Landon Donovan delivered another scathing comparison between the current roster and his generation of internationals.
U.S. men’s national team all-time top scorer Landon Donovan questioned the mental strength of Mauricio Pochettino’s side following the 5–2 humbling at home to Belgium over the weekend. The most mind-blowing aspect for Donovan was a supposed lack of “pride.
”brightly, taking the lead only to be pulled back by the lofty European visitors on the cusp of half time. However, the World Cup co-host scarcely bothered coming out for the second half. Belgium held the USMNT at arm’s length before repeatedly ripping through its frail rearguard in transition.in the first-half showing, but Donovan was far more concerned by the limp collapse after the interval. “Tim Howard and I did our podcast this morning, and the part we cannot figure out is why it seems like nobody cared,” Donovan told . “They’re running around, and they’re trying. But there were no yellow cards. Nobody got kicked.” In the second half, the USMNT wer whistled for six fouls and received one booking.Donovan was pushed on whether he actually believed that “nobody cared” and readjusted his stance.“Care’s not the right word,” he conceded. “It’s not that they don’t care, but maybe they don’t have enough pride. Maybe that’s the way I need to say it. Fair point. “But I would have been mortified to be losing a home game three months before the World Cup with 70,000 people there. I would have been unbelievably embarrassed losing 4–1 and 5–1, forget it. I probably would have got sent off. “I’m just trying to figure out why is nobody yelling at each other? Why is nobody getting a yellow card? Why is nobody stopping Doku after he’s terrorized us for 70 minutes? Why is this not happening? I can’t figure it out. I don’t know if it’s generational or if it’s this team in particular, but that just doesn’t happen. And it blows my mind.”The USMNT fell to a humbling defeat. | Johnnie Izquierdo/USSF/Getty Images Donovan was at pains to stress that his generation of U.S. internationals “were never worried about conceding five goals.” “That would never, ever have happened,” he insisted. Donovan duly avoided ever conceding more than four goals in an international game; although, thedid lose the 2009 Gold Cup final 5–0 to Mexico in the absence of its prolific forward, who skipped the entire tournament after a busy club schedule. Nevertheless, Donovan’s faith in the current generation is notably lacking. “For this team, I am concerned,” he fretted. “There’s no question that conceding five goals at home three months before the World Cup is going to do psychological damage to the team and the players.they’re playing PortugalThe USMNT host Portugal on Tuesday evening in the last friendly before Pochettino names his final World Cup roster. Most of the key positions have been fixed for months but there are still concerns over one area in particular: the backline.Tim Ream and Chris Richards will likely form Pochettino’s first-choice backline. | Shaun Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos/Getty Images For Donovan, and many other onlookers, the USMNT’s weakest area lies in the middle of defense. “I’ve said all along that when we play real teams, this is an issue,” the retired forward fretted. “It just is what it is.” The absence of Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards against Belgium didn’t help solidify a side which has long since struggled for a commanding rearguard. Even during the five-game unbeaten sequence which inspired so much promise before Belgium burst that bubble, Pochettino’s side only kept a clean sheet against a heavily rotated Japan outfit. The last time the USMNT recorded consecutive shutouts was the fall of 2023. “We still don’t have a lot of answers on the backline,” Donovan glumly accepted. “All of that can be solved with a spirit and a fight that helps you compete, making the sum of the parts way better than the individual. “If you’re playing a team like Belgium, with real world class players on the field, you can get embarrassed. So at a minimum, forget about the formation or tactics or who is playing, if you can’t compete man to man against somebody, you have no chance. They’re just better players. So we have to get that part right first.”
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