LOS ANGELES, May 24 — USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has apologised after his teenage son posted a tweet, which mocked veteran forward Landon Donovan’s dropping from the Stars and Stripes’ World Cup squad.

“I am very disappointed, I called him immediately,” Klinsmann told a press conference yesterday in Stanford.

“After a few minutes, he realised what he had done.

“He had just come home from school and was joking with his classmates.

“Things then went mad on Twitter and he didn’t think about the fact he has followers.”

Klinsmann dropped Donovan from the USA squad yesterday with the 32-year-old striker, the all-time American top-scorer, having been poised to play at his fourth World Cup finals.

Klinsmann’s 17-year-old son Jonathan, who plays in goal for the USA Under-18 side, took to social media Twitter after hearing Donovan had been dropped.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAH DONAVAN (sic) HAHAHAHAA I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE UNTIL MY PHONE NOTIFIED ME”, he tweeted, before his account was later deleted.

But his father says the teenager is a fan, who has a playing shirt from the LA Galaxy star in his room, and owes Donovan an apology.

“He owes him a big apology, that was highly disrespectful and I think he has learnt the biggest social media lesson that he can imagine,” said Klinsmann.

The Americans open their World Cup campaign against Ghana in Natal on June 16 and also face Germany and Portugal in Group G. — AFP