USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann defended his decision to keep all-time American top scorer Landon Donovan out of his FIFA World Cup™ squad, saying the 32-year-old striker simply was not good enough.
"The other strikers we see that inch ahead of him," Klinsmann said. "We feel those guys are a little step ahead of Landon in certain areas. That's why we made that decision."
Former German star international and coach Klinsmann noted how Donovan's game has evolved as he has grown older with fewer one-on-one attacks and charges into the penalty area. He reflected how players gain experience as they get older but "maybe physically they lose a little bit of an edge". ...
See the whole article here, courtesy of FIFA.
Kicking Back Comments: Still not buying it and in fact feel even more strongly based on Jurgen's comments. I'll add to it too with Jurgen's punk 17 year old son maligning LD in a tweet following the announcement. You can see it, and some of the reaction here.
Now, I'm not getting all conspiracy theory and genuinely believe that Jurgen was short cited for many of the right reasons, and the thing with his son was just a classless act by a 17 year old. That said, I think the damage was done with the announcement when even the veterans on the team were surprised.
In the long haul I don't think this bodes well of Jurgen, who has a contract through 2018. There are enough questions swirling around to make things very uncomfortable from now through the early exit the US will have in Brazil.
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