Thursday, May 22, 2014

Donovan

Today, Jurgen Klinsmann announced the official 23-man roster for the World Cup.

GOALKEEPERS- Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Nick Rimando

DEFENDERS- Geoff Cameron, Tim Chandler, Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, John Brooks, Fabian Johnson, DaMarcus Beasley, DeAndre Yedlin

MIDFIELDERS- Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones, Graham Zusi, Alejandro Bedoya, Brad Davis, Kyle Beckerman, Mix Diskerud, Julian Green

FORWARDS- Jozy Altidore, Aron Johannsson, Chris Wondolowski

Notice anything about that roster? Yep, Landon Donovan is not going to be with the team when they head to Brazil. America's all-time leading goalscorer for the U.S. Men's National Team will be watching the drama of the World Cup unfold from the stands just like the rest of us. An American soccer icon relegated to a cheerleader.

Having spent the last dozen+ years as the face of the men's team, Landon Donovan has been asked to step down and let the young guns take his spot. Klinsmann had indicated that nobody's spot was safe, but I never thought that Donovan would be one of the ones left off the team. I'm sure he thought he had one more World Cup in him and would go out on his own terms. I wonder now if Donovan will ever be on a National Team roster again. I hope that, regardless of how the team does at the World Cup, Klinsmann asks him, and Donovan agrees, to play in some post-Cup friendlies so that the American fans can give him the send-off that he deserves for his years of being on the team. The L.A. Galaxy fans better welcome him back with a rousing reception to let him know what he had meant to this team over the years.

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