02 Jul 2014
In a stunning admission, US soccer star Landon Donovan has admitted that he did not want the national team to perform well at the World Cup 2014. Donovan was a surprise exclusion from the World Cup squad and it is widely believed to be the cause of his followed with manager Jurgen Klinsmann. He has been in and out of the team for the last few months, but the biggest pain for the former Everton loan star comes in the form of missing out on the World Cup.
The US national team have been given a tough group at the competition, but they successfully managed to negotiate it against all the odds and qualify for the last 16 of the tournament. The team will be taking on Belgium looking to overcome a team that has been regarded as underdogs for the title. Donovan recently stated that he was feeling confident of the US winning the World Cup. This was contrary to the expectations being downplayed by manager Jurgen Klinsmann. This appeared to suggest ill feelings between the duo and it has once again been confirmed with an extraordinary admission by the 33-year-old.
Donovan stated that he did not want the team, which will be playing without him, to perform well. Yet, he wanted them to win 1-0 so as to preserve the tournament hopes.
“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. 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. Then the next day I woke up and said to myself, that’s a really crappy way to feel. That’s a bad way to live your life, it doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help the team, it doesn’t help the energy that the team needs,” said Donovan.