World Cup: Landon Donovan left off US men’s national team

By Mike Dyce | May 22, 2014

The United States men’s national team has named their 23-man World Cup roster way ahead of the June 2nd deadline. It comes with one incredible shock, Landon Donovan will not be making the trip to Brazil. Donovan is a player who has made big plays in World Cups before, has a certain veteran poise despite being 32-years old and past his best years, and has 156 international caps to date.

It might not come as a surprise to Donovan himself though, he said he was unsure of whether or not he’d make the team.

“This is my last chance at this,” Donovan said. “For me personally, I sort of liken it to 2002. In ’06 and in 2010, I knew for the most part unless I was awful that I was going to make the team. This time is more similar to ’02 where I wasn’t sure. And so in that way, yes, it’s as competitive as it’s been for me personally in a long time.”

In an interview with Donovan in April, he suggested that even if he made the team he wouldn’t necessarily have the same role that we had grown accustom to seeing.

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“I think it’ll be different in that my role will probably be different,” Donovan said. “I’m not necessarily going to be playing or starting every game, potentially. That is still my goal, but that might not necessarily be the case but I’m very excited for the opportunity. I’m excited for our team and I’m excited for the sport in our country, to hopefully take another real big step forward.”

Everton and American goalkeeper Tim Howard had thrown his support behind Donovan to make the squad calling him one of the team’s best players.

“For me, it’s a very easy equation. If Landon’s on the field, he’s our top one or two players,” Howard said. “For me, he’s easily one of our best players, and he strikes fear in opponents.”

Apparently manager Jurgen Klinsmann did not agree, and felt like he wasn’t a fit. Klinsmann had previously left Donovan off the World Cup qualifying roster last summer after a few months away from the team. Instead, he was then asked to play in the Gold Cup tournament and benched last month for the friendly against Mexico after what Klinsmann considered to be sub-par training sessions from Donovan.

“Landon Donovan—the media thinks he’s untouchable,” Klinsmann told ESPN, via Soccer by Ives. “The media thinks he has to be in the starting lineup or he has to be in Brazil based on what he did, and he did marvelous for soccer in the United States over the last 12, 14 years.

“That’s not how it works. I have to choose the best 23 players based on what I see today.”

Other players who didn’t make the cut include: Michael Parkhurst, Brad Evans, Clarence Goodson, Joe Corona, Maurice Edu and Terrence Boyd. The roster did include Bayern Munich youngster Julian Green though, who will turn 19 early next month.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3) : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8) : DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)

MIDFIELDERS (8) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (4) : Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)