The Guardian name the Major League Soccer (MLS) and English Premier League veteran the greatest American player of all time this summer.
Landon Donovan retired in 2014 after playing the game extensively in many countries for club and country. When he announced the retirement, the praise and acclaims were over the roof.
Donovan enjoyed a decent level of success in his over 15-year career, holding the record of highest goals scorer in the United States Men National Team history with 57 goals in 157 games. He helped the national team to three World Cup tournaments. After he was excluded from the list that played in Brazil, he knew his time in the national team was over. The last two years before his retirement was sad as his performance had declined, but looking back at the career he had, he is arguably the best American soccer player.
He broke into the limelight at the Under-17 level when eh featured at the World Cup in New Zealand, winning the Player of the Tournament and Adidas Golden Ball Award. He decided to move overseas to play for Bayern Leverkusen signing a six-year deal. He couldn’t impress as much in Germany, so he moved back home to play for San Jose in the MLS. He became the face of the league and moved to LA Galaxy where he played second fiddle to English superstar David Beckham. He led the national team to the 2002 World Cup, winning back lost supporters of the American team.
His passion remains obvious despite many years in the game. He is one of the figures that the advancement of the MLS owes it success. Despite being retired, he is active in football in sport punditry roles and recently accepted the offer from Swansea new owners to act as adviser.
