U.S. soccer icon Landon Donovan defended himself on Sunday for his decision to support Mexico during the World Cup, seemingly as part of a sponsored initiative for Wells Fargo.
Donovan was subjected to heavy criticism for a number of reasons after revealing his support as part of a sponsored campaign. For one, Mexico and the United States are traditionally huge on-field rivals, so some saw it as a betrayal. Others were unimpressed that he seemed to be doing it as part of an ad campaign for a bank. Other observers weren’t really bothered until Donovan seemed to shame former U.S. teammate Carlos Bocanegra for disagreeing with him, which rubbed some the wrong way.
After observing the criticism, Donovan issued a more wide-ranging statement Sunday evening to address some of these criticisms and add further context to his support.
— Landon Donovan (@landondonovan) June 17, 2018
Donovan comes off a lot more reasonably and more justified in his statements here than he did Saturday, when he seemed surprised at the criticism and didn’t have a good answer for it. It likely won’t win him many converts, but it’s certainly a better and more defensible look.
