By SBI SOCCER
Throughout his tenure as U.S. Men’s National Team head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann has called for his players to be accountable. Now, one of his most notable former players is asking the head coach to do the same.
In the aftermath of the USMNT’s Gold Cup struggles, Landon Donovan says that he believes Klinsmann’s status as head coach should be called into question should the U.S. lose to Mexico in the upcoming CONCACAF Cup. Donovan’s comments come in the aftermath of a fourth-place finish in this past summer’s Gold Cup, as the U.S. sputtered out against underdogs Jamaica in the semifinals.
“Around the world, if a player plays poorly and a player has a bad string of results they get dropped from the team,” Donovan told ESPN FC. “Jurgen said many times he wants our players to feel pressure — so if they lose a game they can’t go to the grocery store the next day. If they lose a game they are getting hammered in the press. Well, the same holds true for the coach and so we had a very poor summer with bad results in the Gold Cup.
“The last game against Brazil was probably the worst game I’ve seen them play under Jurgen. The reality is that now, anywhere else in the world, if this coach had those results, and they lose this game against Mexico, they’d be fired.
“I think if Jurgen wants to hold all the players to that standard, then he has to be held to that standard too.”
The former U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder has not always enjoyed an ideal relationship with Klinsmann, dating back to his days with Bayern Munich. Most famously, Donovan was left off the 2014 World Cup roster before making one final USMNT appearance last October.
What do you think of Donovan’s comments? Agree or disagree?
Share your thoughts below.
Whatever you think of Klinsmann, Landon’s logic is absolutely !diotic.
You can’t compare being a coach to being a player. The players have to perform every game because there are DOZENS OF THEM BEING SELECTED FOR 23 SPOTS. There is only one manager and if you were to fire the manager every time he has a bad game or two, the team would be an absolute disaster. A manager needs at least months, if not years, to build a team (especially a national team), players are not allowed more than a couple games to find their form.
well your logic seems to be flawed too because what you failed to mention or neglected to mention is managers also get paid and should be scrutinized for putting the wrong players on the field or the right players in the wrong positions on the field. JK has gotten 2 tournament rosters wrong in my opinion and the team has suffered because of it.
In your opinion. Every single person has their own opinion regarding lineups, and whoever the coach is, his well differ from 99% of them. That’s just math.
A coach is evaluated only on results and how the team plays. The lineup selections are his calls to make. They only substantiate criticism if the team is playing poorly AND there are a number of players that EVERYONE agree needs to be left out and a number of players that EVERYONE agrees needs to be called up. No players fit those categories. The closest we have is Wondo, the best American MLS goal-scoring striker over the past several years, and maybe Alvarado…but even then, a lot of people still prefer him to Omar “three mistakes a game” Gonzalez.
The team has hit a poor patch of form but after how good we were last cycle, it is not grounds to fire the manager yet. We’re not Mexico and they are not a model to follow.
Hey, people, even if USA hired Bielsa, Klopp, Ferguson, Van Gall or any other European coach, do you think they would have gotten us to the WC and won it? If you say “yes”, you must be smoking those Colorado cigarretts. A great coach with tactics and being a player-coach, might get you there but winning it, you need superior players. Tell me what superior players do we have? Wondo? Gonzalez? Altidore? etc. Not until you develop great technical and gifted players can you expect to win a WC. A coach is just the coordinator. The players win the WC. So, all of you harp on Klinsmann and his coaching, let the man do his job. If he flounders more, then I’m sure he’ll be fired. And, a petty immature retired player, sprouting sour grapes is not worth the time of day even if he WAS our best player to be endowing us with his “fire him” rant. And, no, I am not from Mexico. I’m an American.
LD and JK are a soccer website’s dream pairing. Just stir and watch the clicks break the meter.
These type of spats never happen here. Finally our press and fans expect more from the Nats as do other nations. I dont care just hold everyone to account and let the pressure build. Sure it’s sensational but honestly its good exposure and shows we care about our national team. When Harkes was booted from the 98 wc squad it barely registered a ripple in the media.
From what I read: the US National team used to be made up of the players that could afford olympic development, while the others were left out. The big change seems to be the professional academies where more talent can be developed. Yes, I do think Klinsmann makes too much money, but one man’s salary is weighing down the entire system?
Here in Korea, like some other Asian countries, kids are professionals starting in elementary school. They spend hours and hours every day practicing at their school. I wouldn’t want that for US kids. So, I know there has needed to be a more grassroots approach, but I don’t know what that is.
Inkorea
You are correct although that is a really broad generation that you named.
Where we are sorely missing the boat is only investing money in developing a small pool of players.
It leaves little room for error.
When you have a pool of 1,500 players being developed by the best coaches that we have access to, only then will we start to scratch the surface of being a true soccer nation.
This is why we need a competent technical director and leaders who allow this vision.
One other thing – teams have a golden generation when many of the players are outstanding. Ours was Beasley, Donovan, Dempsey, Gooch, Obrien, Holden, etc. The next golden generation will be players who are around 20 years old now.
Klinsmann got the US out of the nastiest group of death this past world cup. He is improving our team with international players, making everything more competitive – sorry, Donovan. Teams in Concacaf are more competitive because of MLS. Concacaf is corrupt. People that want Klinsmann fired are willfully ignoring all of these things.
The problem still is a lack of vision for player development coming from the top.
JK is right near the top and did nothing to help this vision.
If we had a vision for player development it still would take our full national team a long time (an estimated guess is 10 years) to see the true benefits of such a program.
To pay JK over 50% of the total salary of full time US National team coaches is naive and a horrible strategic plan. It leaves us with the ability to pay less than 20 full time coaches on the men’s side. Germany has over 1,000 full time coaches.
JK is the technical director. A plan for player development plan is his responsibility. It was an impractical plan from the start. I work in this area everyday and I cannot tell you how far away we are from becoming a nation that truly develops players.
What is my point? The senior national team and Mexico result is not as important as having a vision. Without such a vision we will continue to look to scratch out wins with smoke and mirrors but never reach our full potential.
That is such a perfect picture for this article.
LD hates JK. Yawn.. I wouldn’t be surprised if LD is secretly hoping the USMNT loses; just like he confessed during the WC…
The Butt HurtNess is real.
Donovan should be tarred and feathered for daring to discredit JK. He is going to take us further than donovan