Landon Donovan is heading to the U.S. preliminary camp in Stanford next week and seems a lock to be on the squad, but will he be starting come the Americans opening match with Ghana?
In my latest story for LAGalaxy.com, Donovan talks about how he feels like he is entering his best form of the year after a strong showing against the Portland Timbers as he looks to head off to join the rest of the 30-man preliminary squad at Stanford University later this week.
Although Donovan earned the call as expected, many were surprised that U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann opted to slot Donovan in among the roster's forwards despite playing predominantly at midfield over the past year. During a conference call with reporters after the roster announcement, Klinsmann explained himself.
The way we put the 30-man roster together, we see Landon as a forward because we saw also competition in midfield,” said Klinsmann. “You always have these kind of options...but in putting these 30 players together, we just think that’s where we want to see them compete in the first place, as a first option.”
Klinsmann also chimed in on Omar Gonzalez, who missed LA's match with the Timbers last weekend due to a left knee injury by stating that he is confident that he'll be back to full fitness shortly.
"It's very short period of time that he can't go 100 percent," Klinsmann said. "By the end of the week he actually should be at 100 percent already. So he'll be just a few days late, which is alright. We'll have him from the beginning of next week going full speed with the group. Thankfully the injury was not that bad and it didn't take him out for much longer. Obviously the first moment we got the information [of the injury], we were a little bit worried."
