Former U.S. men’s national team player Landon Donovan recently hit out at the number of absentees from the current squad this summer and current midfielder Weston McKennie has responded to those comments.
McKennie, who is currently preparing with his club Juventus for the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup, is one of several players missing from Mauricio Pochettino’s June squad. In addition to club teammate Tim Weah and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna, McKennie will have to wait until the September international window to represent the USMNT again this year.
Donovan’s comments came during Fox’s postgame coverage of Sunday’s UEFA Nations League Final between Portugal and Spain, a match that Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal won 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 scoreline through 120 minutes. The 40-year-old Ronaldo scored in the match before leaving in regulation due to an injury, watching his teammates get the job done in penalty kicks.
USMNT star Christian Pulisic received plenty of criticism after being left off of the roster following a 50-appearance season for Italian club AC Milan, which led to U.S. Soccer agreeing to rest him for the summer. While both Pulisic and McKennie won’t be with the USMNT for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, McKennie hit back at Donovan in regard to his overall commitment to the program.
“Obviously, none of us take for granted playing for the national team. None of us want to lose games,” McKennie said in an interview with USA Today on Monday. “All of us want to compete. And for me, it’s a little bit, I won’t say sad, but as a former national team player, I think as a national team player pool, previous, present, I think it’s more about trying to build or even say something like that to a person directly rather than putting it out there.
“That’s just my opinion because we’ve all been through those moments, even when comments about us losing the Nations League were made by many players from before, but they’ve had the same thing on a bigger stage with not qualifying for the World Cup,” he added.
McKennie and Weah will open Club World Cup play on June 18 against Al Ain in Washington, D.C. while the USMNT opens Gold Cup play three days earlier against Trinidad & Tobago.
clear as mud, that had so many circumlocutions it might be one of those circle mazes if you diagrammed the sentence.
it felt to me like he was trying to lecture the “pool” about playing hard and fighting for their shirt and their position — which SHOULD be just as valid to his own standing. the regulars take their status for granted and give or take the odd partying suspension are fairly immune from competition.
what needs to happen is the old keller vs. friedel approach. one might be favored for a tournament, but they basically alternated games, there was pressure to outdo the other when it was their turn, and so they played well.
i dunno, it’s odd, the snob big club sales pitch is how hard you have to fight to even get on the field. this passion for roster competition then disappears in terms of our roster. nothing you suggest is ever possibly good enough. despite the status quo itself being disappointing, which should be a contradiction. no, when we talk “competing,” it’s the regulars vs. the opponent.
big picture part of where you get performance is internal — players with their own standards. but part is process. set up a process where we compete for US slots, we reward performance, we don’t let you get comfortable, and if you can’t be bothered working hard you evaporate.
in short, quit yapping, “do something.” you want competition you don’t ask for one, you make one. you don’t like training or game effort levels, you put folks on an ice floe. the basic problem is the regulars can blow a bunch of games and nothing happens.
I agree the yapping needs to stop. Show it. And their parents need to stop yapping on social media. These are grown men, not little kids.
but part of it is “machine.” there is a machine that has historically helped deliver work ethic and stuck-in — not just individual gumption. teams were more based around sound tactics that harped on team defense. we were in less of a hurry to annoint particular players as the regular starter. we rotated the team more and were more open to new players coming in. and if you didn’t play well or goofed off, you disappeared for a year or more.
the machine is gone. we hurry to annoint anyone who has a single good game. we hav all but picked the lineup. we ignore the lineup’s results, which would only cloud our paper plans. we sometimes do callups with no one new — for a freaking friendly window.
you are then relying very hard on the players to self-motivate. the intensity of the A team suggests they feel entitled and are going through the motions.
there needs to be more thought about the “machine,” the mechanism under the hood. this is being run on a lot of dumb, snooty ideas that don’t actually work on the field. the tactics are dumb. the selections are off. the regulars seem entitled. the results suck. and yet nothing adjusts to that feedback. maybe a couple subs get dropped or starters get hurt of ask off.
they have about a year to fix it and i doubt they have the honesty with self of say, klinsi, to admit, you know, this is not working, within this pool, this scheme is what i think can work. these are the guys in the pool to do it. we wouldn’t admit we are wrong, and we’re trying very hard to shoehorn a particular set of regular people on the field regardless how the games end.
U18″s win Friendship Cup! Beat Portugal on PK’s.
I wonder what McKinnie thought of Juventus teammate’s performance in the Turkey. Rising star Yildiz couldn’t beat Freeman.
I definitely don’t want to hear anything from the current players about what former players think, stfu and show us you deserve to be called up with your play on the field. Mark Pulisic need not say anything either, let CP talk for himself, and see this is the problem the Reyna family has, not letting their kids grow up. Finally, how dare McKennie mention the 2018 team not qualifying for the WC when these clowns couldn’t get out of the group, the group ya, at Copa America
The parents of this gen are ridiculous – Pulisic, McKennie and Reynas…take a seat, stay of the socials.
Ronnie
??
Failing at Couva was a quantum level worse than the Copa failure.
If nothing else it gave you 6 years Gregg..
Are you kidding me?
I never said it wasn’t a failure, of course it was, but it doesn’t diminish my point that “his” team couldn’t get out of the group of a Copa America, a tourney many believe to be right behind the WC in terms of competitiveness, on home soil! My point is don’t mention other editions of the USMNT not doing something, when you were a part of a team that got embarrassed too
Best way to always shut up any kind of negative talk is to show up and play to the best of your ability and make sure you put your heat into every game. Win or lose. Fans, pundits, columnists, former players can tell when you dont do that.
Thats why I wasnt upset about the Turkey loss. They played hard and fought to get in good positions to score more goals.
The team has talented players. now match that talent with heart and you have a fanbase you can connect with. Show us you want to win that you will push beyond that 100 percent you think your are giving.. Don’t just say it. Actions speak louder than words.
Unless you are a former USMNT player, I don’t believe we as fans have any idea how hard they are really trying or working just by looking at them.
And I don’t trust former players because a lot of them strike me as envious.
In the Turkie game they took on a better team and did enough to tie or beat them.
That’s what I look at.
Oh I can tell. I played for many years. Turkey wasn’t better. Former players definitely can tell. What is there to be envious about? This current crop of players haven’t achieved anything past generations achieved. In fact the 2002 team is still the bar.
What would the former players be envious of, this group can’t touch previous generations of the USMNT, period. What they’re frustrates about is that this edition of the USMNT acts like they don’t care and it shows on the field, and it makes them.look bad because they have to answer for WTF os going on with the program. And, if you don’t think that they can see that as former players then think again.
Sure you can tell.
“Envious”?
How about 2.5 million per season?
This generation is softer mentally for sure. Objectively, after 2002, everything became easier for USMNT players: MLS was around, players had a path to careers, there was real money and facilities being built. All these guys like McKinnie and Pulisic are really good players but I don’t agree with McKinne or Pulsic’s father’s cheap shot at a mental health issue, though I think all the men’s team players give lip service to “fighting” these days. They also just aren’t that great. Good to get some new options in camp. I’m over this generation of underperforming babies.