Landon Donovan has been surprisingly left out of United States’ 23-man squad for the 2014 Brazil World Cup by coach, Jürgen Klinsmann. Donovan, 32, is adjudged the best United States footballer at the moment and has scored 57 times for the national side, including 5 World Cup goals in 156 caps. He famously scored an injury time winner against Algeria in South Africa four years ago to send his team to the second round.
The former Bayer Leverkusen and Everton attacking midfielder lost the captaincy of the United States’ men’s soccer team to team mate, Clint Dempsey recently. His omission from the team sparked an angry reaction from fans and media. The pressure is now on Klinsmann and his young squad to prove he was right to leave out the star. His squad includes 18-year-old Julian Green, who can play on the wings and made his debut for the US national team last month after playing just six minutes of first-team football with Bayern Munich this season.
21-year-old central defender Anthony Brooks, who has three international appearances; and 20-year-old right back DeAndre Yedlin, whose only national team appearances were as a second-half substitute this year also made the cut.
The United States is in the group of death, with Germany, Portugal and Ghana. They will face Ghana in their first group game on June 16, before tussling out with Cristiano Ronaldo and cohorts on June 22 and finally Germany on June 26.
