were going to push back and weve got to do a better job t

CARSON, Calif. -- Landon Donovan thought he had earned a prominent role on the U.S. World Cup team right up until the moment he was cut from the roster by coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Donovan was still stunned and confused by Klinsmanns decision when he went back to work with the LA Galaxy on Saturday. "Im disappointed. Im sad," Donovan said Saturday after the Galaxys practice. "Im human, and I wanted to go. I really wanted to go. Im at peace with it. I respect the decision. I just feel in my heart that I deserve to be there, and thats the pill thats hardest to swallow." The 32-year-old attacker was denied the chance to play in his fourth World Cup after Klinsmann chose U.S. team newcomer Aron Johannsson and 31-year-old Chris Wondolowski over the most accomplished international player in American history. The decision surprised Donovan, who believed a strong performance in training camp had secured his spot on the 23-man roster. But Donovan declined to speculate on additional possible factors in the decision: his recent soccer sabbatical, the coachs decision to evaluate a versatile player solely as a forward, or the impact of the Americans difficult group draw on their long-term planning. "I think if Im being judged solely on what happens in camp, then I absolutely deserved to be going to Brazil," Donovan said. "I firmly believe that not only should I be going, but I feel like I really deserved it, and not from anything that I did in the past, but from what Ive done in the last week and a half." Donovan gave little insight into whatever reasons Klinsmann shared with him at the Bay Area training camp. Klinsmann provided only murky details about his decision Friday, saying other players were "a little step ahead of Landon in certain areas." "I dont agree with that assessment," Donovan said. "I think I was at least as good as everybody else in camp. ... I think I was one of the better players, so thats why it stings a little. If I had gone in and didnt feel like I deserved it, I could live with that. But thats not the case here." Donovan had nothing to say about any underlying implications of the mocking tweet by Jonathan Klinsmann, the coachs teenage son, moments after the announcement. "I dont really know his son well, so Im not really sure where that came from," Donovan said. Donovan also doesnt think his four-month sabbatical from soccer in 2013 after the Galaxys second straight MLS Cup title should have worked against him. "I actually think Ive been a much better player since I came back," he said. Donovan is the career U.S. leader with 57 international goals, and is second with 156 appearances. He has scored five World Cup goals, including a stoppage-time goal against Algeria to send the Americans to the second round four years ago. Instead of jetting off to Brazil, the five-time MLS Cup champion will resume his pursuit of the top U.S. leagues career goal-scoring record in Sundays home game against Philadelphia. Donovan tied Jeff Cunninghams mark with his 134th goal late last season, but hasnt scored in seven matches with the Galaxy this year. "Im excited to be back here," Donovan said. "I certainly didnt want to be back here under these circumstances or this soon, but I love these guys. These are my teammates, and this is my home. I will not let this affect me going forward." Donovan said he would gladly return to the U.S. team from the standby list if an injury created a spot on the roster, and he wouldnt rule out playing for the U.S. team in the future. He urged fans to support Klinsmanns current squad because "I dont want there to be a negative tint to any of this." "Ive always loved representing this country, so I cant imagine that if Im given another opportunity that I would say no," Donovan added. "But at this point, Im just trying to deal with the disappointment." New England Patriots Store . -- Conor Casey scored two goals, his first of the season, as the Philadelphia Union beat Chivas USA 3-0 on Saturday night. New England Patriots Shirts . As if the individual strands of grey hair or the increasing amount of joint pain werent reminders enough, the impending end of Jeters career is a slap-in-the-face indicator of a generations fleeting youth. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/ . -- Dee Ford prefers to keep things simple: Play hard and fast, and let others worry about his NFL draft stock. Patriots Jerseys 2019 . Two weeks after suffering a concussion, Foles will start in place of Michael Vick, who is out for the second time this season with a hamstring injury. New England Patriots Gear .Y. -- Scott Chandler is returning to Buffalo, where he spent the past three seasons establishing himself as the Bills top pass-catching tight end. CALGARY -- Mark Giordano returned from a broken ankle Wednesday night and, just like they had been doing before he got injured, the Calgary Flames got right back to winning. In the captains first game back after missing 18 games, Giordano scored a goal and added an assist in the Flames 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. "For me, personally, to get back in, it was a great feeling," said Giordano, who proudly wore the Flames fire hat after the game, emblematic of being the teams choice of player of the game. "I felt pretty good. Your adrenaline gets going pretty quick and I really didnt feel my ankle at all tonight so thats a great sign." Giordanos goal was a big one, extending the Flames lead to 3-1 at 11:46 of the second period. On the power play, Giordanos shot from the blue-line changed direction off the stick of Antoine Vermette and eluded goaltender Thomas Greiss. "Scoring always feels great. Obviously, that one was a bit lucky, going off the stick, but it was a great feeling and I felt after that for the rest of the game, we played pretty solid," said Giordano, who has 11 points in nine games, just four back of his point total in 47 games last year. Giordano sustained the injury Oct. 21 in a win in Los Angeles. At the time, the Flames were 4-2-2. While he was absent, the club struggled going just 5-11-2. "Obviously its a big deal to get your captain back. Hes our leader on and off the ice," said Flames goaltender Karri Ramo. "Hes been around us the whole time hes been hurt and trying to help the team any way he can, so it was really good to see him out there." TJ Brodie, Mikael Backlund and Lee Stempniak also scored for Calgary (10-13-4). The Flames have won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 9 and 11 and won on home ice for just the second time in their last nine tries (2-5-2). Keith Yandle scored the lone goal for Phoenix (16-8-4), who had won 6-2 in Edmonton on Tuesday night. The Coyotes have split the opening two games of their four-game road trip, which continues Friday night in Vancouver. "Got unlucky with a goal at the end of the first period that probably gave them some momentum and we couldnt get it back," said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. "We had lots of pucks around the net, lots of opportunities, thats the way it goes sometimes." Trailing 1-0, the Flames got an important goal with eight seconds left in the first period whhen Brodies shot deflected in off Phoenix defenceman David Schlemko for his career-high third goal.dddddddddddd. "That one hit me twice, once in my foot, once in my rear-end and then it goes top shelf," Schlemko said. "Kind of an unlucky way to end the first period." The goal sent Calgary to the dressing room even despite being outshot 11-3. Building off that momentum, the Flames played a much better second period, taking the lead at 5:48 when Backlund scored to end an 18-game scoreless drought. "We came in here, we know we didnt have our best first, they sort of took it to us for the first half. But those late goals, they usually are momentum swings and we did a great job of carrying it over into the second," Giordano said. Up 3-1 heading to the third period, Calgary got insurance at 2:44 in the form of their league-leading sixth short-handed goal. Matt Stajan neatly set up Stempniak on a two-on-one. "I think we dominated that first period so kind of unlucky to come out tied 1-1 but at the same time, you have to come out in the second with a little more jump, we knew they were going to push back and weve got to do a better job there," said Yandle. The benefactor of all the offence was Ramo. Making his second consecutive start after stopping 21-of-22 shots to beat Los Angeles on the weekend, the 27-year-old Finn was excellent again with 29 saves to improve to 4-4-1. "It was a while that I didnt see a game but you just have to take it game by game and dont think about the situation too much and whats going to happen," Ramo said. "You just have to play the game and enjoy it." In the pivotal second period when Calgary bolted into the lead, Ramo had a pair of solid glove saves -- first denying Vermette, and in the final minute robbing Mikael Boedker. With Mike Smith getting the night off, Greiss made his fourth start. He had 14 saves to fall to 3-2-0. Notes: Giordano logged 20:28 in ice time and was credited with three blocked shots... Phoenix fell to 12-2-1 when they score first ... The Flames won by more than one goal for just the second time. They entered the night 1-9-0 in goals decided by two or more goals ... Calgary was coming off its fifth break of three or more days. Excluding the Olympic break, they have just two more breaks of that length the rest of the season ... Phoenixs Radim Vrbata saw his five-game points streak come to an end." ' ' '