Landon Donovan Admits That He Briefly Rooted Against Team USA
(ESPN) — Landon Donovan said he briefly rooted against the United States in their friendly against Azerbaijan after finding out he wasn’t included on the 23-man squad that would compete at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The U.S.’s all-time leading World Cup scorer was famously left off manager Jurgen Klinsmann’s roster for the World Cup setting off a firestorm of reaction across the country with many feeling that Donovan should have been included. “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,” said Donovan in an interview with the L.A. 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.” Donovan, who is working for ESPN as a soccer analyst during the World Cup, said he woke the next day — after goals from Mix Diskerud and Aron Johansonn gave the U.S. an easy 2-0 win — with a complete change of heart and felt “crappy” for not being fully supportive of his country and teammates. “That’s a bad way to live your life,” said Donovan. “It doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help the team, it doesn’t help the energy that the team needs.”
Obviously this is an opinion that Donovan probably should have kept to himself, but can you blame him? If I get cut from a team then there’s absolutely going to be a part of me that hopes they fail just so the “Things would have been different with Donovan…” rumors can start swirling. That’s human nature. Get dumped by your girlfriend? Doesn’t matter how much you loved her, doesn’t matter how many times you say “I wish you the best and just want to see you happy,” you know that you really want to see her get fat and never have sex again and eventually die young. That’s just how it works. You want to win the break-up. Whether it’s soccer or your love life, if you’re scorned then you don’t want to see the other side succeed. I don’t blame Donovan for thinking like that, just think he’s stupid for saying it aloud.
