USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann has named his 23 players squad and superstar Landon Donovan sorted out. The Bundesliga players are all nominated against. The most important news at a glance.
USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann has named his final squad for the World Cup in Brazil. Here, the former national coach waived surprising to veteran and leading scorer Landon Donovan. The 32-year-old has played in three World Cups, with its 57 international game hits and five world outside USA scorer.
Despite Klinsmann repeatedly insisting that Donovan was not guaranteed a spot, it was still widely expected that the USA men’s national team’s all-time leading scorer would be named among the final squad of 23.
Jurgen Klinsmann could have left the final cut until the FIFA deadline of June 2 to pare down the roster from the 30 who have been training at Stanford University, but instead chose to announce his selection early.
“It is an exciting moment when you have narrowed the roster down as a coaching staff,” Klinsmann said in a statement. “These 23 players you have chosen can now focus purely on Brazil 2014. We can go into more specific things about technical approaches and about the opponents.
“For the players, it is very important to know that they are now part of it and they can relax and know they are going to Brazil. After 10 days [in camp], we thought the point had come to make that decision.”
Donovan has been one of the faces of American soccer ever since he burst onto the international scene as a World Cup rookie in 2002, helping the U.S. reach the quarterfinals. His goal against Algeria in 2010 – coming in dramatic fashion in the final moment of the last group game – propelled the team into the knockout round and provided an electrifying and iconic moment.
He has scored 57 goals in 156 appearances for his country, but Klinsmann made it known that he was concerned about Donovan’s commitment after the player took a controversial sabbatical at the start of the 2013 Major League Soccer season before subsequently regaining his appetite for the game.
Many casual soccer fans will be stunned to learn that Landon Donovan has been omitted and in all honesty, it doesn’t make much sense to seasoned experts, either.
Included are for the league players Timothy Chandler, John Anthony Brooks, Fabian Johnson and the only 18-year-old Bayern talent Julian Green. Even ex-Schalke-professional Jermaine Jones, who now plays for Besiktas Istanbul, was appointed.
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