Landon Donovan

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Landon Donovan
Personal information
Full name	Landon Timothy Donovan
Date of birth	March 4, 1982 (age 25)
Place of birth	Ontario, California, USA
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Nickname	LD, Lando
Playing position	Midfielder/Forward
Club information
Current club	Los Angeles Galaxy (captain)
Number	10
Youth clubs
1999-2001	Bayer Leverkusen
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001-04 2004-05 2005–	→ San Jose Earthquakes (loan) Bayer Leverkusen Los Angeles Galaxy	87 (32) 07 0(0) 46 (24)
National team2
2000-	United States	87 (30)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 October 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982 in Ontario, California) is an American Soccer player, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy and the United States. He is the captain of both the Galaxy and the US National Team.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Trivia 3 Career statistics 3.1 Club career 3.2 International career 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Landon is the son of Tim Donovan, a former semi-pro hockey player from British Columbia, and Donna Kenney Cash. Donovan grew up in Redlands, California, and attended Redlands High School before transferring to Redlands East Valley. Landon signed a professional contract with Bayer Leverkusen in February 1999 at the age of 17, shortly before playing in the U-17 World Championship, where he won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

Donovan could not break into the first team with Leverkusen due age restrictions and, unhappy with his situation in Germany, was loaned to the San Jose Earthquakes, playing in Major League Soccer, for the 2001 season. In MLS, Donovan had immediate success, leading the Earthquakes to MLS Cup championships in 2001 and 2003 and becoming one of the most recognizable faces of soccer in America. In four years in the league, he scored 32 goals and 29 assists in league play, and 10 goals and six assists in the playoffs. Donovan was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2003.

After starring in the 2000 Summer Olympics, he earned his first cap for the U.S. National Team on October 25, 2000 against Mexico, scoring on his debut. He was integral to the United States' run to the quarterfinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, scoring two goals. Through the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he has amassed 88 caps for the US, scoring 30 goals, including a rare four-goal game against Cuba in 2003. On April 11, 2006, Donovan became the United States' all-time assist leader with 23 when he set up Ben Olsen. The previous all-time assist leader was Cobi Jones.

Donovan wore both numbers 21 and 10 on the national team, the latter when Claudio Reyna was unavailable (he also took over captain's duties in Reyna's absence). Since Reyna's retirement from the national team, Donovan now wears the number 10 full-time. However, in their first match under new coach Bob Bradley, Jimmy Conrad was given the captaincy.

On June 3, 2004, Bayer Leverkusen announced that Donovan would return to the club in 2005, and Landon followed suit, announcing his return to Germany on November 23, 2004. He then became the first man to be named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year two years in a row, taking the award for that year.

In early 2005, Donovan put in decent performances, but ultimately failed to impress. Most notable was a performance in the away fixture of UEFA Champions League against eventual champion Liverpool FC, where a Donovan turnover allowed a Liverpool forward to score one of three in a 3-1 loss. Donovan stated his intentions to come back to MLS, and club officials respected his wishes. However, because San Jose had traded away part of Donovan's allocation, a return to San Jose was not possible. One week before the start of the season, Los Angeles traded leading scorer Carlos Ruiz, a striker, to FC Dallas to get on top of the allocation pecking order and signed Donovan, a midfielder, on March 31, 2005.

In his first season with the Galaxy, Donovan scored 12 league goals and 10 assists and added four goals and an assist in the playoffs as the Galaxy won the MLS Cup (his third MLS championship to date). He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after the season. In his second season with the Galaxy, Donovan scored 12 league goals and 8 assists. Donovan also scored 3 goals in the Open Cup. Despite this, Donovan and the Galaxy failed to make the playoffs and lost in the Open Cup to Chicago Fire. Donovan's playoff goals make him MLS' 2nd all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with 14, behind Carlos Ruiz with 15.

Many soccer critics have criticized Donovan for returning to MLS, as he is perceived to be not up to the rigors of European soccer, [1] although he has expressed interest in playing in England someday. He was also criticized for his poor performance on the US national team at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.[2] With the completion of the 2006 World Cup Finals, Donovan had not scored for the national team in 17 straight matches.

When Donovan returned to the Galaxy after the 2006 World Cup, new head coach Frank Yallop awarded him the Los Angeles captaincy, taking over from Peter Vagenas, still active with the Galaxy. Donovan currently resides in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife, actress Bianca Kajlich. They married on December 31, 2006.[3]

On February 7, 2007, Donovan scored the United States' second goal in their 2-0 victory over Mexico in an international friendly in Glendale, Arizona, after assisting on their first goal by Jimmy Conrad. Donovan's goal was only his second in eighteen months[4]

On March 25, 2007, Donovan scored all three goals in USA's 3-1 win over Ecuador, leaving him just four goals behind Eric Wynalda as the US National team's all time leading scorer.

[edit] Trivia

During the voting for the 2002 FIFA World Player of the Year, Landon received two third place votes. As a result, Landon became both, the first (and only) American, and the first (and only) person playing in MLS (although he was officially contracted to Leverkusen at the time) to receive World Player of the Year Votes.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Club career

(correct through 2006 season)

All-Time club performance

Club	Season	Domestic			Domestic Cup		Playoffs		Continental		Total
		App	Goals	Assists	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Los Angeles Galaxy	2006	24	12	7	2	3	-	-	2	1	28	16
	2005	22	12	10	3	2	4	4	-	-	29	18
	Total	46	24	17	5	5	4	4	2	1	57	34
Bayer Leverkusen	2004-05	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	9	0
	Total	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	9	0
San Jose Earthquakes	2004	23	6	10	3	1	2	0	1	0	29	7
	2003	22	12	6	1	0	4	4	2	1	27	16
	2002	20	7	3	2	0	2	1	2	1	26	9
	2001	22	7	10	2	0	6	5	-	-	30	12
	Total	87	32	29	8	1	14	10	5	2	114	45
Career Totals		140	56	46	13	6	18	14	9	3	180	79

[edit] International career

National team	Season	Caps	Goals
United States	2000-07	88	30
	Total	88	30

[edit] See also

• List of current MLS players

[edit] External links

• Landon Donovan's U.S. Olympic Team profile
• Leverkusen Who's who
• Landon Donovan articles on Yanks Abroad

Preceded by Brad Friedel

U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 2003, 2004

Succeeded by Kasey Keller

Los Angeles Galaxy - Current Squad
1 Cronin | 4 Jazic | 5 Albright | 6 Gardner | 8 Vagenas | 10 Donovan | 11 Glinton | 12 Roberts | 13 Jones | 14 Marshall | 16 Veris | 18 Martino | 21 Gordon | 23 Kirk | 24 Sturgis | 25 Quaranta | – Cannon | – Findley | – Jaqua | – Randolph | – Thomas | Coach: Yallop

	United States squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Howard | 2 Albright | 3 Bocanegra | 4 Mastroeni | 5 O'Brien | 6 Cherundolo | 7 Lewis | 8 Dempsey | 9 Johnson | 10 Reyna | 11 Ching | 12 Berhalter | 13 Conrad | 14 Olsen | 15 Convey | 16 Wolff | 17 Beasley | 18 Keller | 19 Hahnemann | 20 McBride | 21 Donovan | 22 Onyewu | 23 Pope | Coach: Arena

	United States squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Friedel | 2 Hejduk | 3 Berhalter | 4 Mastroeni | 5 O'Brien | 6 Regis | 7 Lewis | 8 Stewart | 9 Moore | 10 Reyna | 11 Mathis | 12 Agoos | 13 Jones | 14 Cherundolo | 15 Wolff | 16 Llamosa | 17 Beasley | 18 Keller | 19 Meola | 20 McBride | 21 Donovan | 22 Sanneh | 23 Pope | Coach: Arena

Major League Soccer | MLS All-Time Best XI
Tony Meola | Jeff Agoos | Marcelo Balboa | Eddie Pope | Landon Donovan | Marco Etcheverry Piotr Nowak | Preki | Carlos Valderrama | Brian McBride | Jaime Moreno

Persondata
NAME	Donovan, Landon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH	March 4, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ontario, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH