CARSON, Calif. — Landon Donovan thought he had earned a prominent role on the U.S. World Cup team right up until the moment he was cut from the roster by coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Donovan was still stunned and confused by Klinsmann’s decision when he went back to work with the LA Galaxy on Saturday.
“I’m disappointed. I’m sad,” Donovan said Saturday after the Galaxy’s practice. “I’m human, and I wanted to go. I really wanted to go. I’m at peace with it. I respect the decision. I just feel in my heart that I deserve to be there, and that’s the pill that’s hardest to swallow.”
The decision surprised Donovan, who believed a strong performance in training camp had secured his spot on the 23-man roster.
But Donovan declined to speculate on additional possible factors in the decision: his recent soccer sabbatical, the coach’s decision to evaluate a versatile player solely as a forward, or the impact of the Americans’ difficult group draw on their long-term planning.
“I think if I’m being judged solely on what happens in camp, then I absolutely deserved to be going to Brazil,” Donovan said. “I firmly believe that not only should I be going, but I feel like I really deserved it, and not from anything that I did in the past, but from what I’ve done in the last week and a half.”
Donovan gave little insight into whatever reasons Klinsmann shared with him at the Bay Area training camp. Klinsmann provided only murky details about his decision Friday, saying other players were “a little step ahead of Landon in certain areas.”
“I don’t agree with that assessment,” Donovan said. “I think I was at least as good as everybody else in camp. … I think I was one of the better players, so that’s why it stings a little. If I had gone in and didn’t feel like I deserved it, I could live with that. But that’s not the case here.”
Donovan said he would gladly return to the U.S. team from the standby list if an injury created a spot on the roster, and he wouldn’t rule out playing for the U.S. team in the future. He urged fans to support Klinsmann’s current squad because “I don’t want there to be a negative tint to any of this.”
“I’ve always loved representing this country, so I can’t imagine that if I’m given another opportunity that I would say no,” Donovan added. “But at this point, I’m just trying to deal with the disappointment.”
Read an analysis of the U.S. roster for the 2014 World Cup>>
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