MLS commissioner blasts Juergen Klinsmann for comments about league

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber blasted Juergen Klinsmann, coach of the U.S. men’s national soccer team, for remarks Klinsmann made that called into question the quality of MLS play compared with the elite European teams.

“Juergen’s comments are very, very detrimental to the league,” Garber told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.

“They’re detrimental to the sport of soccer in America and everything that we’re trying to do,” Garber said. “And not only are they detrimental, I think they’re wrong.”

Noting how star American players Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley moved to MLS from European teams, Klinsmann told reporters Monday that “making that steps means that you are not in the same competitive environment that you were in before.”

“It’s just reality, it’s just being honest,” Klinsmann said.

But Garber countered Klinsmann should “refrain from making comments which are critical of our players and damaging to our league.”

“I would say contrary to Juergen’s assertion that MLS has hindered player development, the facts clearly show that without the league, both the depth and the quality of the U.S. player pool would be diminished,” Garber said.

Garber also said he found Klinsmann’s remarks “personally infuriating” and “frustrating as hell,” and that he was concerned that they were “following a pattern that began with his criticism of Landon” Donovan.

Donovan, the star forward with the Galaxy of MLS who is the all-time leading scorer for both MLS and the U.S. team, was cut by Klinsmann from the national squad before this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

“I believe Landon should have been in Brazil, not because he earned it or deserved it [for his career] but because his performance dictated it,” Garber said.