Landon Donovan’s Career Will Forever Be Pockmarked by 2014 World Cup Snub

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: August 27, 2014

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On Tuesday, U.S. soccer announced that Landon Donovan would be given a final send-off match with the United States men's national team when the team takes on Ecuador on October 10 in East Hartford, Connecticut.

In his international career, Donovan set records for the most goals (57) and most assists (58) in the history of the U.S. men's national team. He also gave the team, and its fans, some of their most iconic moments and most impressive victories.

Domestically, Donovan carried the banner of American soccer for over a decade at a time when the sport rarely pierced the American Zeitgeist.

For soccer fans who lived through the dark ages of American soccer, Donovan is and forever will be a hero.

At a time when the U.S. men's national team was an utter joke on the international stage, Donovan was the one player who could give the U.S. a fighting chance in games and the one player who gave U.S. fans hope for the future.

For younger fans, who didn't live through this period and are accustomed to a new era when the English Premier League can be readily found on television, U.S. games can be easily watched in bars or at public watch parties and supporters groups like the American Outlaws can be found nearly everywhere.

The younger fans will never truly understand what Donovan means to the older generation of fans.

The farewell match also seems sure to create some awkward moments between Donovan and U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who earlier this year decided not to take the U.S. legend to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

When that decision was made, younger fans tended to defend, or at least understand Klinsmann's decision not to bring Donovan to the World Cup. But for another segment of fans, typically older, the Donovan snub will forever be an unforgivable decision.

Younger fans seemed more willing to accept Klinsmann's ridiculous assertion that he saw Donovan so...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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