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Originally Posted by demonrail666
I was surprised, too, but, give Klinsmann his due, he's obviously committed to promoting youth and evolving the side tactically in a way that may not involve what an ageing Donovan can bring. His experience is invaluable though and, if you end up having a poor tournament. his omission will inevitably be used by the media as a reason. We shall see.
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I LOVE what Jurgen has done for the USMNT, we look like we have something resembling an actual system to our style of play now, we do a lot more attacking, our offense is exponentially improved in its approach and Jurgen has also managed himself to readjust to the CONCACAF style of defense which was something that was always questionable for him. His first year with USMNT he looked like a fish out of water defensively against CONCACAF opponents because he simply didn't understand or have experience with that kind of play. He readjusted and thrived hence the entirety of 2013 with the Gold Cup and some convincing WC Qualifiers. BUT, BUT, BUT....
LANDON WAS ALSO A FUCKING HUGE PART OF 2013, PERIOD.
Mark my words, the US WILL falter in this Group of Death without the veteran, cerebral play that Donovan brings at the tournament level. True, the guy was more than a step slow, and readjusting to Jurgen's system at practices was not going smoothly even after 3 years BUT Lando stepped up in tournament play, and that is what counts. He clearly is at the stage of his career where he uses the "on/off" switch and I think everybody in the fucking WORLD knew Landon would turn the switch "on" in a Group of Death in his 4th World Cup. Also, Landon has experience directly with these teams in our group, they are classic US rivals, how are you NOT going to bring your most talented veteran against those teams? We had a matchup advantage, and in 2010 Ghana got LUCKY to beat us, so we smelled blood this time around. Now? Fuck it. Jurgen threw in the towel when he got that contract extension for 2018 cycle, and he also feels a bit entitled like "Hey, I'm Jurgen fucking Klinsman I'd like to see the USMNT have the balls to fire me."
If the team gets swept out of the group stage I PROMISE the fan base will revolt, blame the losses on Landon (right or wrong btw), and call for Jurgen's head!
He was out of his league in this one, he didn't understand the celebrity culture of US sports, and Landon is probably the ONLY true American superstar footballer, period, end of discussion. Even if we lost with him, US fans would have felt more comfortable with that, knowing we were in a hopeless group... Now? I wouldn't be surprised if one of either these two scenarios happen, (a) Jurgen sends out the mia culpa before June 2 and activates Donovan for the bench squad or (b) he doesn't, USMNT gets slaughtered, and Jurgen can honestly get fired.
When USMNT got put in that group of death, in all honesty, I didn't even flinch, I liked the challenge of it, it was our opportunity to show the world that USMNT isn't quite what it used to be, that we can hang and compete with anybody in the world at least one match at a time, and we weren't scared of those teams.. But without Landon Donovan I am actually now scared of those teams, because NOBODY on that roster has the spark offensively to get a clutch goal or set up a game winning assist like Landon, even at 32. Sighs. Its going to be a looooooooong and disappointing World Cup
See this play where Lance Stephenson busts a Jurgen and underestimates Dwyane Wade and leaves him wide open in the corner there D-Wade is 32,
he missed 1/3 of the season, he looked
3 steps slower than "The Flash" Wade of old, and yet in the playoffs he is having the most efficient scoring run since Michael Jordan in 1988 AND has scored 23, 28, and 25 points over the last three crucial games. THAT is what hardened vets with superstar talent bring to a team in tournaments. THAT is what Landon was going to bring to us, I refuse to believe otherwise until Jurgen posts some videos online of Landon looking THAT bad, because I was watching the Gold Cup just last year, and I saw some great WC Qualifiers and friendlies late 2013/early 2014 where Landon looked like a beast. I was getting very excited because of. I'm totally deflated now, and beyond consolation. Sorry, those 18 year old scrubs and the sneaky good play of Wondolowski can't make up for Landon