The rants and raves are pouring in for Landon Donovan – and it’s pretty hard to argue the point.
Even when not at the tippy-top of his game, Donovan is enough to influence matters against a very good team Saturday night (in the Galaxy’s 2-0 win over Eastern Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City).
(MORE: Donovan talks about his night)
So the attention will soon turn to what else Donovan might do. More to the point, of course, we are talking about whether the U.S. national team’s all-time leading scorer will soon be influencing a U.S. national team match?
To look at the timing is to see a pretty good window lining up for the Galaxy attacker, who has said he wants to be part of Jurgen Klinsmann plan, assuming the German-born boss wants him. Donovan still has three-four weeks of league matches to play his way into better shape and further sharpness before Klinsmann will gather his best players for a short May training camp. That camp precedes an important set of high-profile friendlies against Germany and Belgium.
And those friendlies precede three important June qualifiers – Really, is there any other kind of World Cup qualifier? – starting with a match on June 7 at Jamaica. (The U.S. schedule is here.) Once that month is up, the United States will be more than halfway through its final round road to Brazil 2014; we should have a much clearer picture on whether the United States is in good shape or whether the effort is wandering off into ditch.
So, back to Donovan:
Klinsmann’s team needs some width, and another attack-minded brain. It wouldn’t be bad to have a little more veteran wile, either, a little more “been there, done that.” For all the “good” that went on in Guerra de Nieve last month outside Denver, the United States lacked some composure with those silly fouls in the end. Given that Carlos Bocanegra has apparently lost his place, and depending on the recently injured Steve Cherundolo’s status, a big supply of veteran know-how to balance all the young talent seems rather prudent.
If you find yourself saying, “Donovan checks all those boxes,” join the club.
Long story short, assuming Donovan keeps progressing, it looks more and more inevitable that he’ll be folded back into the national team mix.
Robbie Keane sees good things from his teammate, and the veteran Irish striker certainly knows his way around the international game. Here’s what he had to say about Donovan’s one-goal, one-assist performance last night: