As this is a fan blog and all that fans are talking about is Landon Donovan, I will take a quick moment to share my thoughts, though as I have not spoken with either Landon or Jurgen Klinsmann in a number of years, well, I am just being a fan.
- I tend to trust my coaches. They are building a team after all. And they know their squad and tactics. Addition by subtraction can work.
- That said, I am in no way happy about this. Donovan has been our leader for so long now and while we have shown we can win without him, well, he is one of our best players.
- Donovan is very un-German. He is not an order follower. He is a free thinker. He is not 100% focused 100% of the time (I don’t mean on the field or in training, but when he is off the field, he has other interests.) I don’t think Klinsmann (not a typical German himself) can reconcile this. When Donovan took those months off, I’ll bet Klinsmann’s head nearly exploded.
- Due to the above, it is my belief that Klinsmann neither understood not trusted Donovan. He was just too different a person from everyone Klinsmann has ever encountered.
- This move does not doom us. Back in 2002 I was certain that we could not win without Claudia Reyna on the field, but there we were, in the opening match against mighty Portugal without our captain. . . As mentioned above, we have recently played and won a number of matches without Donovan.
- A huge thanks to Donovan for all the wonderful memories he has provided over the years.
- A huge congratulations to Donovan for scoring 2 goals LAST NIGHT to become the all-time leading MLS goalscorer! He now has 136 regular season goals.
- I was also stunned that Clarence Goodson did not make it. He was great during qualifying and I thought he had a chance to start.
The above beautiful work of art is from a wonderful fan, Prairie, and is available on the amazing Futbol Artist Network.
23 Days in Brazil 