Andrew Weber-USA Today Sports
It does not appear that Landon Donovan will be apart of the United States Men’s National Team during the country’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers this June.
According to a number of reports, USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann has decided not to extend an invite to Donovan for the team’s upcoming camp which begins in California on May 21. Even more so, it appears that only a rash of injuries would push Donovan up the board and onto Klinsmann’s radar.
This is a mistake.
Sure, Donovan is 31 years old now and the men’s national team needs to get younger heading into next summer’s World Cup in Brazil. In addition, Donovan stepped away from the game for some time off between January and March and in all, he hasn’t suited up for the national team since a 1-0 friendly victory overMexico last August. Donovan has only one goal and one assists in five MLS games this past year — long story short, Klinsmann is not all too impressed.
While the argument in favor of Klinsmann’s decision has plenty of supporting evidence, it’s still not a good decision. Donovan is the all-time leading goal scorer in United States’ history — he’s the type of player who should walk away on his own, not be shunned away from camp simply because he’s taken time off or is having a down year in the MLS.
The United States will have friendlies against Belgium on May 29 and Germany on June 2 before World Cup qualifiers with Jamaica on June 7, Panama on June 11 and Honduras on June 18. Donovan could still potentially be called up before the CONCAF Gold Cup in July, but at this point that remains to be seen and it’s certainly no guarantee, considering it’s unlikely he is going to compete in the aforementioned friendlies and qualifiers.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
