When the San Diego Wave started the NWSL season fresh off a Challenge Cup win, they would not have foreseen their current plight. Alex Morgan and Co. have plummeted to the NWSL table’s bottom half, as its 11th seed. To patch these worries, the Wave’s front office sacked coach Casey Stoney and hired USMNT legend and former USL coach Landon Donovan. His appointment, however, has yet to aid the SD Wave to thrive this bumpy ride. Shockingly, at the moment, the Californian side is taking heat for hiring the former LA Galaxy superstar.

Now, former USWNT star Becky Sauerbrunn wonders why the SD Wave hired a coach who has not coached a women’s team at a level as high as the NWSL. “I don’t know a lot about Landon, but I don’t think he has that experience of living the women’s game, of the ups and downs that we’ve gone through, both as a sport, as a league in the NWSL, as players,” Sauerbrunn said. It is not like Donovan doesn’t have any experience coaching women’s teams. He started his managerial stint with the USL side San Diego Loyal in 2020.

The former Portland Thorns star then said only the remaining 10 games of the Wave would reveal what were their intentions behind hiring Landon Donovan. Continuing, Sauerbrunn added that NWSL coaches don’t need to have prior experience managing women’s teams. But she stressed that it helps when someone coaches in a league as top tier as the NWSL. “It helps to know the players, to know the league, to know the world,” said Sauerbrunn. She also observed that Donovan’s MLS experience won’t benefit him so much in the NWSL.

“He’s going to be thrown into something where, compared to MLS, the resources are different, the season is different, obviously the players are different,” Sauerbrunn added. Anyhow, Donovan very well knows he is not put on an easy path. He is ready to tackle the difficulties. Speaking of which, the USMNT legend already took one.

Donovan is cautious about coaching job, while Wave fails to shine in his debut

Speaking after joining the San Diego club, Landon Donovan said he expects to encounter a “steep learning curve” in the Wave camp. “There’s gonna be lots of bumps on the road. You will not see a team that’s perfect tomorrow by any means, but there will be progress,” Donovan said. Well, let’s just say that the Wave coach’s statement was proved right. The team was far from perfect in the USWNT legend’s debut against Angel City FC.

Donovan’s side quickly conceded two goals past the 20-minute mark last night. Angel City struggled to fire again and the Wave netted a consolation goal past the 90th minute. Thus Donovan had to open his NWSL stint with a 2-1 loss. The pressure is indeed immense for the former LA Galaxy star, as the Wave has gone four games without a win lately and is a point shy from being downgraded to the 12th position in the NWSL table. We’ll see how Donovan tries to prove his critics wrong and lead the Wave to a decent climax in this tumultuous season.