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wow left donovan off the roster

i watched that ESPN special and even landon himself was saying that he was getting old and fatigued real easily.

Even if Landon wasn't the same as always, I'm a little surprised that they'd leave the veteran leadership off the team. On the other hand, I kind of assume Landon is more about Landon than he is about being a good clubhouse presence and putting the team first. Just a hunch.

A cynical part also wonders if Klinsmann knows it will be very difficult to escape the first round, so maybe he's looking to 2018 a little with the youth movement.

Someone who has a clue about soccer tell me what to think about this. Wasn't Donovan the only American to score the last time around? I know it was four years ago and I might be wrong about that, but is it really that cutthroat? Is he too old to hang as a 25th man (whatever the soccer equivalent is) or a legacy? I'm curious about a decent explanation.

Klinsmann on LD's omission.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014/05/ ... Tm54Bk4h1z

Who will the media anoint as the face of the US World Cup team?

Dempsey, I'm sure.

I wonder who will wear #10.

haltz wrote:Wasn't Donovan the only American to score the last time around?

Nope. Bunch of dudes scored. The only returning players who did are Bradley and Dempsey.

haltz wrote: Is he too old to hang as a 25th man (whatever the soccer equivalent is) or a legacy? I'm curious about a decent explanation.

No, he could definitely hang. A guy who replaced him, Brad Davis, has been a solid MLS soldier for as long as Landon and is nowhere near the player Landon is, and he made the team.

We can leave aside personal speculation about Landon's role in Jurgen Klinsmann getting fired at Bayern Munich in 09 (it wasn't the reason, but his no-show loan did hurt Jurgen's credibility with Bayern management) and we can leave aside speculation about whether or not Landon was one of the anonymous team leaders or even THE anonymous team leader who basically tried to get Klinsmann fired two years ago in an interview with Brian Strauss (he probably was) and still find enough reasons why he was left off.

What is clear is that Landon has never been committed enough for Jurgen's taste. He went on a mini-retirement sabbatical during crucial World Cup qualifiers and abandoned the team. What seems clear is that as a former World Cup winner, Euro winner and world class player, Jurgen has always been frustrated by Landon's seeming lack of ambition and competitive drive. He sees peers in Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey with elite talent and drive and something less in Landon who had even more talent but much less drive. Another thing that seems clear is that Jurgen didn't want to take Landon as just a contributor. Landon is no longer good enough to build around at this level, but he could do a lot of damage as a super sub.

Maybe Jurgen did it for personal reasons, maybe he did it for chemistry reasons and maybe he just disagrees with literally everyone else and doesn't think he's good enough.

This is a complete paradigm shift in an instant for US Soccer. Micro view - Landon has to be on this team because of his game changing talent and experience. Macro view - the entitlement, lack of ambition, lack of desire and comfort with the status quo among top American soccer players begins and ends with Donovan and if you want to make institutional change happen at the player level, leaving him off does just that.

It's a new day for US Soccer and while the team may suffer a little bit, leaving Landon off doesn't make that big of a difference in getting out of the group. It was always going to be on the back of the spine - Howard, Besler-whoever, Jones, Bradley, Deuce and Jozy. That said, it's definitely a shock. Had to happen some time, may as well be now. He's in bad form, he's overweight and he clearly didn't prove to Jurgen that he wanted to be there. I'm ready for the future and if this is a transitional WC cycle, we may as well transition without 'Cakes. [expletive] Brad Davis, tho? Happy for guys like him and Wondo who have toiled in relative obscurity in MLS for a decade plus, but it's hard to swallow.

trill wrote:

haltz wrote:Wasn't Donovan the only American to score the last time around?

Nope. Bunch of dudes scored. The only returning players who did are Bradley and Dempsey.

haltz wrote: Is he too old to hang as a 25th man (whatever the soccer equivalent is) or a legacy? I'm curious about a decent explanation.

No, he could definitely hang. A guy who replaced him, Brad Davis, has been a solid MLS soldier for as long as Landon and is nowhere near the player Landon is, and he made the team.

We can leave aside personal speculation about Landon's role in Jurgen Klinsmann getting fired at Bayern Munich in 09 (it wasn't the reason, but his no-show loan did hurt Jurgen's credibility with Bayern management) and we can leave aside speculation about whether or not Landon was one of the anonymous team leaders or even THE anonymous team leader who basically tried to get Klinsmann fired two years ago in an interview with Brian Strauss (he probably was) and still find enough reasons why he was left off.

What is clear is that Landon has never been committed enough for Jurgen's taste. He went on a mini-retirement sabbatical during crucial World Cup qualifiers and abandoned the team. What seems clear is that as a former World Cup winner, Euro winner and world class player, Jurgen has always been frustrated by Landon's seeming lack of ambition and competitive drive. He sees peers in Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey with elite talent and drive and something less in Landon who had even more talent but much less drive. Another thing that seems clear is that Jurgen didn't want to take Landon as just a contributor. Landon is no longer good enough to build around at this level, but he could do a lot of damage as a super sub.

Maybe Jurgen did it for personal reasons, maybe he did it for chemistry reasons and maybe he just disagrees with literally everyone else and doesn't think he's good enough.

This is a complete paradigm shift in an instant for US Soccer. Micro view - Landon has to be on this team because of his game changing talent and experience. Macro view - the entitlement, lack of ambition, lack of desire and comfort with the status quo among top American soccer players begins and ends with Donovan and if you want to make institutional change happen at the player level, leaving him off does just that.

It's a new day for US Soccer and while the team may suffer a little bit, leaving Landon off doesn't make that big of a difference in getting out of the group. It was always going to be on the back of the spine - Howard, Besler-whoever, Jones, Bradley, Deuce and Jozy. That said, it's definitely a shock. Had to happen some time, may as well be now. He's in bad form, he's overweight and he clearly didn't prove to Jurgen that he wanted to be there. I'm ready for the future and if this is a transitional WC cycle, we may as well transition without 'Cakes. [expletive] Brad Davis, tho? Happy for guys like him and Wondo who have toiled in relative obscurity in MLS for a decade plus, but it's hard to swallow.

Well said.

every post-game interview i ever saw with landon (and not very many), he seemed so uninterested.

idk maybe that's just his demeanor, but i wouldn't be surprised to find that the reason he was left off was based on the simple fact they didn't like each other.

Don't want no scrubs.