Back in 1998, Landon Donovan played for the United States U-17 team. Now 16 years later, he is hanging up the cleats after one last friendly against Ecuador. After not being selected over the summer to play in Brazil for the World Cup, playing in one final game is the right way to go for him.
Over his career, he has scored 57 goals for the senior national team, and another 152 club goals, including 112 for the LA Galaxy. He scored the memorable game winning goal in the 1-0 win for the US against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup. He has the record for most goals and assists in US men’s national team history, along with the number one spots for the MLS. The man has nearly done it all, and now he is ready to hang up the boots and is excited for whatever comes next in his life.
On October 10th, Donovan held a small press conference talking about his retirement. The decision for him to retire was not made over night, and eventually he was at peace with his decision and is ready for the next part of his life to come.
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Ahead of the October 10 friendly, his final in a USA jersey, he made sure that the most important people in his life, his family, were all there. All in all, he said there would be around 19-20 family members in attendance. DeMarcus Beasley sent Landon a text saying that he tried everything in his power to make it to the game to see Landon have his farewell, but with the playoff race in Houston it could not be done. However, Donovan said that for DeMarcus to even text him that message meant a lot to him.
When asked about his career path, Landon said that he made his decisions for himself only, and not anyone else. He started off as a youngster playing in Germany for Bayern Leverkusen. However, things didn’t seem to be working out for him there and he set sail for America. Well, the rest writes itself from there.
If he hadn’t moved to the MLS and decided to try for greener pastures in Europe, things may have turned out differently. However, who knows if he would have had the legendary career that he did end up having. All in all, he said he made these decisions for himself only and no one else.
As for the future of American Soccer, he doesn’t know when the next superstar will come around. He said it’s not just about finding someone with all of the technical abilities, while those obviously are important the players need to have a certain maturity level as well. At the same time, it’s not Donovan’s job currently to figure that out either.
Donovan said that he is more excited to see America develop more well-rounded players. No one is sure when the next Landon Donovan, or the American Messi, will come around, but one thing’s for sure, it will not be overnight. America has said goodbye to one of their best ever players and ambassador of American soccer. Thank you Landon Donovan for everything you have done for US Soccer.