Since Jurgen Klinsmann cut Landon Donovan while trimming his World Cup roster to 23 players this past week, Beemsville has run the reaction gamut: disbelief, anger, sadness… But mostly disbelief. Veteran soccer commentators like Alexi Lalas and Grant Wahl will tell us an emotional reaction is to be expected (and it’s a good thing for U.S. Soccer); after all, Landon has been the face of the National Team for going on a decade. He’s the greatest player our country has ever produced, scored more goals, had more assists, and come up clutch in big moments throughout his career. Has he slowed down a step? Sure. But since he was quicker than virtually everyone else to begin with… And since his game is also based on intelligence, technique, timing… Well, we still can’t believe Jurgen made this call.
Still can’t believe we’re going to line up against Ghana in less than a month, and Number 10 won’t be on the pitch (or at least on the bench). We’ve listened to a few podcasts, read a ton of articles, and from Taylor Twellman to Brian Sciaretta, we can’t find one person who thinks this was the right call.
What does this say about Jurgen? He’s certainly a man with a plan. He’s certainly said all kinds of stuff about earning it, competing, etc., but as Alexi Lalas said, it comes down to personal preference. And that preference seems to favor the young, and untested. The problem we have here, is it once again throws the coaching staff’s judgement into question. Is Jurgen trying to win now or is this part of his construction plan for the next cycle? Is this to make the World Cup more about him? Because as of right now, every match played is a referendum on the Landon cut.
So let’s have a look at the Klinsmann 23 and compare it to the final Beemsville 23 from earlier this month:
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