Landon Donovan Is Done Starting For The USMNT
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The 2014 FIFA World Cup is just 52 days away. One major issue that each teams coach must answer is, who makes it on the plane to Brazil? For US Men’s National Team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, he faces many questions heading into this world cup. One major issue he must figure out is whether veteran star, Landon Donovan should still be a starter for the US.
Donovan has seen his fair share of success throughout his career on both the club and international level. Since making his international debut back in 2000, Donovan has appeared 156 times for this country and scored 57 goals. His ability to score timely goals has made him one of the greatest to ever don a US jersey.
What is hard for some fans to understand though, is that Donovan is getting old. It is an unfortunate occurrence in everyone’s life, but it does happen to the best of us. With age comes more knowledge but also a decrease in skills and speed, something that critics have started to notice about Donovan during the past several months.
One counter argument for his recent lack of skill is that in 2013, Donovan scored eight goals in 11 appearances, his second most goals scored during a calendar year during his international career.
In a recent interview with Sporting News, Donovan stated that “I’m excited to help in a way I’ve never been able to before. I see it all very clearly now. I understand what it’s going to be like. I understand what it’s about. I’m not caught up right now in thinking about Brazil. I’m just focusing on what I’m doing now because I know when that time comes that I will switch gears and I’ll be able to put my entire focus on that.”
It may seem like a shock to some people, that a player of Donovan’s quality would be ok with not starting and not be upset about getting time off the bench. What is great about this though, is that the attitude that Donovan has shown makes the entire situation better. It is no secret that the US has many players who are capable of leading the team in scoring, but the lack of experience may come back to hurt the team.
Klinsmann knows that there are several young and talented strikers in the US player pool that can make big plays happen and can give 60-70 hard-fought minutes in games. It really comes down to how well these players perform on the biggest stage of them all.
The dynamic of games between international friendlies and world cup group and knockout stage games is incredibly different. Young players can easily get scared and not know how to produce quality results when the world is watching.
Overall, Donovan certainly still has at least one or two years left in his career. It will come down to how well Donovan plays in his club matches leading up to the world cup and the tune-up matches for the US before the last cuts are finalised. It would take a lot for Klinsmann to not take Donovan to Brazil, but given his current run of form, the possibility is certainly looming.