EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – Jurgen Klinsmann may vacillate between formations. He may raise eyebrows with his roster choices. But Klinsmann’s nothing if not consistent when it comes to his evaluation of Landon Donovan’s illustrious career.
As unprecedented as Donovan’s accomplishments are with club and country, individual records and collective championships collected at a pace never before seen in American soccer, Klinsmann always wanted more.
And with Donovan poised to bid farewell to US national team fans against Ecuador at Rentschler Field on Friday night (7 pm ET; ESPN, UniMas) – the last hurrah in a international career that saw the 32-year-old rack up 156 caps and all-time marks of 57 goals and 58 assists – Klinsmann’s certainly not afraid to say so.
“As a coach, you always want to see a player drive for his 100 percent,” he said. “I’m looking at Landon always that I wish, in a certain way, he could have done a bit more here and a bit more there. But he had a tremendous career and he deserves that farewell tomorrow night and all the compliments on your end as well.”
Donovan won’t be short on compliments come Friday night, with somewhere upward of 33,000 fans packed in to honor an icon just months from lacing up his boots for the last time. He’ll be honored before the match. He’ll wear the armband. He’ll play the first half hour before coming off to what will undoubtedly be a standing ovation.
For all intents and purposes, it’ll be Donovan’s night. And deservedly so.
And even though Klinsmann thinks he should have stuck it out at Bayern Munich a bit longer or tested himself outside MLS for an extended period, there’s no denying that Donovan has set the USMNT and MLS bar for, in all likelihood, decades to come.
“Speaking about Landon, you talk about an absolutely amazing career that he represents,” Klinsmann said. “Coming into this game – his farewell moment, this decision to leave the game after this season – you want to look at these 13 or 15 years that he played on a very high level, breaking records throughout the system here and coming through the youth system of US Soccer, the residence program.
“He represents so many elements of soccer in the United States. He has been the poster boy of the game, for MLS certainly, for a long stretch of time. He raised the awareness of the game to new dimensions before a David Beckham came into the league or other big names came into the league. He deserves all the admiration and recognition for this amazing career.”
Of course, part of Donovan’s legacy – and Klinsmann’s, for that matter – will be tied to the decision that kept him at home this summer, commenting on the World Cup for ESPN instead of playing in his fourth straight tournament in Brazil.
Given his form for the Galaxy since that snub – 10 goals and 17 assists in 21 appearances after collecting just two assists prior – Klinsmann was asked on Thursday whether this Donovan would have been a shoo-in for that roster, a hypothetical that didn’t particularly interest the German.
“No, because you always make a decision based on what you see in that specific moment in time,” he said. “At that moment in May, the picture for us was very clear, and we were 100 percent behind the decision that we made.”
And what of his son’s regrettable tweet, which mocked Donovan’s exclusion, and the claim that no contact was made in the wake of the incident?
“My son apologized to [Landon] right after the incident in May, so it’s all good,” Klinsmann said.
Whether it’s “all good” between the two men remains a point of contention.
What’s not up for debate, though, is Klinsmann’s ever-present desire to see his charges – and Donovan, in particular – eschew their comfort zone for the next challenge on a ladder that he has said culminates with the UEFA Champions League.
For much of his career, Donovan was unapologetic about his insistency on doing things his own way. On Friday night, the two men will stand on the same sideline before, presumably, going their separate ways: Donovan representing his country one final time, the culmination of more than a decade of unmatched service, next to Klinsmann, it’s safe to assume, still wanting just a little bit more.
“You always wish for that extra piece that you see in somebody,” Klinsmann said. “I think [Donovan] had that opportunity, and if he’s fine with it, that’s OK. I think he could have gone even further.”
