Despite Excellent Gold Cup, Landon Donovan Has Not Earned Automatic Selection

All of the headlines and analysis over the course of the last three weeks has been about how Landon Donovan has forced his way back into the United States starting XI with his performances against lesser competition and the Costa Rican “B” side (or in Honduras’ case almost a “C” side) in the Gold Cup. The narrative that has been written states Donovan is still one of the most influential players for the US Men’s National Team and must start in remaining World Cup qualifiers and next summer in Brazil. While that narrative has been crafted without the type of critical analysis needed to come to such a conclusion given the poor level of competition, let me offer a countering view. Though I preface this by stating the established narrative may very well play out. On Sunday, Donovan again struggled in a big game, and since 2006 more often than not the former USMNT talisman has gone missing on the big occasions. In the current US men’s national team, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jozy A...