Landon's burning ambition
Monday, 7 March 2005
By Simon Hart and Pete Sanderson

  

Donovan's desperate to start


They insist on calling it soccer and it will never realistically replace
basketball, baseball and American football as their national sport - but
Landon Donovan is adamant that Americans are slowly falling in love with the
game Europeans call football.

Football addict
Donovan himself has been a football addict all his life. When Bayer 04
Leverkusen first snapped him up back in 1999, experts believed the club had
secured the services of one of the brightest talents in the game. However,
his career in the Bundesliga did not go to plan. In his first season with
Leverkusen he found himself playing for the reserves and failed to make an
appearance in the German top division.

I am ready for everything that Europe has to throw at me

Landon Donovan  


'Too young'
Never one to give in, Donovan returned in January, declaring: "I am ready for
everything that Europe has to throw at me." Brave words indeed - but he was
true to his word and has since played a key role in their Bundesliga campaign
and adapted to the European lifestyle in a way he never believed he could. "I
was perhaps a bit too young last time," he said. "It is a huge move across
the Atlantic but I am the kind of person who does not like to fail at
anything I do and I owed it to myself and the Leverkusen fans to give it
another shot."

Winning philosophy
Donovan enjoys the simple things in life. His ideal day in Germany involves a
rigorous training session with his club before spending some quality time
trying to steer the United States to victory in the FIFA World Cup on his
games console - a feat which eluded his country at the 2002 World Cup after
they were knocked out by Germany, the country where he now resides. The good
news for Leverkusen though is Donovan subscribes to the same winning
philosophy on the pitch as he does on his computer game.

Liverpool defeat
"America is a nation of winners - there is no doubt about that," said
Donovan. "That's why it hurt so much for me when we lost to Liverpool [FC] in
the first leg of the [UEFA] Champions League round of 16. In all honestly, we
got beat pretty badly. We had a great chance at 1-0 to equalise through
[Dimitar] Berbatov but we didn't take it and we paid for it. I thought
Liverpool played really well though."

Late strike
The 22-year-old was only given a 21-minute cameo role at Anfield as his side
crashed to a 3-1 defeat. But his introduction seemed to inspire his
team-mates and he was instrumental in the build up to Fran?a's last-gasp goal
- a strike which kept hopes of a last-eight spot intact. And Donovan admitted
after the game he would like nothing more than to get the opportunity to
start the second leg.

'Early goal'
"The second leg will be very interesting," Donovan told uefa.com. "It will be
a great game. At 3-0 I think it would have been a lot different but to have
scored is very important. If we score an early goal it will be very
interesting."

American input
Even if Leverkusen fail in their quest for a quarter-final spot, it will
still be regarded as a successful year for America's European representatives.
With Tim Howard back in favour at Manchester United FC and DaMarcus Beasley
playing regularly at PSV Eindhoven, the USA can boast three players in the
Champions League's knockout stages. And, with the USA well on course for
Germany, perhaps Donovan's computer dreams can become a reality.

Print ?
--
FROM 166.111.180.39