Landon Donovan probably never had a bigger slap in the face than being cut from the USMNT for this year’s World Cup. Donovan was the US’s all time leading scorer before US coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, decided that Donovan has passed his peak and wouldn’t be much of a contributor in 2014.
“I’ll be completely honest, watching them play Azerbaijan, inside, part of me was thinking, I hope the game doesn’t go very well today,” Donovan told the Los Angeles Times. “In my heart of hearts, I thought, if we get a 1-0 win and the team doesn’t perform well, that would feel good.”
“I was sad, angry, upset, disappointed, some low days, not fun days,” Donovan said. “As athletes, we all have egos, we all think we can help, and when you’re not given that chance, it’s hard to watch.”
“Then the next day I woke up and said to myself, that’s a really crappy way to feel,” Donovan said. “That’s a bad way to live your life, it doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help the team, it doesn’t help the energy that the team needs.”
“I love playing for that team, I love playing for this country, I’m not going to turn my back on them all of a sudden,” Donovan said.
It definitely takes a lot of guts for Donovan to admit that he was rooting against his former teammates and his own country. There is no doubt that many of us would feel the same bitterness that he did, but being able to get over the hate hurdle was even bigger of Donovan.
[h/t NESN]
