It hasn’t even been a year since American international Landon Donovan took a three month sabbatical from the game in order to prevent burnout from excessive stress and playing time.
But now, it seems that the LA Galaxy playmaker will have to work overtime in order to secure his place in the United States Men’s National Team for the trip to Brazil for the World Cup next summer.
According to Jurgen Klinsmann, the national team manager, the American international players who play in the Major League Soccer must remain active during the off season of the league which begins in December after the conclusion of the MLS Cup. And the German born manager has urged players like Clint Dempsey of the Seattle Sounders, Graham Zusi of Sporting Kansas City as well as Galaxy man Landon Donovan to go out on loan to clubs in Europe to remain in peak condition.
According to the German, if the opportunity arrives for a player to go overseas, he must seize that opportunity. The main reason for such a diktat is the coach wants the players to test them out against the top players in Europe and also keep in shape ahead of the World Cup. He also mentioned that it is important for the players to understand that everything that they do now will have a bearing at the World Cup in Brazil and as a result, they shouldn’t take things easily.
He mentioned that if it were up to him, he would want all the regulars to get to play and win the MLS Cup but only few will have that chance and that is why, the others must have a plan of approach beforehand. Looks like Landon Donovan and the rest will have their work cut out to please the boss.
