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Maybe some fences can be mended.
After not feeling "valued" by the current U.S. Soccer regime, Portland Timbers midfielder Darlington Nagbe turned down call ups for October friendly matches. He was subsequently left off of the roster for World Cup Qualifying matches against Mexico and Costa Rica.
Perhaps he could have helped, but that's neither here nor there. Nagbe -- a dynamic midfielder with an above average technical ability for the player pool -- appeared to be on the outs for the rest of Jurgen Klinsmann's reign as head coach and technical director.
Not so fast, my friend.
In his Facebook Q&A, Klinsmann informed the fan base that Nagbe will be called up again:
Darlington is always in our picture. We observe him. We watch him. He didn't make it into the October games for personal reasons and we accepted that, but then for the two games against Costa Rica and Mexico, we just thought that other players were ahead of him. But you will definitely see Darlington come back into our group and prove a point that he belongs there.
It's the dreaded "other players were ahead of him", a common turn of phrase from Klinsmann. However, Nagbe fans can be relieved that Klinsmann was definitive with regards to the player's return (or that he mentioned him at all).
There's been a history of players being banished from the national team, despite strong form at the club level. The most obvious examples (unrelated to sporting reasons) that spring to mind are Sporting Kansas City's Benny Feilhaber and the LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan. Neither were able to make full returns under Klinsmann, so it will be interesting to see how things proceed with Nagbe.
Of course, with a few more bad results in World Cup Qualifying, he may not have to worry about earning his way back into the current manager's good graces.