We shouldn’t judge Darlington Nagbe without knowing all the facts

During the USMNT’s second friendly of October against New Zealand, ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman reported that Darlington Nagbe declined a call-up from Jurgen Klinsmann to spend more time with his family.

That reason doesn’t seem as cut and dry as it sounds. Twellman spoke about Nagbe’s decision in a negative connotation on Tuesday’s broadcast, even revealing that people around U.S. Soccer were confused about the decision.

However, former Seattle Sounder and one of Nagbe’s friends, Steve Zakuani, says that there’s more to the story than just the midfielder wanting some time off.

Nagbe’s quiet nature has become famous around MLS. He’s not one to draw attention to himself with actions or words. There’s more to the story than you, I, or Scoops Twellman know about. There has to be.

In this day and age we see a tweet and have an instant reaction to everything. With this situation it’s best if everyone doesn’t jump to conclusions and awaits more. Even if we assume the worst and he did just want an extra week to spend with his family during two utterly meaningless friendlies he shouldn’t be vilified. Klinsmann himself proved with his roster choices that these two matches were for nothing.

But there’s likely more to the story that hasn’t been revealed and may never be. We just have to wait until next month to see if Nagbe’s status with the national team is affected. Hopefully nothing has changed on that front and he continues to be given every opportunity to earn meaningful minutes.