Dubai: USA coach Juergen Klinsmann will make hundreds of important decisions this World Cup — calls on selection, tactical tweaks, dressing room speeches, media conferences and the like — but ultimately he will be judged on only one. Leaving Landon Donovan at home.

If the Stars and Stripes are successful in getting out of their group and maybe even reaching the quarter-finals, the German will be feted. But if they fall in the first round, he will be villified for refusing to take the country’s best ever player to his fourth World Cup.

Luis Vazquez/Gulf News

Donovan, 32, is America’s all-time leading goalscorer with 57 from 156 caps, despite not being an out-and-out striker. The Los Angeles Galaxy star is also the MLS’ leading scorer and an icon for football in the states.

But, evidently, all was not well between player and coach. Perhaps Donovan’s decision to take a break from the game in late 2012/early 2013, when he missed three of the USA’s World Cup qualifiers, has come back to haunt him. Still, Klinsmann recalled him for the final qualifiers last September and October and he played a key role, before being named in the long list for Brazil.

When announcing Donovan hadn’t made the final squad for Brazil, Klinsmann said: “This was certainly one of the toughest decisions — also the toughest decision in my coaching career — to tell a player like him with everything he’s done and what he represents, to tell him that ‘you’re not part of those 23 right now’. I just see some other players slightly ahead of him.”

Whatever led to Klinsmann’s controversial decision, the coach must now try and win matches with the tools at his disposal — even if those tools are significantly less sharp than Donovan. The creative burden will fall on Toronto’s Michael Bradley, the former Roma midfielder, while ex-Fulham and Tottenham attacker Clint Dempsey will be at the sharp end alongside misfiring Sunderland striker Jozy Altidore.

And Klinsmann’s problems don’t stop with replacing Donovan, as the USA also have a tough group — they are with the coach’s native Germany, Portugal and Ghana in Group G — while the centre of their defence looks vulnerable.

USA

Group G
Fifa Ranking: 14

Top man

Clint Dempsey
Date of birth: March 9, 1983 (age 31)
Place of birth: Nacogdoches, Texas
Height: 1.85m
Weight: 77kg
Playing position: Forward
International caps: 104. Goals: 37
Club: Seattle Sounders 

Coach

Juergen Klinsmann
Date of birth: July 30, 1964 (age 49)
Place of birth: Goppingen (Germany)
Manager since: July 2011
Record: P48 W29 D8 L11
60% win ratio

Best 11 (4-3-1-2)

Howard, Beasley, Besler, Cameron, Johnson; Bedoya, Jones, Zusi; Bradley; Dempsey, Altidore

Squad

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG), Tim Howard (Everton/ENG), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla/MEX), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin/GER), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City/ENG), Timmy Chandler (Nuremberg/GER), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach/GER), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)

Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/FRA), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg/NOR), Julian Green (Bayern Munich/GER), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas/TUR), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Sunderland/ENG), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar/NED), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

Group opponents

Germany
Portugal
Ghana

Qualifying campaign

Won Concacaf third round Group A ahead of Jamaica and also topped the fourth round standings to qualify with ease.

World Cup history

First tournament: 1930 (in Uruguay)
Appearances (before 2014): 9
Best finish: Third place (1930)

Pros

  • Coach Juergen Klinsmann’s decision to snub star man Landon Donovan avoids a potential personality clash in the camp.
  • Klinsmann has a wealth of World Cup experience to draw on, having won it as a player in 1990 with his native Germany and coached them to third place in 2006.
  • The gradual improvement of the MLS has seen the Americans’ home-based players take on higher-quality rivals in recent years.

Cons

  • Donovan’s exclusion most likely means a starting berth for misfiring striker Jozy Altidore, who managed only one goal in 31 EPL appearances for Sunderland last season.
  • Lacking quality replacements if the likes of Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones or Clint Dempsey are injured.
  • The centre of defence is a concern, with no proven top-class centre-backs in the squad.