Friday, May 23, 2014

The cold-hearted German

Jurgen Klinsmann has announced his final 23-man roster for USA's World Cup side, and the most surprising of this is that he has left the veteran Landon Donovan out of the roster. Landon Donovan, 32-years old, is surely the best player the USA has produced and played three World Cups.
To be fair to Mr. Klinsmann, this could be because he has something up his sleeve; because he has professional reasons to leave out a player who has not had a spectacular season with LA Galaxy, and who not long ago went on a sabbatical.
That said, when one looks at some of the choices in other positions, one has to wonder whether the choice was beyond professionalism. Chris Wondolowski is a striker around Donovan's age, but hardly his experience. Jozy Altidore has had an unimpressive season with Sunderland. Youngsters like DeAndre Yedin, John Brooks and Julian Green may all be something for the future, but without hardly any experience it seems incredible that all three are going instead of Donovan.
While Landon Donovan may not be at his former best, his experience and quality remains unquestionable. With Jurgen Klinsmann's son's tasteless message in Twitter, rejoicing at Donovan being out, one cannot but question whether Klinsmann's choice was more personal than professional; that he is not willing to give USA's best player his last moment of glory.
Mr. Klinsmann appears like a cold-hearted man leaving Landon Donovan out. Only success in a hugely difficult group will take this impression away.

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