U.S. Men’s National Team v. Ecuador, East Hartford, Connecticut, 10.10.14: Landon Donovan’s Last U.S. National Team Game

Barring a comeback, Landon Donovan has played his last game for the U.S. national team. I suspect most U.S. fans wish it hadn’t ended the way it did Friday night, with a friendly in a nondescript stadium in East Hartford, Connecticut, just a few months after Donovan had been cut from the 2014 World Cup team. Even if Donovan had scored the game winner, or scored at all, such a setting is not the stuff of storybooks.

When U.S. soccer announced in August that Donovan would make a final appearance for the U.S., he appeared to be in a no-win situation. If he played for Jurgen Klinsmann in a meaningless match after Klinsmann had cut him from the World Cup team—and after Klinsmann’s son had mocked Donovan on Twitter the day of the cuts—Donovan surely would lose face. If he declined the offer, he’d appear petty, like a child who picks up his ball and goes home after not getting his way.

After some initial reluctance, Donovan of course opted to play, which speaks well of him. In the days before the Ecuador game, he was candid about his relationship with Klinsmann (“Well, we don't have of a much a relationship after this summer, obviously”), but under the circumstances he was admirably restrained, in fact the opposite of the selfish brat many have painted him to be over the course of his career. When he was subbed off in the 42^nd minute on Friday, he shook hands with Klinsmann, and they shared a distant, fleeting hug. Donovan’s gesture, while obviously not brimming with affection, was far more than many of us would have granted Klinsmann had we been in Donovan’s place. ESPN announcer Taylor Twellman summed up the image well: “True professionals, shaking hands and moving on.”

Before he did move on from Klinsmann and the national team Friday night, Donovan looked as dangerous as anyone on the field. In the 4^th minute, he played an integral part in the buildup that led to the U.S.’s only goal, breaking down the U.S. left with the ball at his feet and lofting a pass across the face of goal to Jozy Altidore at the back post. Altidore settled the ball and sent a short back-pass to DeAndre Yedlin, who picked out Mix Diskerud near the penalty spot. Diskerud’s crisp near post finish capped an excellent team goal. Though Yedlin and Altidore got the assist, Diskerud made a beeline to Donovan and the two embraced. They were immediately joined by their delighted teammates.

One can only wonder what the celebrations would have been like had Donovan scored, which he nearly did on three occasions. Just minutes after the goal, Donovan snapped a header down into the turf but the shot was saved off the line. In the 38^th minute Altidore picked out Donovan at the top of the box and the latter dragged a shot wide far post. Donovan’s best opportunity, though, came in the 25^th minute, when Altidore anticipated his run with a nifty no-look back-heel pass. Under pressure, Donovan toe-poked a shot that looked to be going in but glanced off the inside of the far post. After the ball was eventually cleared, Donovan lay on the field, grabbing his head in dismay and disbelief as ESPN’s Ian Darke observed, “Well, maybe it’s just not going to be.”

Altidore did all he could to help Donovan get a goal, and in general the U.S. target forward had a strong game. Afterwards, he remarked, “I tried to set [Donovan] up a few times and do what he’s always done for me. He’s such a good player, you can still see that right away, and he has a smell for the game that other Americans don’t have. We’re going to miss that.” Donovan has assisted on 6 of Altidore’s 23 national team goals.

Regrettably, perhaps the most significant event in this game was an injury to young U.S. winger Joe Gyau, a powerful speedster who grew up in the D.C. area and now plays for Borussia Dortmund. Gyau played well in the first half of last month’s friendly against the Czech Republic. Against Ecuador, he didn’t get much of a chance to shine, grabbing at his knee during a dribbling run in the 13^th minute, and falling to the ground at midfield to call for a substitute a minute or two later. Gyau was later seen on the sideline on crutches, with an ice pack on his left knee. At the least, he will miss this Tuesday’s U.S. game against Honduras.

Yedlin and Diskerud turned in the strongest performances of the night for the U.S. In addition to his goal, Diskerud covered much ground and was notably effective applying defensive pressure, winning a number of challenges in the center of the field, as he did in the 34^th minute when he dispossessed an Ecuador player to start a U.S. buildup that ended with a Greg Garza shot.

Diskerud and Yedlin were two of only four U.S. players to go the full 90 minutes against Ecuador, and Yedlin was the only MLS player to do so. Yedlin’s club team, the Seattle Sounders, are likely not pleased about their starting right back playing an entire national-team friendly this late in the MLS season, as Seattle is in a fight for the best record in the league, which would give them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. To top off the pain of Yedlin playing the entire game, the Sounders were upset by the Vancouver Whitecaps while the U.S.-Ecuador match was unfolding.

Still, Sounders owners and management must be pleased with the quality of Yedlin’s performance on Friday. He was in my opinion the U.S. man of the match. For the first time while wearing a U.S. jersey, he played winger, not fullback. And his performance lays a solid foundation for the case that Yedlin—who can sometimes be a defensive liability—should play in the midfield rather than on the back line. Apart from a bad ball right to Ecuador’s keeper in the 2^nd minute, and getting beaten by Ecuador’s left back in the 77^th, Yedlin was excellent. He was confident and effective with the ball at his feet, and his passing was intelligent and accurate. He could have had at least two more assists than he did on the night, one chance coming on a great cross to Bobby Wood at the back post in the 66^th minute, and another in the 74^th minute on a similar ball to Altidore. Yedlin is just the kind of electric, smart, and technical young player the U.S. needs now that Donovan has retired.

I thought it might be fitting to end this post with a quote from former MLS MVP and Guatemala international Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz’s quote may never have been transcribed before, and occurred on a March 7, 2013 MLS Extratime Radio podcast, about five months after the U.S. had eliminated Guatemala from 2014 World Cup qualification. The U.S. had struggled somewhat in the semi-final round of CONCACAF qualification, and Donovan was in the middle of his hiatus from soccer, so his future with the U.S. team was uncertain. Ruiz’s comments show the respect Donovan commanded from one tough CONCACAF competitor, someone who (like Donovan, coincidentally) scored 57 international goals. Ruiz said: “Definitely it’s not the same like, a couple of years ago. It’s not the same. Landon is that piece in the national team, and nobody is going to play like he plays in the national team, you know. So, I hope Landon is healthy and can play with the national team. But it’s not the same. You know, the respect, like in Central American players we have for the United States in the past is not the same in this moment.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Mexico, Glendale, Arizona, 4.2.14: Jurgen Klinsmann’s Treatment of Landon Donovan

I will not add much to the hosannas already heaped on Michael Bradley for his performance last Tuesday against Mexico in a 2-2 draw. Bradley was in exceptional form in the first half of the game, which the U.S. dominated. When Bradley is on, he can play with all the brutal efficiency of a cyborg in a sci-fi flick—a hairless, expressionless, relentless, inexorable force. He took over the first half, scoring off an (atrociously defended) back-post run on a corner kick and bagging an assist via a flicked-on header into the box. In short, he fully justified the “Il Generale” nickname bestowed on him by fans during his season playing for Chievo in Italy’s Serie A.

For most U.S. fans and media, and for his current U.S. national team head coach, Bradley can do no wrong, and his occasional ineffectual stretches of play (like the bulk of his second-half performance against Mexico on Tuesday night) tend to go overlooked or unmentioned. This state of affairs will in time change, and Bradley himself is no doubt acutely aware of the vicissitudes of professional soccer. He is currently the gold standard of American soccer players, but he hardly rates on the international level, perhaps in part because he is an American. Some have argued that U.S. players abroad have to overcome negative stereotypes involving unrefined technique, creativity, and soccer IQ, though of course that’s debatable. After all, the U.S. is a growing soccer market, and soccer clubs are presumably motivated by expanding their consumer markets and by signing quality players at good prices, not by keeping American players down.

But for whatever reasons, Bradley was unable to break into the regular starting lineup at his former club, AS Roma, and he felt underappreciated by management. Bradley said of his recent move from Roma to MLS’s Toronto FC: “[A]t a certain point . . . you need a coach who sees something in you. Because otherwise it’s just a one-way street. You’re working and fighting and scrapping and clawing for any little opportunity. But if the coach doesn’t see it, it’s never going to be any real opportunity to play consistently. . . . I was done with that. I felt like I deserved more. The coach there didn’t.”

I suppose some might accuse Bradley of whining, but I think he was being honest and perceptive. (And no one with experience watching his evolution as a player would accuse him of being a whiner or lacking professional dedication.) His point is worth remembering: one coach, teacher, or boss may have faith in you, see your qualities and your promise, while another may never appreciate those aspects no matter how hard you fight. And the fact that Toronto is paying Bradley about four times more than Roma did says something about the subjectivity inherent in player evaluation.

It seems to me that Landon Donovan has not engendered much confidence in his current national team coach, and that Donovan might even take some solace from Bradley’s thoughts on leaving Roma. Klinsmann’s decision not to start Donovan against Mexico on Tuesday is I think of a piece with his treatment of Donovan during his tenure as national team coach, particularly since Donovan’s decision to take a hiatus from soccer from January through late March 2013. Klinsmann made it clear at that time that Donovan’s past accomplishments would not guarantee the player a spot on the U.S. national team when the hiatus ended. After Donovan’s return to MLS, Klinsmann said of his position on the U.S. depth chart, “I am not tossing out names, but there are players clearly ahead of Landon Donovan right now.”

The coach subsequently left Donovan off the U.S. roster for some important World Cup qualifying matches. And when the 2013 Gold Cup rolled around last summer, Klinsmann assembled what looked like a B-team roster, leaving off such MLS national team regulars as Graham Zusi, Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler, as they had played and proved themselves in recent World Cup qualifiers. Klinsmann did, however, call in Donovan, and he then pointedly made DaMarcus Beasley the Gold Cup team captain.

Far from sulking at his need to prove himself all over again, Donovan accepted his post-hiatus situation as self-imposed, and also accepted the challenge of winning back his coach’s respect. When he heard about the April interview in which Klinsmann indicated there were players ahead of him on the U.S. depth chart, Donovan responded, “I agree with him. . . . I’ve said from the beginning that I have to earn my way back and . . . I still have a long way to go.” Donovan then went on to play with enthusiasm and flair at the 2013 Gold Cup. His team won the final, and along the way he scored five goals, had seven assists, and was named the tournament’s best player.

That Gold Cup performance, though less than a year old, is now a distant memory. As Taylor Twellman noted during the ESPN broadcast of last week’s Mexico friendly, national team soccer is about “what have you done for me lately.” The consensus of Twellman and his ESPN colleagues before, during, and after the broadcast was that Donovan is no cinch to make the trip to Brazil this summer, and that if he does he’ll probably come off the bench.

In a halftime interview that seemed to confirm these sentiments, Klinsmann told a sideline reporter that he was going to bring on Donovan, Clarence Goodson, and young national team German-American newcomer Julian Green at about the 60-minute mark, “If,” Klinsmann stressed, “things go okay.” That “if” can be read as a jab at Donovan. Klinsmann implied he was only going to bring him on if the game was well in hand.

In the event, things did not go okay in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Mexico thoroughly dominated the U.S. starting 11 during that stretch and cut the lead in half. But Donovan (along with Goodson and Green) came on anyway, and his performance was lackluster. Whether the pedestrian play resulted from tendinitis in his knee as reported, age and declining skills, Klinsmann’s lack of confidence in him, or from some combination of those and other factors is impossible to say. But after the game, Klinsmann himself downplayed the effects of Donovan’s injury and emphasized instead Donovan’s poor performance in recent trainings; not starting Donovan “was a simple decision based on where he was the last couple days. . . . He told me also this morning that he had some issues with his left knee. But he didn’t train well. He had no tempo in his training sessions. He had no higher pace, higher rhythm. He didn’t take people on.”

Donovan is not one of Klinsmann’s “core guys,” as coaches of American football often put it. As Klinsmann made clear in a February interview, his core guys are Bradley, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Jermaine Jones. And no matter how inconsistently those last three individuals might play—and you could make strong, probably watertight arguments that each one of them has been less consistently effective for clubs and country than Donovan has been during the whole of this World Cup cycle, even accounting for the hiatus—it’s hard to imagine Klinsmann not starting any one of them against Mexico had each been available. It’s equally hard to imagine Klinsmann publicly denigrating any of them as he did Donovan in the wake of the Mexico game.

I mentioned professional dedication earlier. Some might argue that Donovan’s hiatus infuriated Klinsmann so much, that he regarded the layoff as such an egregious breach of professional etiquette that he has made it his mission to use Donovan as an example of the dire consequences of unprofessionalism. If true—and I think there’s more to Klinsmann’s treatment of Donovan than his reaction to the vacation—then I think Klinsmann has been shortsighted and uncharacteristically rigid. Off the top of my head I can think of two accomplished athletes—Michael Jordan and John Riggins—who stepped away from their respective sports for a lot longer than Donovan did, were welcomed back by their coaches, and subsequently rewarded those coaches with MVP performances in championship games. Even Vince Lombardi—supposedly the ultimate exemplar of meritocratic coaches—treated his best players differently.

Furthermore, we should not forget Klinsmann’s own kid-glove treatment of one of his core players—Jermaine Jones. Jones had a self-imposed two-month hiatus of his own in late 2011 and early 2012, courtesy of a Bundesliga suspension for stomping on an opponent. Jones has a reputation for erratic, hotheaded play, and the incident and subsequent penalty were not widely greeted with surprise. But rather than chastise Jones for continued unprofessionalism, or move players above Jones on the U.S. depth chart, or use Jones as an example to other players of how not to act, Klinsmann rushed to his core guy’s defense: “[Jones] did something where he got punished heavily, which we think was very harsh based on what he did. He apologized to everyone involved and [he’s] not getting even the opportunity to play friendly games with his club team.” Remarkably, Klinsmann not only called in the suspended Jones for the U.S. 2012 January camp, he rewarded him with a team captaincy for the U.S.’s January 21 friendly against Venezuela. If I’m not mistaken, for all of Donovan’s accomplishments in a U.S. shirt, Klinsmann has never once appointed him team captain.

Why go into all of this? Mostly to emphasize the point—made by Bradley after his move from Roma to Toronto—that soccer players, like other workers, are to an important extent at the mercy of their superiors. And they sometimes aren’t afforded the respect and rewards they, you, or I might feel are deserved under the circumstances. Other national team coaches would undoubtedly have treated Donovan differently over the past year or two, and based on his experience, recent form, and accomplishments (unparalleled in U.S. men’s soccer), many would have named Donovan as a core player, a player virtually guaranteed a spot on the 2014 World Cup finals roster. But Klinsmann seems intent on knocking Donovan off his perch and ushering in the post-Donovan U.S. soccer era sooner than many of us would wish.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Honduras, Arlington, Texas, 7.24.13

Landon Donovan continues building the case that he is the best ever U.S. soccer player. He scored twice and had an assist in the U.S.’s 3-1 Gold Cup semi-final victory over Honduras in Cowboys stadium. Through five 2013 Gold Cup matches, Donovan has seven assists and five goals. Those figures extend his U.S. goal and assist records to 56 apiece, remarkable numbers.

Given the perception among many that Donovan is a selfish brat, it’s worth reminding people of his talent and willingness to put goals on a platter for his teammates. I’ve noted the following fact at least twice before on this blog, but I’ll note it again: the second all-time U.S. assist man is Cobi Jones, who has 22. That’s less than 40% of Donovan’s current total, and it took Jones more games to achieve that number. And Jones is of course long retired, so he can’t add to it. The closest active players on the U.S. assist list are DaMarcus Beasley, with 13, and Clint Dempsey, with 12. In the hugely unlikely event that Beasley and Dempsey double their current respective totals before they retire, they’ll still have less than half of Donovan’s current total.

Donovan’s 56 international assists and 56 international goals speak to his high soccer IQ—to his knowledge of when to shoot and when to pass, when to dribble and when to play a one-touch pass, where and when to make runs, how to read the runs of his teammates and the likely actions of defenders, where and to whom to play passes, and much else. Basically, he knows what it takes to win soccer games. All of that has been on display in this Gold Cup, and much of it was there to see against Honduras.

The first U.S. goal against Honduras came in the 11^th minute, amidst complete U.S. domination of the run of play. With Clarence Goodson holding the ball on the U.S. side of the field, Donovan showed to the ball about 45 yards from the Honduras goal. Goodson wisely played it to him. Eddie Johnson, reading Donovan perfectly, feinted toward Goodson’s pass but let it run by him, then turned and ran to goal. Meanwhile, Donovan read Johnson’s mind and played a flawless one-time ball into space for him. Johnson took a couple of appropriately heavy touches and shot over the flatfooted Honduras keeper and high into the middle of the net.

Johnson looked strong in this game, as he did coming on for Chris Wondolowski in the quarterfinal against El Salvador. In that game, Johnson’s flicked-on header from a ball played from the back set up Donovan’s goal. Against Honduras, Johnson proved that flicked-on header against El Salvador was no fluke. He had two such passes in Texas. Both were to Alejandro Bedoya, one in the 27^th minute that ended in a Bedoya assist (and a Donovan goal), and one in the 50^th minute that led to a good shot by Bedoya.

Johnson played the full 90 minutes against Honduras, and given his performance I’d be surprised if Chris Wondolowski—let alone Alan Gordon or Will Bruin—sees the field in Sunday’s final against Panama. Then again, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has continued to baffle, delight, and succeed with his starting lineups in this tournament, and I wouldn’t rule anything out. I doubt I was the only U.S. fan to raise an eyebrow when he started Bedoya over Joe Corona against Honduras. Corona has played well lately, especially when linking up with Donovan. But Klinsmann’s decision to start Bedoya was prescient. Bedoya did lose his mark on Honduras’s only goal—a free kick from Marvin Chavez to Nery Media—but he assisted on both Donovan goals. I won’t describe those goals, since probably everyone but Donovan’s mother is now tired of reading about him. And I, too, would prefer to watch him play, so I’ve included highlights of the game below.

Before closing, let me quote the following, from the U.S. Soccer website: “Nick Rimando became the fifth U.S. goalkeeper in the modern era to post five victories during a calendar year, improving to 5-0-0 in 2013.” Those of us who follow MLS know just how good Rimando is. And it’s testimony to the play of guys like Tim Howard and Kasey Keller that the 34-year-old Rimando hasn’t seen much international action. That’s too bad, because not only is he an excellent keeper, he is, for me at least, one of those rare athletes whom you just have to like, even when you’re rooting against them and their teams. God knows a lot of athletes—and perhaps in particular a lot of goalkeepers—can seem like dicks from afar. For whatever reasons, though, Rimando just exudes the air of someone who is what I can only call a good guy. And it’s great for me (a New England Revolution fan) to watch him play for the national team and have the luxury of rooting for him wholeheartedly. As the above U.S. Soccer quote attests, he has not disappointed.

 

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Guatemala, San Diego, 7.5.13

 

Guatemala played a disciplined, effective, defensive-minded game for about thirty-five minutes last night against the U.S in this friendly in San Diego. The Guatemalans ceded possession but didn’t allow any chances and came close to scoring in the 8^th minute off a counterattack that left the U.S. backline looking disorganized. Around the 38^th minute, however, Landon Donovan moved from the midfield to a forward position, and the U.S. began to take hold of the game. In the 39^th minute, DaMarcus Beasley sent a cross in to Donovan at the six, and Donovan’s glancing one-time shot skipped just wide of the near post. A couple of minutes later, with Donovan and Joe Corona occupying the attention of three defenders in the box, Jose Torres found Herculez Gomez wide open at the back post, and the latter’s volley put the U.S. up 1-0.

The U.S. proceeded to overwhelm Guatemala. Halftime U.S. substitutes Mix Diskerud and Stuart Holden played a large part in changing the game, controlling the midfield and creating chance after chance for U.S. attackers. Brek Shea, another halftime sub, made what seemed like, and may actually have been, a dozen unimpeded dribbling runs down the left sideline. Shea looked a little uncertain at times, not surprising given his recent history of nagging injuries and lack of club play at Stoke City, and horribly mishit one cross in the 80^th minute. But otherwise he had a notably and unexpectedly good game, assisting on the U.S.’s final goal, in the 88^th minute, and just a minute later nearly scoring himself on one of those dribbling runs.

The big story of this Gold Cup tune-up friendly was, of course, Donovan’s return to the national team. As he almost always does in a U.S. jersey, Donovan acquitted himself well, scoring twice (his 50^th and 51^st international goals) and making a wonderful dribbling run through the midfield to set up a Chris Wondolowski goal (Wondolowski’s first for the national team). After Donovan scored his first of the night—off a penalty-kick—the NBC Sports cameras showed a nice shot of him and longtime U.S. teammate Beasley hugging in celebration. It’s remarkable how good Donovan and Beasley still are, and easy to forget that they were the only players on the U.S. 2002 World Cup finals roster that were born in the 1980s. I can’t imagine that the 2014 U.S. roster, which will be comprised mostly of players born in that decade, won’t benefit enormously from their inclusion. Beasley, by the way, captained the U.S. last night, and there’s no better choice to lead this Gold Cup group, except maybe Donovan himself.

The current U.S. roster is an intriguing mix of young and old players, though the backline last night—Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu, and Michael Parkhurst along with Beasley—are all over 30, with the exception of Parkhurst, who will be 30 in January. They played the entire match, a good idea given that it’s a new combination, though Klinsmann didn’t have many options. (Corey Ashe is injured and Edgar Castillo started in the midfield.) It was a mixed day for them, even given the fact that they were largely untested and emerged with a clean sheet. Goodson scored, but gave the ball away cheaply on a couple of occasions and easily could have been called for a foul in the box in the 61^st minute when he pulled down a Guatemala attacker. Onyewu got beaten in the box in the 17^th minute (fortunately, Parkhurst was there to clean up the mess), but he looked strong in the air. Parkhurst had a solid defensive outing, but didn’t generate much offense (not that he needed to, true). His fellow outside back Beasley had the most complete game of the bunch, routinely attacking down the U.S. left sideline.

Given how tough Guatemala played in the semi-final round of World Cup qualifiers, I was surprised by how out-classed they were by this U.S. roster, which is without A-teamers like Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Graham Zusi. Part of the U.S.’s success last night must go to coach Jurgen Klinsmann. I’ve sometimes wondered if Klinsmann’s treatment of Donovan is borderline disrespectful given the latter’s accomplishments for the U.S. national team. But Donovan’s spirited, effective play last night and his generally humble and enthusiastic comments about playing for this Gold Cup team lead me to believe that Klinsmann may be handling Donovan’s return from self-imposed exile perfectly.

And for those who, like me, were occasionally frustrated by the humdrum predictability of the rosters released by prior USMNT coaches Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, how can you not love a Gold Cup team that includes not only former youth phenoms Beasley and Donovan, but late bloomer Horatio Alger types Herculez Gomez and Chris Wondolowski, a record six players from Mexico’s Liga MX, young MLS strikers Will Bruin and Jack McInerney, and talented-but-injury-plagued potential-feel-good-story Stuart Holden?

Good will for the current side will of course evaporate if it struggles in the coming tournament. But if the team actually goes on to win the Gold Cup—not an implausible outcome given last night’s performance—Klinsmann will face difficult decisions when choosing the roster for the last round of World Cup qualifiers and, with luck, for the 2014 World Cup finals. And that prospect of a deep and diverse talent pool fiercely competing for slots is a strong inducement to get behind this unusual and promising 2013 U.S. Gold Cup team.

Thoughts on Graham Zusi and Landon Donovan after the U.S. Men’s National Team Win over Honduras in Salt Lake City, 6.18.13

Going into the June 2 friendly against Germany in Washington, D.C., Jozy Altidore hadn’t scored in eleven straight U.S. men’s national team appearances. He broke that streak with a stunning volley against Germany and proceeded to score critical goals in the three World Cup qualifiers that followed, most recently netting the only goal of the game in the U.S.’s win over Honduras in Salt Lake City. Altidore went from being the main story of the U.S. men’s national team to being the main story of the U.S. men’s national team, just for different reasons.

The media fixation on Altidore probably speaks more to the shallowness of the U.S.’s striker pool than anything else. But after three straight qualifying victories, U.S. fans can be excused for ignoring their team’s deficiencies. With six of the U.S.’s ten final-round CONCACAF qualifiers having been played, the Yanks are leading the hexagonal, two points ahead of Costa Rica and five ahead of Mexico, their closest pursuers. The final round is, in fact, shaping up to be easier for the U.S. than the semi-final round, in which three Group A teams (the U.S., Jamaica, and Guatemala) beat up on one team (Antigua and Barbuda) but couldn’t distance themselves from each other. Given that three of the six final-round CONCACAF teams will go to the World Cup, and a fourth will participate in a two-game play-in series against the Oceania champion, the U.S. will now likely have to average only about a point and a half a game to advance to Brazil next year.

So, the U.S. is in a good position in this final round, and its players and coaches should be commended. As for the players, Michael Bradley, DaMarcus Beasley, Graham Zusi, Eddie Johnson, Clint Dempsey, Fabian Johnson and Altidore have distinguished themselves in these qualifiers. As for the coach, Jurgen Klinsmann has shown a willingness to experiment, and his creative moves have paid off. His most notable decisions have involved the U.S. back line. He’s paired Matt Besler with Omar Gonzalez in the center and played natural midfielders Beasley and Brad Evans as outside backs. That unexpectedly appointed group has largely been responsible for the U.S. holding their opponents to a single goal in the last five qualifiers.

All of that said, the U.S. will need all the outfield quality it can get when it (presumably) goes to Brazil next summer. The recent friendly loss against Belgium was a reminder of the daunting skill and depth of highly ranked FIFA teams, which the U.S. can’t match. I like Brad Evans’s grit, smarts, and willingness to do whatever his coaches ask of him as much as the next guy, but how is he—a 28-year-old middling MLS performer playing out of position—going to do against world-class strikers? He was exposed a number of times against Panama and beaten more than once against Honduras, most notably in the 84^th minute when Roger Espinoza blew by him on a counter attack, only to hold the ball up (as if taking pity) and wait for his teammates.

Which brings me to the subject of Landon Donovan. I find it difficult to believe that some, including Jurgen Klinsmann, have doubts about whether he could help the current U.S. A-team. To take a representative example, check out this May 16 article in The Guardian, called “Landon Donovan: should USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann bring him back?” The writer (Elliot Turner) pointedly asks of Klinsmann’s decision about Donovan: “Should we care?” Turner goes on to mention that, while Donovan is the U.S.’s all-time leading scorer, Donovan’s fellow players might feel “aggrieved” at his decision to take an extended vacation last winter and spring, that Donovan is 31, that “you either love Donovan or you love to hate him,” and, finally, that Donovan is “not indispensible” to the U.S. national team. I suppose that last shot means that we shouldn’t care if Donovan gets the call for the next round of qualifiers.

What Elliot fails to mention, what almost every writer and commentator fails to mention when the subject of Donovan and his value to the current national team arises, are the chances Donovan creates for his teammates. One shining exception to this rule is Matthew Doyle, aka The Armchair Analyst, who last October wrote this about Donovan’s 2012 club-team play: “Donovan is insanely efficient. He creates just under three chances a game; only one other player in the league (Robbie Keane, which probably says something about their chemistry) creates as many as two. Guys who are having Best XI caliber seasons — Mauro Rosales, Felipe and Brad Davis come to mind — aren't within shouting distance of LD.”

Last season, Donovan was second in MLS with 14 assists, behind only Graham Zusi, who had 15 on the year but who averaged fewer assists per minute than Donovan. It is true that Donovan had just a single assist for the U.S. national team in 2012, but his 2013 MLS assist numbers prove that he still has the ability to create for his teammates. Watching him and Keane play off each other last year was MLS at its best. And as for all-time USMNT statistics, Donovan is not just alone on the assist mountaintop, he’s alone on the entire mountain. He has 48 assists 144 appearances. Cobi Jones is number two on the list with 22 assists in 164 appearances, and the great Claudio Reyna is number three, with 19 assists in 112 appearances.

If you’re still convinced Donovan can’t add significant value to the U.S. team, go take a look at the current USMNT roster and try to maintain that conviction. The roster includes Edgar Castillo, Maurice Edu, Joe Corona, Terrance Boyd, Brek Shea, Michael Parkhurst, and Danny Williams, along with six goalkeepers. Yes, Donovan is not directly be competing for some of those players’ positions, but (goalkeepers aside) does a player’s normal position really matter much to Klinsmann? Did anyone envision two months ago that DaMarcus Beasley and Brad Evans would start together as the U.S.’s outside backs in World Cup qualifiers? If you really want to get creative, and get your highest-quality players on the field, why not move Zusi, who can run box to box all day long, to right back in place of Evans and put Donovan on the right side of midfield? Then you’d have the U.S.’s top assist-makers working off each other down that right sideline, with the equally dangerous Beasley and Fabian Johnson on the left.

Donovan has been named to this summer’s Gold Cup preliminary roster, made up largely of USMNT B-team players, young hopefuls like Jack McInerney and Mix Diskerud and veterans like Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Oneywu attempting to get back onto the A-team. The roster has, however, a significant number of current A-teamers, including Beasley, Besler, Gonzalez, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson, and, most significantly, Zusi. I look forward to seeing how Klinsmann uses Donovan and Zusi together. I doubt if he’ll move Zusi to right back given the preliminary roster, but I for one would love to see him start a backline of Zusi, Beasley, Besler, and Gonzalez, with Donovan ahead of Zusi on the right. That back line, and that right side combination of Donovan and Zusi, could give the U.S. its best chance to advance deep into the World Cup finals tournament in Brazil next year.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Mexico, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, 8.15.12

Any impartial viewers watching last night’s friendly between the U.S. and Mexico probably changed the channel before the game’s conclusion. The match was sloppy and one-sided, with the home team dominating possession and chances on goal but unable to finish those chances, seemingly due to cosmic forces beyond the players’ control. The U.S. simply appeared destined to win this one against the run of play, rather as Chelsea seemed destined to beat Bayern Munich in this year’s Champions League final. It is true that U.S. players (not just cosmic forces) had a hand in thwarting Mexico’s attempted finishes. In particular, recent MLS standout (and even more recent Stoke City acquisition) Geoff Cameron had a mostly excellent game at center back. And stunningly consistently solid U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard was at times magnificent, particularly in the game’s closing minutes.

But again, the match abounded in miscues. To give some examples, Cameron sailed a free kick across the field and out of bounds when trying to play a simple pass back to Maurice Edu in the 65^th minute. In the first half, midfielder Kyle Beckerman played a similarly uncontested back pass over the end line for a Mexico corner kick; ESPN announcer Ian Dark proclaimed it “an awful piece of work by Beckerman in truth.” On the other side of the ball, Javier Hernandez eluded Cameron in the U.S. penalty box in the 76^th minute, received a perfect cross from teammate Elias Hernandez, but couldn’t put the close-range header on goal. Late in the game, Darke’s fellow commentator Taylor Twellman lamented, “How often have we seen that tonight? Just careless giveaways from both teams.”

So the game wasn’t pretty—and it was of course only a friendly—but it was in fact historic. It must be mentioned in any account of this friendly that it ended in the first U.S. victory in Mexico in 75 years and 25 tries. Coming into the match, the U.S. men’s national team’s record in Mexico was an epically poor 0-23-1. That sustained futility bears some consideration. If a fan or commentator wants to comment on one sports team’s total dominance over another, he or she might say, “If these teams played ten times, X would beat Y nine times.” Very few would think to say, “If X played Y 24 times, X would never lose.” It is, in short, mindboggling that it took the U.S. so long to get a single victory south of the border, especially given the fickle nature soccer, a game in which the stronger team so often fails to win.

And it should indeed be admitted that the U.S. was very fortunate to get the win last night. As a smiling Jurgen Klinsmann said afterward: “Eventually, you need a little bit of luck too and in some instances we were a little bit lucky tonight and we had Tim Howard in our goal.” As usual, Klinsmann was spot on. Very few keepers other than Howard could have saved Javier Hernandez’s final two shots on goal (one in the 85^th minute that was deflected and initially wrong-footed Howard, the other a close-range header in the 89^th) during Mexico’s late-game surge. Those saves in particular and the end of the match in general were truly exciting, and that’s rare in a friendly. The climax was reminiscent of the U.S.’s similarly historic 1-0 victory over Italy in February, in which the home crowd nervously urged their troops to avoid the ignominy of losing to the Yanks on home soil.

The Mexico victory was doubly remarkable since Howard was the only one of the U.S.’s “big four” players to make a significant impact on the game. Landon Donovan, who’s been in fine form lately with the L.A. Galaxy, didn’t see much of the ball in the first half (no U.S. player did) and was subbed at halftime, apparently due to hamstring tightness. The U.S.’s other two big-name players—Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley—were not even summoned from their European club teams to make this strange FIFA date, which occurs immediately before the start of the European leagues’ seasons. As a result, the game was a showcase for players from MLS and from Mexico’s top league, Liga MX. Of the twenty-three players on last night’s U.S. roster, six play in Liga MX and ten (eleven if you count Cameron) play in MLS. Obviously, they acquitted themselves well in the 1-0 victory.

One of those MLS players, Brek Shea, was a surprise call-up by Klinsmann. Shea has had a down year for FC Dallas. He was suspended in May for kicking a ball at an assistant referee, and he had a publicized sideline exchange with head coach Schellas Hyndman during a July match against San Jose. However, given Shea’s recent national team performances, and his youth, I thought he deserved the call.

In any event, Shea justified Klinsmann’s decision during his brief time on the field against Mexico. Shea didn’t come on until the 78^th minute, but he had a near-immediate impact. In the 80^th, he received a good pass from Beckerman on the left wing and immediately ran at Mexico defender Severo Meza, nutmegging Meza and driving hard to the end line. The run wasn’t especially pretty; one of Shea’s right-footed touches was too heavy and almost betrayed him. But he ultimately got control and played the ball back across the goal to Terrance Boyd. Boyd, with his back to the goal, back-heeled a no-look pass to another surprise call-up, U.S. defender Michael Orozco Fiscal, who side-footed a shot past the Mexico keeper and into the net. Orozco Fiscal is one of those Liga MX players I mentioned earlier, and he looked ecstatic after the goal, running to the corner flag and pointing to the stunned crowd.

While Donovan did not have a memorable match against Mexico, he made news nonetheless. A couple of days ago, Goal.com reported that Donovan is considering retiring after his Galaxy contract expires at the end of next season. Readers may recall that Donovan, in an interview prior to the Scotland friendly in May, seemed to question his desire to play soccer. I’m not sure if these two mildly controversial interviews—each of which mentioned retirement and occurred just prior to international friendlies—constitute a pattern, but one thing is clear. Klinsmann is building towards the 2014 World Cup finals, and he can’t be happy that one of his star players is suggesting there’s a realistic chance he may retire after 2013. I’m a big Donovan fan and think the U.S. is a much better and more attractive team with him on the field. Judging from Donovan’s age and recent form, he has many more years of good soccer left in him, should he want to play. Here’s to hoping that he isn’t sending hints to Klinsmann that say, in effect: You guys go ahead to Brazil without me in 2014. I’ll be working on my golf game.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Scotland in Jacksonville, FL, 5.26.12: Take that, Clint!

The U.S. men’s national soccer team opened up an industrial-sized can of whup-ass on Scotland tonight, and Landon Donovan wielded the pressed-metal serving spoon. Donovan demonstrated his quality time and again in this game, scoring a hat trick, assisting on another goal, helping set up a fifth with a hockey assist, and for good measure hitting the far post on a skillful run and left-footed shot. His teammates Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley each scored a goal (the latter off a magnificent strike from distance) and had a hand in the others, but their stellar performances were but footnotes to Donovan’s game.

That game is particularly notable, coming as it did just a few days after an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, in which Donovan talked in general terms about the subject of fading athletic desire and effectiveness. The interview included the following quote from Donovan: “I think all players reach a point in their career where it's natural to lose some of that hunger, that desire, to sort of break out or be a star. My mindset now is I want to be successful, and I realize now that as I'm getting older I'm not going to be the guy who's scoring goals every game or making a great impact all the time.” He went out against Scotland and proved to others and to himself that he needn’t yet put himself into the category of David Robinson during his final years with the Spurs or Bill Walton with the Celtics.

Donovan also proved to Clint Dempsey that he (Donovan) is not yet ready to be put out to pasture. Dempsey, who some feel may have already surpassed Donovan as the U.S.’s greatest outfield player, watched from the stands tonight due to a groin injury. Given Dempsey’s unslaked, naked desire to be the best, I wonder if he viewed Donovan’s performance with some mixed feelings. Probably not, as the two seem to genuinely admire each other, and comparisons between them are probably just as meaningless as they are inevitable. But for the moment, let’s compare some international numbers. Donovan is the all-time leader in U.S. men’s national team goals, his three tonight giving him 49 in 139 appearances (or a goal every 2.8 games). Dempsey is fourth on the list with 25 goals in 83 appearances (or a goal every 3.3 games). Donovan is also the all-time leading U.S. assist leader with 48. No other U.S. international is even close; Cobi Jones is second with 22 assists, and Dempsey, at 10 assists, is tied for eleventh with four other players.

So those who take Donovan’s side in the Donovan v. Dempsey debate can feel some measure of satisfaction tonight. Those who are a little weary of that debate, or non-debate, are probably the mentally healthier lot, and I’d like to think I’m among them. But it would probably be naïve to think that Donovan and Dempsey aren’t aware of the legacies they’re building and of how posterity will view them viz. each other. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they have a desire to outstrip the other player while also admiring and liking him. This is what is commonly called healthy competition, which can be seen, of course, in sports, but also in business and the arts and no doubt in other areas of life.

Whenever I think of the good effects of such competition, I remember the 1980s band The Minutemen, whose album “Double Nickels on the Dime” was created in part as a response to Hüsker Dü’s album “Zen Arcade.” (The two bands liked and admired each other but were very different.) In my opinion, “Double Nickels” is a much better album than “Zen Arcade,” but then again it wouldn’t have gotten made without the impetus provided by “Zen Arcade.” Proof of this can be found in the liner notes of “Double Nickels,” where, in small letters written vertically, is the following rather flattering bit of trash talk: “take that, hüskers!”

Toronto FC at LA Galaxy, 3.14.12

Landon Donovan came to play tonight. Unfortunately, few of his Galaxy teammates joined him. L.A. was mostly ineffective in their home loss to Toronto FC, getting knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League in the quarterfinal stage, surely a bitter disappointment to a club whose goal was to win the entire tournament. And despite a lineup that includes talent such as Donovan, Edson Buddle, Robbie Keane, David Beckham and Juninho, they deserved to lose. L.A. were disorganized on defense and gassed after the 80^th minute. They routinely sailed shots over the bar and equally routinely carelessly gave the ball away in the final minutes when they were, or should have been, threatening.

Toronto’s game plan consisted of physical play, trapping, and countering. (Surprisingly enough, this game had more physical play and palpable ill will than the earlier CCL game in Mexico involving the Seattle Sounders and Santos Laguna.) The Reds’ defense was tough and organized. L.A.’s only goal was in fact a Toronto own-goal off a Donovan cross sent in the direction of Keane. Toronto’s speedy and small Joao Plata—a mere 135 pounds—looked dangerous on the left wing, occasionally switching to the right. But Toronto’s real man of the match was Jamaican Ryan Johnson. Johnson scored one goal and assisted on another. On the assist, he drove towards the end line and sent in a perfect cross past sliding rookie L.A. defender Tommy Meyer. Nick Soolsma was the beneficiary, easily scoring what would be the game-winner.

Johnson came very close to scoring again, in the 54^th minute, when he was given acres of space by the Galaxy defense, but his powerful strike was just wide near post. The Reds had another great chance fifteen minutes later, courtesy of another L.A. defensive lapse. When that shot slid inches wide you could sense it wasn’t L.A.’s night.

Keane had a rather interesting night of near misses, though I’m sure he wouldn’t put it that way himself. He frequently dropped deep into the midfield and in the first half sent two good balls over the top of Toronto’s defense, both to Mike Magee. Magee’s shot on the first lob was stopped at close range by Toronto keeper Milos Kocic. L.A. got robbed on Keane’s second pass. Magee again slipped behind the Toronto defense, and this time his shot found the back of the net. But Magee was very dubiously called offside and the goal was disallowed. Keane had a great chance to score himself late in the second half when he was set up by a Donovan through ball, but his attempted chip over Kocic wasn’t quite high enough, and it was batted over the end line.

Donovan deserves praise in defeat. He’s in better form and clearly healthier than he was at the end of last season. And despite Johnson’s stellar performance for Toronto, Donovan was the most outstanding player on the field tonight. It’s a shame his performance was wasted. He tracked back on defense, held the ball up on occasion, and in general exhibited the kind of quality on the ball and when passing that most MLS players simply can’t begin to match. When he created the only goal of the night for his team, Donovan blew by the Toronto defender as if the defender were wearing snowshoes. Just a few minutes later Donovan nearly set up another goal, taking down a long Beckham pass over the shoulder with a remarkable touch and sliding a pass to an overlapping Sean Franklin. Franklin’s cross found Magee, but Magee couldn’t keep the header down. Donovan also exhibited class in defeat, graciously shaking hands with Toronto players after the final whistle when he must have been seething.

Revolution at Los Angeles Galaxy, 3.20.11

 There aren’t many U.S.-born-and-bred soccer players in the history of the sport that have moved people to say, “I’ve got to see that guy play live and in person, and I’ll pay for the privilege.” You could make a solid case that there has only ever been one: Landon Donovan.

Donovan may be our best-ever player, but he may also be our most widely despised, judging by how Mexican fans react to him when our national teams meet and by how European fans gloated over his underwhelming professional efforts in Germany. (And, to go forward in time a bit from this particular March game, judging by Red Bulls’ striker Luke Rodgers's profanity-spiked assessment of Donovan after a match in May.) A friend of mine who used to play soccer professionally in South Africa summed up what I take to be the prevailing view of Donovan during most of his career so far. After seeing the Galaxy play the Revolution in Foxboro a couple of years ago, my friend observed in his precise diction, “Oh, Landon Donovan is so arrogant. But he is such a strong player. The best on the field.”

I used to feel a little cold towards Donovan myself. He’s the type of guy who sometimes barks at his teammates, and he has the rigid posture and near-perpetual scowl of one of nature’s snobs. However, like Everton fans who sometimes chanted U-S-A! during his recent successful stint with that club in the English Premier League, I now not only appreciate Donovan, I really like him. He’s basically a well-prepared pro who tries his tail off, and what’s not to like about that? When you look at him that way, some of his perceived arrogance begins to look more like dignity mixed with a strong urge to win. And for those Mexican fans who love to hate him, at least he gives Spanish-language-TV interviews in fluent Spanish. I’ve also heard he can speak German. Not many of us dumb Americans can do that.

Donovan didn’t have a great game in the Revs’ opener in LA, but he had a good enough one that those who shelled out specifically to see him were not disappointed. He made some characteristic attacking runs out of the midfield punctuated by good passes (one of which was horribly, comically flubbed by the Galaxy’s Chad Barrett), made a couple of steals in the box in the second half, and twice headed shots on goal that might plausibly have gone in.

His team probably should have prevailed. The Galaxy had three goals called back, one of them on a questionable call on a play involving Revs’ keeper Matt Reis bumbling a cross that Juninho promptly collected and put into the net. The impressive Brazilian later scored for real on a beautiful shot from the edge of the box. It was the kind of blast that has the player landing on his shooting foot, the ball exploding off his laces without much spin and moving erratically from side to side and up and down as it screeches forward. Reis had zero chance. The Revs were lucky to get the final 1-1 result and go home with their point.

Shalrie Joseph had a strong game for the Revolution. He’s the engine of the team, winning balls in midfield and distributing, often out wide to the wings. He scored early on a header off a cross from Marko Perovic (who later went down with an injury), and he almost scored again in the second half with a shot that glanced off the right post. Who else? Franco Coria, the Revs’ imposing new center back from Argentina, had a strong game, particularly in the air. He must have won at least a dozen headers, many of them clearances in the box. Another tall guy, the lanky rookie midfielder Stephen McCarthy, got his first start and looked promising. He has a surprisingly soft first touch for someone who would probably look more at home on a basketball court.

The game was otherwise notable for its hard but clean play—the ref gave zero cards—and for the rain, which poured down like a monsoon the entire match. At first, the ball was skipping off the turf like a stone off a pond’s surface, but by the end of the game the ball was waterlogged and the field sodden and slow. In other words, the rain at first made the game faster, then at some point much slower, yet another of life’s examples proving that there can be too much of a good thing.

Speaking of which, the other day I was watching a Premier League match (I can’t bring myself to call it “the Premiership”—could anything sound more pretentious to American ears?), and the announcer said something like: Of course, they wet the pitch these days before matches to make the game faster. That “of course” leads me to believe that most fans are already aware of this fact, but it was news to me.