Donovan Landon Timothy is a former American footballer who is best known for playing in the Los Angeles Galaxy and the US national team.
Dossier
Landon Donovan was born on March 4, 1982 in Ontario (California, USA). US citizen. Years of performance in big football - 1999-2014. Game position - midfielder / striker. Height 174 cm, weight 68 kg. Married. The wife's name is Henna Bartell. During the period of performances, he was distinguished not only by straightforwardness, but also by decent speed, good technique, constant charge for power struggle.
Performance Statistics
Landon Donovan is a unique football player. He played in the championships of three countries (USA, Germany and England) for 5 different clubs. At the club level, he played 478 fights, in which he scored 190 goals. But Landon gained international fame not because of his appearances in leading European teams, but solely because of the excellent game in the MLS championship for the Los Angeles Galaxy club, as well as the US team. The player’s club career took place in the teams:
- 1999/05 - Bayer (Germany);
- 2001/04 - San Jose Earthworks (USA);
- 2005/14 - Los Angeles Galaxy (USA);
- 2009 - Bavaria (Germany);
- 2010, 2012 - Everton (England).
In the U.S. youth team, Landon Donovan began to be involved in 1998. In the period from 1998 to 2000, he played for U-17 and U-21 (56 matches, 44 goals). In 2000, he played four meetings for the US Olympic team (1 goal). From 2000 to 2014, Donovan played 157 matches for the main team of his country, in which he scored 57 goals.
Stages of the football path
Unlike most of the local boys who raved about hockey and American football, little Donovan fell in love with socker from an early age. Already at the age of six, he became a student at the IMG Football Academy - a school where young players were trained as part of the development and training program for junior, youth and Olympic teams in the United States. From 1988 to 1999, he improved his skills as part of the Cal Heath and IMG Academy youth teams.
Oddly enough, the first professional club with which Donovan entered into an agreement was the representative of the German Bundesliga Leverkusen Bayer. Landon signed a six-year contract with this team. The young player tried very hard to show himself from the very best side to become a full-fledged footballer of the Bayer main squad. However, after playing 8 matches for Bayer 2, he was handed over as a rented player to the San Jose Airtwakes. Donovan got the opportunity to prove his professionalism in his homeland at the MLS championship, in which the best clubs in the USA and Canada take part.
And Landon proved. For four years of playing in the American team, he became one of the best football players in the United States, and later the No. 1 scorer of the national team. He played 101 matches for Ertweiks, scored 42 goals, and was recognized three times in a row as the best player of the year in the USA.
In 2005, as the football star of the MLS championship, he again tried to test himself in the German championship. The second approach was more successful, but not sufficient to satisfy the player’s ambitions. After spending seven games for Bayer, Landon returns to the United States again. This time (by agreement with the leadership of the Leverkusen club), he chooses a team for himself.
The choice fell on the Los Angeles Galaxy. In this club Donovan performed for ten years. From 2005 to 2014, he played 270 matches, scored 121 goals. At one time, he spoke side by side with David Beckham himself, giving him a captain's armband as a sign of respect. But after the English player moved to Milan, Landon again became the team captain on an ongoing basis. In September 2010, Donovan became the best Galaxy goalie in the history of the club.
It so happened that in the off-season MLS, the best players in the American League enter into short-term contracts with the European teams of Italy, England, Germany. Our hero succumbed to such temptation. From November 2008 to March 2009 he again (for the third and last time) tries his hand at the Bundesliga. But this time he is not returning to Bayer. Landon concludes a short-term lease agreement with the German football grand Munich Bayern.
Unfortunately, Donovan didn’t succeed here either (the alliance Donovan Landon - Bayern did not take place). The number, as the fakirs say, failed. Having played five friendly and five official matches for the Munich club, the football player once again flies home through the open spaces of the Atlantic.
He makes another attempt to declare himself in the “old world” at the end of the 2009 MLS championship season by signing a lease agreement with the English Everton. And she succeeded. For the London club, Landon played 13 matches (2 goals), was recognized as the player of the month in the championship of England, and the leadership of the team was interested in his services. But here the extension of the contract was prevented by the Galaxy leadership, and Donovan returned home. Once again, he visited Everton in 2012, but it would be better if he did not. Having played 7 fights, the football player ordered a ticket for the flight London - New York. So why was a football player named Donovan Landon unable to fully play in Europe?
Bayern did not want to extend the agreement due to the presence of such forwards who at that time could not warm the store of substitutes (Luca Toni, Miroslav Klose). Everton was unable (for the first time) to settle the financial terms of the contract with Galaxy, and then he himself ended up in a financial hole. Bayer simply relied on other players who had, although less talented, but a more compliant character.
Domestic fan Donovan Landon was remembered for his performances at the world championships of 2002 and 2010 as part of the US team. At the world championships in Japan and Korea, he scored goals against Poland and Mexico. Here, his team overcame the stage of the group stage and fought in the quarterfinals with the German team. And although the "staff" and lost to the "Bundesmashina" (0: 1), Donovan himself was recognized as the best young player in the tournament. The 2006 World Cup was less successful for the US team (the team dropped out after the group stage). Landon also took part in the 2010 World Cup, where his ball, scored in the 91 minute match with the national team of Algeria, was recognized as not only one of the most beautiful in the tournament, but also helped the Americans to leave the group. And although the US team lost in the 1/8 finals to the team of Ghana, Donovan again earned respect and recognition with his game. He could take part at the 2014 World Cup, but at the last moment head coach Jürgen Klinsmann refused the services of an age-old and absurd player.
In general, the international football career of a football player was not limited to playing in the world championships. He took part in the Confederations Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, Pan American Games.
Trophies and Achievements
Landon has so many team trophies and personal awards that we will list only the most important and worthy of mention. As part of the US team, he became the four-time winner of the CONCACAF Gold Cup (2002, 2005, 2007, 20013), the silver medalist of the Confederations Cup (2009). As a Galaxy player, Donovan Landon was a two-time US Championship winner and four-time owner of the MLS Cup.
Personal awards and achievements: “Golden Ball” of the best player of the 1999 World Cup (U-17), prize of the best scorer of the MLS Championship of 2008 (20 goals). Donovan Landon is a member of the symbolic MLS team of all time, the seven-time best football player in the US national team, the best scorer (144 goals) and the best passer (136) in the history of MLS, the top scorer in the US national team (57 goals).