Landon Donovan hasn't done enough – yet – to haul his way back into the US national team picture since his return from a winter sabbatical.
That's apparently the conclusion of USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff, according to an SI.com report on Tuesday. Klinsmann is preparing to call in a roster for his team's busy upcoming schedule of international friendlies (against Belgium and Germany) and important World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras next month.
The 31-year-old LA Galaxy star has been energetic and committed in his five league appearances since his March return to soccer, notching a goal and an assist for the Galaxy, “but that has not been enough to convince Klinsmann to bring him back to the national team yet,” writes SI.com's Grant Wahl.
"Any player that has a chance to play for the national team is always thinking about it," Donovan told the media on Tuesday in Philadelphia, ahead of the Galaxy's match on Wednesday against the Union. "And the reality for me is that to get back there I have to play well here with the Galaxy. So I can think about it and dream about it all I want but the reality is I have to play well here and eventually maybe I’ll get my chance again. I’m hopeful but I can only control what I can control, and I’m going to do my best to get called up."
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Wahl notes that Donovan may yet earn a spot on the US roster for the Gold Cup later in the summer.
Late last month, Klinsmann hinted at the attacker's tough road back with his declaration that “there are players clearly ahead of Landon Donovan right now,” an edict Donovan himself agreed with.
But the USMNT veteran will likely be quite disappointed nonetheless to miss out on what figures to be a decisive phase in his country's quest for a place at next year's World Cup in Brazil. He and his Galaxy teammates visit the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday night (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE) in the second stop on their three-game, cross-country road trip this week.
