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After Lackluster World Cup, Donovan's Focus Is Galaxy
Galaxy striker Landon Donovan is back to being his dominant self after a disappointing performance at the World Cup.
(Danny Moloshok - AP)
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"In Korea, there was a sense of urgency that never seemed to get there [in Germany], even after the second game," a 1-1 tie with eventual champion Italy, he said. "We said the right things in the locker room, but you never had that sense that if we don't win, we're done. There was always a feeling of: 'Oh, we're going to be fine. We're a better team.' "
Since returning to the Galaxy, Donovan has inherited a new responsibility: turning around a last-place club. Los Angeles won the MLS Cup last year but started slowly this season and, while Donovan was away, fired Steve Sampson and hired Frank Yallop, Donovan's coach in San Jose when the Earthquakes won two titles in three years.
After the World Cup, Yallop sat down with Donovan to gauge his state of mind and reassure him of the club's faith in him.
"He didn't like the fact that they didn't do well in Germany," Yallop said. "It hurt him. He took a lot of criticism, unfairly I thought, but you expect a lot from Landon. He likes to be challenged and that's what is happening now. When he's on, he's the best player in our league, and he's in top form right now."
Donovan scored the opening goal in the Galaxy's 2-0 victory over West-leading Dallas last weekend and struck twice in overtime during a 3-1 win over Colorado in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal Wednesday. His appearance at RFK tonight will be his first here since a two-goal performance against United last summer.
In a strange way, the Galaxy's pressing situation has helped him take his mind off the World Cup failure.
"I don't have a choice to reflect too much," he said. "We've got to win some games. We put ourselves in a bad hole, really bad. We're scrapping to make it up, but it's hard, man."
Meantime, Donovan dismisses suggestions that he needs to return to Europe -- where he had two previous stints with German club Bayer Leverkusen -- in order to refine his skills and make him a better player with the national team on the world stage.
"Not to say it will never happen, but I have no interest in that," said Donovan, who lives on the beach south of Los Angeles and, with a salary of $900,000, is MLS's second-highest paid player behind Chivas USA's Juan Francisco Palencia.
"My world, I'm not on this Earth to go be in Europe and become the best soccer player in the world. My life is about being happy. I want to enjoy it, and I think I can balance all of that and still be a good soccer player."
