USMNT Names 23-Man Squad For World Cup 2014: Landon Donovan Dropped From Squad

US Men’s National Team Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has named his 23-man squad for World Cup 2014, and has cut seven players including USMNT midfielder Landon Donovan.

Donovan, 32, who was the iconic hero of the 2010 USMNT World Cup squad after scoring a late goal against Algeria to earn the US a first place finish in their opening group, made the 30-man squad but was cut from the 23-man squad named today. Joining Donovan, the USMNT players who were cut are Terrence Boyd, Joe Corona, Maurice Edu, Brad Evans, Clarence Goodson and Michael Parkhurst.

The exclusion of Donovan will come as a shock to many USMNT pundits who have been writing that Donovan would make the final squad.

Donovan, and the six remaining players, have been placed on a standby list and are returning to their respective club teams.

The 30-man squad is as follows:

2014 FIFA WORLD CUP – U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

“It’s an exciting moment when you have narrowed the roster down as a coaching staff, and these 23 players that you’ve chosen can focus now purely on Brazil,” Klinsmann said. “We can go into more specific things about technical approaches, and about the opponents. For the players, it’s very important to know that they are now part of it and they can relax and know they are on the list going to Brazil and taking it from there. After almost 10 days of work right now, we thought the point has come to make the decision.”

What’s your reaction to Donovan being dropped? And do you think Klinsmann has made the correct decision or not? Debate your opinion in the comments section below.