Landon Donovan expects to be left off of the United States team for qualifiers next month and his former teammate David Beckham made some big news when he announced his retirement from soccer after many years and a latest league title from PSG.
Donovan has resigned himself to being left out of the United States squad for next month's block of World Cup qualifiers, but remains hopeful he can make it to Brazil next year if the team qualifies. Despite being the U.S's all-time leading goalscorer, Donovan's omission from the squad for two friendlies and three World Cup qualifiers, against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras, was largely expected.
The 31-year-old missed the team's earlier qualifiers this year after taking a self-imposed break from the game. He only resumed playing in late March and national coach Juergen Klinsmann said he would have to fight his way back in like everyone else.
"As far as I know, I will not be on the roster and that's disappointing," he told Reuters in an interview during his campaign with The Skin Cancer Foundation to promote awareness of the disease.
"But I certainly understand it, I've been gone for a long time. I basically excused myself from the first three so I understand the way the world works."
Beckham, The 38-year-old former England captain, who this month helped Paris St Germain to the French league title to add to titles won in England, Spain and the United States, will hang up his boots at the end of a successful season. Beckham announced his retirement on Thursday after a career laden with trophies and glamour that had a worldwide impact that went way beyond soccer.
Beckham earned 115 caps for England, a record for an outfield player, and won the Champions League, six Premier League titles and two FA Cups with Manchester United. He joked that he realized it was time to call it a day "when (Lionel) Messi was running past me" when PSG played Barcelona in the Champions League before saying he had always known he wanted to retire at the top of his game.
His trade-mark free kicks and pin-point crosses established him as a key player, while his good looks made him a pin-up for teenage girls and later his marriage to former Spice Girls band member Victoria Adams established him as an off-field celebrity.
(Reuters Quotes)