in a row before 1990. Now we have qualified for seven straight. Anyone who thinks we have not made major progress is a fool. However we are still light years away from the top nations . They produce world class talents in soccer like we do in football and basketball. Literally dozens every year. The technical aspects of the game top nations are so far ahead we have a long way to go and don't have the will to get there. That does not minimize what has been achieved since 1989.This isn't fukkin 1990 anymore either.....The US is not an elite soccer country but we're pretty damn solid.....consistently ranked in the top 15 in the world and can potentially upset anyone.....Part of the reason we are considered to be in the group of death is because we're fukkin it instead of some scrub team from our same drawing
I hate all the unnecessary trashing of our team from ignorant people.....Yeah we're not Spain or Brazil but can we get just get past that.....I guess notComment -
I agree a major part of its personal. The US player pool is not so deep that Donovan had to be left off the team. His experience, his fortitude , his big game ability, his affect on his teammates, no way he should be off squad. People who say he is too old are not correct. He still has plenty left to contribute to this team. Heck just a few months ago he scored the goal that clinched this World Cup berth versus hated rival Mexico.
Not in soccer we do not. We are not soccer players, soccer is so ingrained in many nations we are miles away and we will never claps the gap completely. Soccer doesn't mean enough to us for that to even possibly happen.Comment -
agree trinity. Many many countries treat soccer like the Netherlands treats speed skating. Look at the speed skating medal totals for men and women at the 2014 Winter Olympics. If a nation has a singular focus it will dominate. We will never have that mindset in soccer.
Medal count: Speed Skating
Rank Country----------Gold-----Silver---Bronze---Total
1-----Netherlands-------8---------7---------8-------23
2-----Poland-------------1---------1---------1--------3
3-----Czech Republic----1---------1---------0--------2
3-----Korea--------------1---------1---------0--------2
6-----Russian Fed-------0---------1---------2--------3
7-----Canada------------0---------1---------1--------2
5-----China--------------1---------0---------0--------1
-------Australia----------0---------0---------0--------0
All others zero
in every other event in every other sport the Netherlands only managed a single medal. A bronze. But they had 23 in speed skating. (End derail)Comment -
The reason for being consistently being ranked top 15 is more because of the weak games against small countries in concacaf as opposed to a huge growth, no doubt the states have improved, but if they qualified in uefa or conembol they wouldnt be perennial qualifiers
The states do not have one player who plays for a top team in the big 4 leagues, so still a ways to go until the us starts producing top level talentComment -
donovan scores 2 goals today, no one even fuckin notices, that sums up the mls.
fifa rankings are bad the usa is the 22nd favorite to win the world cup obviously has something to do with the group but they are still behind. i do think in 2018 they could be in that 2nd group of teams that are around 30-1 or so if some of these younger players reach their potential.Comment -
They beat Germany in a friendly last summer, won their group in the last World Cup, beat Spain in the Confed Cup last time they played, won in Bosnia recently who qualified for the World Cup, and basically have dominated Concacaf more so than years prior.....Basically I agree they get ranked a little higher but my point is they can compete with almost every team out there
They don't have any world class stars but they play well as a team and all do their jobs the right way for the most part.....I'm sure Portugal and Germany aren't happy they got us instead of some of the other optionsComment -
Last Night in Cali....Juergen doesn't need this kind of pub leading up to the Cup
Comment -
Check out Mike Magee's piss take response on twitter to Jurgen's douchebag son!Comment -
dont worry it was at a mls game, probably 100 people saw it max.
there is one thing thats bothering me about this whole "snub", it was something the defender goodson brought up, he said that in camp he felt like klinnsmann already knew the 23 that were going, based on how they were grouped for drills. klinnsmann also said that he would wait for the deadline of june 2nd to announce his 23 man team, but he did it a week and a half early. wonder how the crowd will be tomorrow night for the friendly, the espn clowns will never let this die til the cup ends for the usa.Comment -
He has a chance to join the team still. One rolled ankle before June 16 and he is back in. After the first game he will probably keep quiet so not to be the villain who distracts the team. If they don't make it out of the group, we'll get the scoop from LD.
My guess is even though Landon is the best player in the clutch and when under pressure they don't want the culture of having their perceived leader not going full speed in all workouts just because he is that much better than everyone else. They dont want to suggest that can be tolerated. But if the USA wasn't in the group of death would he be there? Jurgen wants these new guys to have the losses on them. Wants them to feel like it was in their hands and have something to grow on. Their current offense is old. Jozy is young in years but he may be in Landon's situation next time if he doesn't bring it this summer. He can't come back to the MLS to coast and expect to be rostered in 2018. This has to be it for Dempsey. So JK has to say who is the next Landon? Who is out there with the best players in Europe and who is not in the sheltered USA house-league. In Green you have to hope to have a Bayern Munich starting forward in another 4 yrs. Do you leave him off this year, have him sign with Germany, and end up with a 35 yr old Dempsey in 2018? Green would be whooping up on us in 4 yrs and we would have to talk about what could have been.
We have pure players coming up. Kids in high school now are the first group to skip HS soccer altogether to play 10 month club ball on academy teams. Its crazy to see kids with the Red Bulls u16 team give up the glory to represent their high school to play club ball 10 months straight. Southern California has been doing it for a while but this is the first year the US Youth Development Academy has made it official nationally. If you want to play on the best team and get better the message is clear: Stay away from high school ball.
The high school system has been the worst thing for US soccer and its ingrained in our sport culture. Unlike US football where schools hire top coaches that bring in money for the high school, soccer usually gets the gym teacher or the science teacher to coach for an extra $2k. They are not in sync with the folks that developed them as is the case with AAU and HS hoops. Picture playing on a loaded all star team for the spring and winter and then playing rec ball at high school for the other half the year. US is about to break through though. We'll have our next level players coming up by the time the 2018 WC is taking place. By 2022 we'll be a soccer power.Comment -
Right now a lot of the coaches are from England or Mexico. A lot of UK players come over because the accent goes a long way unfortunately. Most decent coaches aren't touching the HS teams. English players are playing ball for scholarships here and then after school, they stay. Big money in club coaching especially if you are a director. A lot of the So Cal and Houston teams coach their teams 100% in Spanish. Families are migrating north and its raising the level of soccer.Comment -
indeed spot on, your right the coaches who excel at the highest standard in us sports are the best in the industry if the yanks could some how divert the football, hockey, etc coaches into delving there expertise to soccer in the not so distant future usa will be a top 6 side no doubt in my eyes, you guys have the best coaches i mean in general sports compared to the world....its not rocket science look how big sports is in your country get the best of that and put some percentage into soccer you guys will be a machine which nobody could stop.
lots of ifs though, you need the spanish, english, italian, dutch to teach the techniques to young american coaches, your soccer federation has obviously put measures into place to take this under consideration.Comment -
The coaches will be homegrown IMO. Players who are part of the first 10 month academy teams will be coaches for youth clubs in few years. Soon Brits wont be able to come over and get a job just by showing up. In the past 8 years private soccer clubs are up over 800%. Before then it was pretty much only town travel soccer. Now there are leagues like the NPL, ECNL and US Academy program and as of 2011 the 10 month program. It's really happened over night.Comment -
The chance Wondoloski had from the six yard box donovan buries in his sleep....FACTComment
