When Landon Donovan was left off the World Cup roster for Team USA, it’s safe to assume that he’d be a little pissed. But so pissed that he wish bad ju-ju against his former team?
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
Apparently when Team USA played a warm-up game against Azerbaijan before the tournament, little Landon was hurt and said the following words to Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview.
“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,” Donovan said Friday in a phone interview. “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.”
He later went on to say this, as if he was slapped with holy water in his sleep.
“Then the next day I woke up and said to myself, that’s a really crappy way to feel,” Donovan said. “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.”
It was admirable of Landon to be so open with his feelings about being left off the roster and only wishing his team a bad game (although I think he deep down wanted them to lose and lose badly without him) in their exhibition match. He’s done everything from appearing in a video game commercial that pokes fun at himself to even giving commentary for the games on ESPN to show he’s moved on and showing support. He’s at least playing the part of a good sport. It must be even harder with the team doing so well, so far, in the tournament.
Which leads me back to the ESPN bit. Is it just me, or does Mr. Donovan need to display just a little more charisma in front of the camera. The man should either stretch and loosen up before the interviews or consider a career in radio, because it appears that his soccer career isn’t taking back off soon and the man needs a back-up plan.
Oh, too soon? Yeah, too soon.
Source: LA Times
