Landon Donovan wasn’t mincing his words on Monday.
The US soccer legend was asked by ESPN FC if USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann would be on the hot seat if the team lost to Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup on Saturday (9 pm ET; Fox Sports 1, Univision, UDN) and gave the following response after citing the team's fourth-place finish at this summer's Gold Cup and their recent 4-1 loss to Brazil:
“Around the world, if a player plays poorly and a player has a bad string of results they get dropped from the team,” he 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 should be held to that standard too.”
Donovan, of course, was controversially left off the 2014 World Cup team by Klinsmann last summer before retiring from soccer after helping the LA Galaxy to MLS Cup last December.
The US and Mexico will meet at the sold-out Rose Bowl on Saturday in the first-ever CONCACAF Cup, with the winner progressing to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
