Give And Go Special: USA's Landon Donovan

Los Angeles Galaxy captain - and occasional U.S. captain - Landon Donovan was one of the star players for the Americans in their unexpected run to the final in the Confederations Cup tournament. He scored the goal that temporarily put the USA up 2-0 on Brazil in that match, before the South Americans rallied for three goals and the title.

The midfielder/forward took the time to speak exclusively with Goal.com's Andrea Canales on his experience in the tournament, new offers from squads abroad, and what has changed for the U.S. team.


Andrea Canales: Taking a look back at the Confederations Cup, how will you remember the tournament?

Landon Donovan: What I'll remember most is probably the emotion - and the range of it. We went from being so excited about it, and then within four days, we thought we were out of it, having to come back and then to do as well as we did, only to finish disappointed. It was so up and down the whole time. It was fun, though.What I'm proudest of - just how we kept fighting. I don't think there's a lot of teams that would continue to believe like we did, to take our opportunities like we did and make the most of it. That was really incredible.

Against Spain in particular, what was the team's approach?

In a game like that, you don't have a lot to lose. What we talked about was before was that we should just go for it - be aggressive and try to put them under pressure. They are a team who usually gets to do whatever they want on the field. Other teams back off them in a game. We said from the beginning that we were just going to go after them. If it didn't work out, we'd know we gave it our best try. What happened is that it stunned then and it put them on their heels. From there, we were able to play a really good game and it took them too long to figure it out. By then it was a little too late.

The Confed Cup isn't at the level of the World Cup - did you feel less pressure in this tournament because of that?

We felt less pressure in some ways because of the reality of how difficult our group was going to be. But the thing about this is that you only get so many chances to play in a tournament like this. You don't want to waste it. For a lot of our guys, they hadn't been in a situation like that. When it's all said and done, that whole experience, getting that many games and going through all that we went through, that's going to help us a lot next year, if and when we qualify. There's no other games, no friendlies, no qualifying, that can prepare you for that - but a tournament like we just had can prepare you for the World Cup, so that was really important for us.

Halftime of the game versus Brazil - you're up by a pair of goals - what are you thinking and what is the team focusing on?

What we were thinking at that point - sounds funny now - is, "Don't give up an early goal after halftime." Because the longer the game went 2-0, we figured that they'd be coming forward and leaving spaces and if we stayed compact, there would be chances to get a third goal and finish the game. Obviously that got turned on its head by giving up that third goal, which was frustrating.

Where does that loss rank, in terms of games where the U.S. had a chance against a big team and couldn't close it out?

It was similar to the way we felt after the Germany game (in World Cup 2002). We made a couple of mistakes in both games, but overall, we played about as well as we can play. At the end of the day, the reality is that we have - and I look at the rosters and look at the players on the field - we had four or five guys in that game who don't play games regularly with their club team. On the other hand, they have one guy, Pato, who scored 15, 17 goals for one of the biggest teams in the world with AC Milan. That's the reality. We know we have the ability to be good, but we need more guys playing in big games on a weekly basis - or just playing, on a regular basis, so when we get up 2-0, they're going to know how to finish it.

Is the playing time so important that some guys should return to MLS, perhaps? How does the lack of playing time for some affect overall team performance?

There's different parts to that. If you're not playing in games and making decisions on a regular basis, it's going to show up in a game like that. It's not like we're playing one of the weaker teams in CONCACAF - we're playing Italy and Brazil. You have to be as sharp as you can, and even then, you might not win the game. But when you're not playing, when you're not sharp, that takes a toll on you. That's what we were up against.

In terms of a move abroad, which type of club would you be most interested in joining?

I've played in a lot of different systems and styles. There's no particular style that I think I would want to play - but I do think there are style that would suit me better. Obviously, the way that the Spanish played would be a fun way to play, just because they're all so good. They're technically excellent and they see the game similar, I think, to the way I see it. That would be fun. But these games, all are different from one game to the next and the styles are different and the exposure to that is good, because it makes you better as a player.

You had said before that teams in Europe weren't beating down your door to sign you - after the Confederations Cup, are they at least knocking on it?

They're knocking. We'll see what happens. I'm willing to listen to anything - including MLS - if they want me to stay longer. We'll see how that pans out.

That's surprising that MLS is an option - you seemed pretty set at the close of last year on a move abroad.

I'll listen to anything right now. I want to be valued. I want to be appreciated. It remains to be seen what works out.

There's obviously the rest of the MLS season this year - is it a bit of an emotional comedown - returning to the Galaxy after playing against the likes of Spain, Brazil and so forth?

Believe it or not, it's uplifting. I see these guys nearly every day - they're almost like my family. So I'm excited to get back. I'm excited to play again. yeah, there won't be 40,000 people or the stakes that the Confederations Clup had on it, but I care about this team a lot and I want to help them win.

Switching gears to World Cup qualifying and taking on Mexico in Azteca - can this be the year for the USA to win there? What will it take?

We're going to take the same approach as we did to these last few games. There's what we want to do and there's the reality. The reality is that we've never won there. There's no reason to go in and be cautious and not try to win the game. So we're going to go for it and see where that gets us. If we can play Egypt, Spain, Italy and Brazil well and win some of those games and compete in the other games, then there's no reason why we can't compete and even win when we go to Azteca.

You said that "We don't want respect, we want to win," but the U.S. team did get respect at the Confederations Cup. Does that change anything for the team?

It's still nice to get respect. I think that what respect ultimately means for us is that more American players will get a chance to play, or get a look from teams. That makes us better overall. We have a decent amount of guys playing in high-level games, but we've got some guys who aren't playing at all. If we can get more guys playing at a high level, that makes us more competitive. We have the talent, we have the ability to be as good as any U.S. team has ever been.

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