What Should United States Soccer Fans Expect from Landon Donovan?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 8, 2013

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U.S. Soccer fans have known Landon Donovan since he broke onto the international scene by winning the Golden Ball award in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship.

We’ve known Landon through his early trials and tribulations in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.

We groaned when he was loaned back to the nascent MLS league to play for the San Jose Earthquakes. Jeers turned to cheers when he led the Earthquakes to two MLS Cups. Confused and bemused we wondered how our best player could spurn the prestige of the European stage to slum for the LA Galaxy. 

He made up for it with his international play, becoming the U.S. all-time leading scorer and single-handedly taking the U.S. into the second round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

We shrugged when Donovan won multiple awards as the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and the Honda Player of the Year.  He was the face of U.S. soccer, and we expect these things from our face men.

He won two more MLS Cups with two other iconic international players at his side.

After two successful trysts with the Everton fans at Goodison Park, we felt surely he would now seize the moment and show the world that American soccer wears big-boy pants.

Then he quit.

Went cold turkey and took a soccer sabbatical.

We were stunned, irritated and baffled.  What is our Golden Boy up to this time? 

How does our Main Guy walk off the field in the middle of World Cup qualifying? Can’t he see that we’re struggling to qualify? 

And what’s this nonsense about “desire”? Elite athletes ooze the stuff from every pore and orifice. They aren’t supposed to “lose” it, they’re supposed to have enough to go around and feed all of us a little taste. 

Maybe that’s the problem. 

We get so wrapped up in what our elite...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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