Landon Donovan: Live Like a Playmaker

  One moment does not make a man.

Landon Donovan knows this well—and his career in Major League Soccer is packed with the kind of game-winning goals, technical assists, and athletic feats that keep the guys at SportsCenter busy long past the season’s end. Yet if he walked off the field tomorrow, he’d likely be remembered for one play in particular: His last-minute, history-making score against Algeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup that not only brought the U.S. Men’s National Team back from the brink of elimination (and won them the game), but also launched them into the cup’s second round for the first time since 1930. But for Donovan, the significance of that moment goes deeper: In an instant, the entire country rallied around a team and a sport that rarely enjoys the spotlight in mainstream American media.

“It was far from the greatest (or the most aesthetically pleasing) goal I ever scored, but the relevance of it made it special,” says Donovan, adding that there might be millions of kids who watched that moment and were inspired to start playing soccer. “And one day, they’ll grow up and their kids will play it—that’s how you build a fan base.”

It also helps to have a charismatic superstar like Donovan plugging the cause. At 29 years old, he already has three Major League Soccer Cup championships under his belt (two with the San Jose Earthquakes, and another with his current team, the Los Angeles Galaxy), and has received every major American soccer honor imaginable, including six Honda Player of the Year awards, four U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year awards, and one MLS MVP award. But for all of his enthusiasm for the country’s burgeoning professional soccer program, he also recognizes its shortcomings—a perspective gained by playing on the international stage, first with the German clubs Bayer Leverkusen (where he began his career in 1999) and Bayern Munich, and then with the English club Everton.

“What you see in England is a faster game—faster than anywhere in the world—so, mentally, you have to be able to stay in it for 90 minutes,” says Donovan. “Some of the players in our league don’t measure up to those guys. If you tune out for a second, you get punished.”

And then there’s the other side of the coin: Maintaining a peak level of fitness—an especially daunting task in a sport where the level of play and the frequency of games seems to increase every year. Donovan, for example, has played for three teams in two countries during the past two years with virtually no break in between. Competing in different leagues with different coaches, rules, and fitness levels—not to mention an insane travel schedule—is a lot for any body to handle, even an extraordinarily fit one like Donovan’s, but that’s the way of the future.

“My guess is that, going forward, players’ careers are going to be shortened because of how many competitions there are,” says Donovan. And from all indications, they’re also going to start younger. “Real Madrid recently signed a 7-year-old,” adds Donovan, who joined the U.S. national program as a teenager. “Seven! Learning how to deal with everything that comes with being a professional, and doing it at an increasingly early age, is difficult.”

For many players, the pressure proves too much. Careers start sooner, burn brighter, and fade faster. But Donovan believes he has found the key to longevity: Treating soccer like it’s meant to be treated—as a game. “A lot of guys want to sign with a big club or go somewhere for a lot of money, and they end up not playing,” says Donovan. “I’ve only ever made decisions that revolve around me actually getting to play. That’s why I got into this. It’s why I started as a kid. And at the end of it all, I just want to play as much as possible.”

At the same time, Donovan knows that the hourglass of his career is running out, and with it his hopes of winning a World Cup Title. It’s normal to feel that kind of looming pressure, and lesser men might crumble under its weight, or use it as an excuse to step aside or slow down. Not Donovan. “A lot gets thrown at athletes these days, and everyone is trying to pull you one way or the other,” he says. “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that the most important thing is to take care of—and to be true to—yourself.” And for Donovan, that means playing not for titles, awards, or money, but rather for the love of the sport—and helping others to do the same.