RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — While Jurgen Klinsmann says Landon Donovan heads into his U.S. national team finale Friday as “the poster boy of the game” in America, the coach feels the player didn’t completely fulfill his potential.
The exhibition against Ecuador in East Hartford, Connecticut, will be the 157th national team appearance for Donovan, the American career leader with 57 international goals and 58 assists. The 32-year-old forward, a veteran of three World Cups, was controversially cut by Klinsmann before this year’s tournament.
Donovan was scheduled to arrive Thursday night and play the first 30 minutes Friday.
Klinsmann says Donovan “raised the awareness of the game to new dimensions.” Yet Donovan struggled during stints with Bayern Leverkusen and Klinsmann’s Bayern Munich before succeeding during a pair of winter loans to Everton.
Klinsmann said Thursday that “I wished in a certain way, ah, he could have done a bit more here and a bit more there.”
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
