Former USA star Landon Donovan seemingly took a shot at United States boss Jurgen Klinsmann, whom he accused of not setting the team up to succeed in the 2014 World Cup. While Donovan doubts Klinsmann's ability as a coach, Klinsmann is optimistic Team USA can win a World Cup.
Klinsmann cut Donovan from the final roster for the 2014 World Cup, and Donovan hasn't been shy since in sharing his feelings about his former coach. Although Donovan didn't mention Klinsmann by name, the Los Angeles Galaxy forward seemingly implied Klinsmann made a series of wrong tactical decisions that set up the United States to lose in Brazil.
"I think we're all disappointed in what happened yesterday (against Belgium)," Donovan said Wednesday, via MLSSoccer.com. "I think the most disappointing thing is we didn't seem like we gave it a real effort, from a tactical standpoint. I thought the guys did everything they could, they did everything that was asked of them, but I don't think we were set up to succeed yesterday, and that was tough to watch. ...
"As a whole, I think tactically, the team was not set up to succeed. They were set up in a way that was opposite from what they've been the past couple years, which is opening up, passing, attacking -- trying to do that. And the team's been successful that way. Why they decided to switch that in the World Cup, none of us will know.
"From a playing standpoint, I think the guys will probably be disappointed in the way things went."
While Klinsmann acknowledged after the 2-1 loss to Belgium that the team shouldn't have waited until the last 15 minutes of extra time to start attacking, he expressed his optimism about the United States' chances of winning a World Cup.
"Is it possible now to go game-by-game and maybe even win four knockout games? Yes," Klinsmann said, via ESPN. "But you can't go in saying we're here to win the World Cup when you have teams like Brazil, Germany and all the big countries in there. I think you have to take it just one step at a time."
Klinsmann said the next step for Team USA is to begin assessing the young talent eligible for the senior team.
