OT: Landon Donovan Left Off USA WC Squad | Page 3 | The Boneyard

OT: Landon Donovan Left Off USA WC Squad

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rich1122 said:
The sabbatical was overblown except to the guys who worked their tails off the ENTIRE time. Time to move on. Make the best TEAM. Make the pieces fit. The job of any CEO in any organization
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If you were the Bulls you wouldn't have taken Jordan back I'm guessing?

Is the goal to win games or reward people for practicing hard?

It's funny that the 'reasoning' for the exclusion is health and stamina, but the anger comes from something that would have helped LD's health in the long term.

His is the opinion that counts, but sorry we don't have to stop talking about it because you decide it's time to move on.
 
whaler11 said:
If you were the Bulls you wouldn't have taken Jordan back I'm guessing?

Is the goal to win games or reward people for practicing hard?

It's funny that the 'reasoning' for the exclusion is health and stamina, but the anger comes from something that would have helped LD's health in the long term.

His is the opinion that counts, but sorry we don't have to stop talking about it because you decide it's time to move on.
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If Donovan was Pele I would have kept him sure. But to make a comparison to Jordan you are dreaming - actually disrespectful to Jordan. Don't be the Yankees and keep over 40 overpaid former superstars. Bad formula.

Look I am disappointed he is not there and he may have even been better than some of the other guys, but the coach has to put together a team. That's what we pay him for. Otherwise he gets fired. Same as all of us.
 
AZHuskiePop said:
Like Bruce Arena said if theirs 23 players on the USA squad better than LD we could win the World Cup..
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Did he really say that?? Ha!

I'm not sure about winning it all, but we certainly wouldn't be picked to finish 4th in a 4-team group, that's for sure...
 
Klinsmann's son didn't get his attitude about Donovan out of thin air. His tweets indicate there was plenty more than the sabbatical or the excuse of weak practices at play. This had all the earmarks of a done deal and a battle of will and ego that may make the coach feel more at ease, but hurt's the team's overall chances. We don't have the quality depth to be looking past World Cups to give talented youngsters a taste of the big stage. But that isn't what was at work here imo. It was about loyalty and chain of command.
 
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whaler11 said:
If you were the Bulls you wouldn't have taken Jordan back I'm guessing?
Is the goal to win games or reward people for practicing hard?
It's funny that the 'reasoning' for the exclusion is health and stamina, but the anger comes from something that would have helped LD's health in the long term.
His is the opinion that counts, but sorry we don't have to stop talking about it because you decide it's time to move on.
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Not sure how that analogy works. You can't just make the same comparison to another sport/league. Would UConn have taken Shabazz back if he decided to take a 2 months of the season off? Obviously, that doesn't translate either.

Compare it to leaving a great but aging player off the Olympic basketball team because they took a sabbatical during qualifying (if you must).
 
Jimdish255 said:
Klinsmann's son didn't get his attitude about Donovan out of thin air. His tweets indicate there was plenty more than the sabbatical or the excuse of weak practices at play. This had all the earmarks of a done deal and a battle of will and ego that may make the coach feel more at ease, but hurt's the team's overall chances. We don't have the quality depth to be looking past World Cups to give talented youngsters a taste of the big stage. But that isn't what was at work here imo. It was about loyalty and chain of command.
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...is a genius. Seriously, are people actually ever going to figure out that the only thing twitter does is show the world how dumb they are?
 
Chandler openly snubbed the US for years and still made the team. His time off had zero to do with this.
 
spsct said:
Like someone said earlier, if he had pulled that over here in Germany I would be mildly surprised if he ever played for National Team again.

I think LD being out is a combination of his fitness, not fitting into what JK has planned for Brazil, and JK also looking ahead to the future beyond 2014.

I'm certainly not wringing my hands over this; one player who very well could have been coming in as 2nd half replacement most likely will not make or break this team's final result.
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If LD pulled his little sabbatical in any traditional soccer nation, he would have been summarily retired from national team duties for the duration of his career. They would also burn his likeness in effigy.

Seriously, if the whole sabbatical thing was supposed to help, it didn't.

Old fart teachers and professors take sabbaticals. World Class soccer players that are supposed to be in their prime don't.
 
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SubbaBub said:
Why do I foresee 4+ weeks of embarrassment for JK.

http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/ma...axy-vs-philadelphia-union/details/video/17092
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15 minutes of LD per game was going to be the difference between US embarrassment and not? It's not like he's Messi. We are in the legit grupo de la muerte. If we get through (with or without LD) it would be a gift from whatever god you prefer.

(on the goal itself, while it was a nice run, you probably could have done better than an open net from the 6 yard line! :))
 
intlzncster said:
15 minutes of LD per game was going to be the difference between US embarrassment and not? It's not like he's Messi. We are in the legit grupo de la muerte. If we get through (with or without LD) it would be a gift from whatever god you prefer.

(on the goal itself, while it was a nice run, you probably could have done better than an open net from the 6 yard line! :))
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His pass set up the goal but to your main point about the Group of Death. Your logic is we're going to lose anyway so get rid of just Landon Donovan. He's the best choice to chop off the roster to look towards the future? And the message to the players is we weren't winning anyway. I'm struggling to rationalize any of it. And who deemed his being limited to 15 min?
 
Jimdish255 said:
His pass set up the goal but to your main point about the Group of Death. Your logic is we're going to lose anyway so get rid of just Landon Donovan. He's the best choice to chop off the roster to look towards the future? And the message to the players is we weren't winning anyway. I'm struggling to rationalize any of it. And who deemed his being limited to 15 min?
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Well, that wasn't my logic at all. My point there didn't have to do with whether he should have been on the team or not. The guy said something about foreseeing 4 weeks of embarrassment for JK. I'm saying that it wouldn't have made a difference either way, so this decision isn't going to define the outcome nor lead to enormous embarrassment for JK. Maybe the US gets close or even through, but I wouldn't bet on it. In fact, I'll be happy to bet against it for whomever is willing.
 
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I can name only one player on the current roster who could have made those plays and I'm not sure Dempsey has the quality to have made that free kick on the first goal. If LD is scoring and playmaking, you don't think people will be talking about it. I'm pretty sure the announcers will talk about it every time the US misses a chance. Fairly certain that despite all attempts to say otherwise, this has divided the locker room. There are a lot of guys for whom this is their last or only WC. I'm sure they'd like to have the best player in US history on the squad. More than one thought that last night.
 
ZooCougar said:
If LD pulled his little sabbatical in any traditional soccer nation, he would have been summarily retired from national team duties for the duration of his career. They would also burn his likeness in effigy.

Seriously, if the whole sabbatical thing was supposed to help, it didn't.

Old fart teachers and professors take sabbaticals. World Class soccer players that are supposed to be in their prime don't.
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Yes imagine if Ronaldo or Rooney took a sabbatical.
 
SubbaBub said:
Why do I foresee 4+ weeks of embarrassment for JK.

http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/ma...axy-vs-philadelphia-union/details/video/17092
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We give our best effort ever in the qualifiers and finally beat Mexico and we are going to do worse than ever?? If this is what it takes to change the culture and develop the program then so be it. I am tired of hoping that we make elimination rounds by the skin of our teeth. If we are mediocre then we will be mediocre with or without him.
 
rich1122 said:
Yes imagine if Ronaldo or Rooney took a sabbatical.
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Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but your hypothetical is starting to show how little you know about soccer.

If Cristiano Ronaldo took a 3-month sabbatical, he would be back on the Portuguese national team exactly 0.8 seconds after he announced that he was ready again. If you think otherwise, you're crazy. If you think any coach would have the clout to tell Ronaldo where to stick it, then you don't understand soccer. He is a player that coaches get fired over, plain and simple...
 
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UConnDan97 said:
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but your hypothetical is starting to show how little you know about soccer.

If Cristiano Ronaldo took a 3-month sabbatical, he would be back on the Portuguese national team exactly 0.8 seconds after he announced that he was ready again. If you think otherwise, you're crazy. If you think any coach would have the clout to tell Ronaldo where to stick it, then you don't understand soccer. He is a player that coaches get fired over, plain and simple...
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But he would NEVER do it and that's the point.
 
rich1122 said:
But he would NEVER do it and that's the point.
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Rooney (one of your two examples) took 3 weeks off earlier this year on his "Hot Weather Break", presumably to get his groin back to 100% health, even though reports had come out that he was able to play.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/wayne-rooney-sent-away-manchester-3008279

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/55/91295/Sports/World/Manchester-United-striker-Rooney-in-Egypt-on-a-‘ho.aspx

“We've sent a fitness coach with him and he is away with his family. So we've given him a bit of a break. I always hoped I would be able to do that at some point in the season, but his groin is not as good as we hoped at this point.”

Players, especially those who are around 30 years old or higher, have to take some time off to help prevent against injury as well as burn-out. Many of the great players do it. The problem for Landon was not that he took the time off, but that he called it a sabbatical. Had he just claimed a nagging injury that he had to get back to health from, this sabbatical talk wouldn't be an issue...

EDIT: Here's a report where Rooney could have played:

http://www.espnfc.com/news/story/_/...ey-robin-van-persie-played-sunderland?cc=5901

"But ESPN has been told both could have been involved, with manager David Moyes opting not to use his most prolific players as United prepare for two Premier League games in the space of five days against Cardiff and Stoke next week."
 
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Groin injury different than sabbatical. I watched Rooney every week. Even with the groin problem he never let up.
 
rich1122 said:
Groin injury different than sabbatical. I watched Rooney every week. Even with the groin problem he never let up.
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Well, I know that you didn't watch him every week, because he missed a lot of weeks. Call it what you want, but these players get burned out. Most of these players (Landon included) are playing for their club in both the regular season and post-season tournaments as well as international games for their country year round. After a decade or so, you get burned out, both physically and emotionally. Add to those facts that Landon played a couple of years for Everton in the off-season, and it's no wonder he needed a sabbatical.

But let's not get confused here. The sabbatical was not the issue. If it was, he never would have started two more games in World Cup Qualifiers after that point, nor would he have been on the 30-man provisional roster. Let's all be clear on that...
 
UConnDan97 said:
That's not true. Let's be honest about it.

If Bastian Schweinsteiger took a "sabbatical", and then wished to return during WCQ (which is what Donovan did), he would either be let back on the team or the coach would be changed. The average player? Maybe you'd be right. The star? You're dead wrong.

I'll give you two recent examples from Italy that fit the mold of people who had lost their minds even more than Donovan: Balotelli and Cassano. Both found themselves back on the national team, and the coach found ways to reincorporate them into the team dynamic.

If the player is good enough, the coaches find ways to adjust...
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Sorry, I just don't agree. If a player chose to bail on the first 3 games of qualification, especially (if my recollection is correct) when those are probably the toughest and most critical matches of the cycle, then I don't expect him to be welcomed back with open arms. Especially if that player is so critical to the team's success, as everyone on the web seems to think is the case.

We'll probably never know, because in the 8 years I've lived here I can't remember it ever happening. And that includes qualifications for 2 World Cup and 2 European Championships. I'll ask around and get some of my friends thoughts on the topic; I could be wrong.

In any event, I also said that my belief is there were other factors in play that played a bigger part in his exclusion.
 
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