Donovan had some interesting things to say about U.S. Soccer.
U.S. men’s national team legend, Landon Donovan, was invited as a guest on Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast, with the former U.S. goalscorer giving some pretty interesting takes on the state of the men’s national team, the possibility of coaching the United States, what we can expect from the extraofficial appointment of Mauricio Pochettino and the brewing problem of the USMNT — youth soccer.
Landon Donovan: “I want to coach the USMNT or USWNT”
They asked and he answered.
Donovan, who has recently taken over NWSL’s San Diego Wave as interim coach, was asked about the possibility of coaching either the USMNT or U.S. women’s national team, with the men’s joint all-time top goalscorer expressing his interesting in taking over either of the sides in the future.
“I would [like to coach the national team]. That’s a long ways down the road, but I really do enjoy coaching” said Donovan.
“The challenge with coaching is you’re hired to be fired and you have to move every year, two years, three years, four years and right now, in my life, I don’t want to do that to my family.
“If the opportunity comes, I would very much be open to it… but right now I’m happy to be [at San Diego Wave], Wave is right in my backyard, it’s a community that I love and love representing and it’s a perfect fit for me right now” he added.
Landon Donovan says he’s “cautiously optimistic” on Mauricio Pochettino’s ‘appointment’ with USMNT
He does not want Klinsmann 2.0.
Donovan was also asked about his thoughts on the extraofficial appointment of Pochettino with the USMNT, saying he’s “cautiously optimistic” about what the Argentine can bring to the table.
“We have seen over the last decade plus that a big name — and I have seen it in my club and national team career — a big name means nothing”
“So, I think Pochettino is much more than just a big name and I think he’s a very good manager, but we just don’t know how that’s all gonna gel together.
“There are great managers who go into situations and have very little success for lots of different reasons, there are not-so great manager who go into situations and have tremendous success and even though it’s sometimes shortlived, they do have tremendous success and there’s all sorts of reasons for that… at this point I don’t really care which way it goes [and] just want us to be successful” he said.
Donovan worked under German manager Jürgen Klinsmann's in his tenure with the USMNT between 2011 and 2016, being left off the roster for the 2014 World Cup.
Landon Donovan: “Youth soccer is a disaster and the USMNT’s main problem”
When asked what he would bring up to the heads of U.S. Soccer in a hypothetical interview to become new U.S. men’s national team head coach, Donovan was not hesitant to say that the main problem haunting the United States is its youth development, saying youth soccer is a disaster across the board.
“The big picture issue with U.S. Soccer on the men’s side is with youth development”
“How many players from our squad would [have gotten into France, England, Spain’s or Netherlands squads in the Euro]? And if I was being completely honest, not a ton… all those squads left really good players at home and we don’t have that ‘problem’ yet” he said.
Donovan then reflected on his direct experience inside the environment of youth soccer in the United States as a parent, saying it’s an absolute disaster.
“My kids are in youth soccer and I see the youth soccer environment — it’s a disaster, it’s an absolute disaster.”
“The kids are developing, because they’re spending time with a ball and doing things, but not nearly at the rate they could be. It’s wasteful, it’s really wasteful.
“It’s a cultural problem in [the U.S.]. One thing that is amazing about America is that we wanna win and be the best at everything. The problem is that trickles down to six-year-old soccer games.
“The emphasis for a six-year-old should be on getting better, not winning soccer games. There’s coaches that I hear say ‘this coach we’re coaching against next week is our arch-nemesis, we have to win this game' and he’s coaching seven-year-olds. I’m thinking ‘what the hell is wrong with you?’” he added.
Donovan, however, isn’t the only soccer personality to have recently criticized the U.S. youth soccer system, with even FIFA President Gianni Infantino saying that the United States’ main problem is their “pay-to-play” system.
“One of the things which shocked me here in America is that children have to pay in order to play [soccer]. We have to stop this,” said Infantino last May.
