Landon Donovan is officially retired, forever this time, he promises, and to celebrate he jumped off a food truck into a crowd of USMNT fans.
So this happened last night. #DontWorryWeCaughtLandon #AONB4 pic.twitter.com/kckrAHVtGh
According to ESPN, Real Salt Lake and another team from the MLS Eastern Conference have entered discussions with Landon Donovan over the 34-year-old continuing his career in 2017.
Donovan made a shock return for the LA Galaxy in 2016, appearing in nine matches for a Los Angeles squad that had been left depleted in attack following a serious injury to Gyasi Zardes and the questionable fitness of Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard.
Of all the big name, designated players on show during Sunday’s Western Conference semifinal between the Colorado Rapids and LA Galaxy (Tim Howard, Jermaine Jones, Steven Gerrard, Giovani dos Santos and Robbie Keane), it was the least-celebrated DP who made the biggest difference: Swiss attacking midfielder Shkelzen Gashi.
Gashi scored his 10th goal in MLS, and it was an absolute stunner. With the Galaxy enjoying a 1-0 aggregate lead following their victory in Los Angeles in the first leg, Gashi’s 36th minute wonder goal evened the score for Colorado.
Landon Donovan, the all-time leader in scoring, assists and second most capped player in USMNT history, to go along with MLS’ all-time top scorer, assists leader and playoff goals leader has added another distinction to his legacy: he’s now MLS’ all-time leader in playoff assists with 15.
The Galaxy mercilessly ended a careening Real Salt Lake season, the Claret and Cobalt having limped into the playoffs after collecting only three points from their final seven regular season games.
Eight months after the kick off to the 2016 campaign, the MLS season has finally reached the playoff stage. In a case of switching identifies, last year’s champions, the Portland Timbers, failed to make the knockout round, while typical basement dwellers Colorado were a pacesetting team from start to finish. San Jose, Houston and Vancouver join Portland on the outside looking in, all hoping to be next year’s Rapids.
After yet another impressive season, FC Dallas finish top of the Western Conference and MLS, winning the 2016 Supporters’ Shield.
A few weeks back Landon Donovan returned to the LA Galaxy to close out the 2016 season. The media were stunned. While the reaction should have been primarily excitement and respect, many in the fan community appear as cynical as ever.
After two season out of the game, Donovan decided to rejoin the Galaxy after they suffered a number of injuries and needed depth to close the year out. Once people realized it was not an off-calendar April Fools Day joke, the skepticism began.
When the LA Galaxy announced Landon Donovan's return from retirement, many wondered if Donovan could even still play. Had he been out of soccer for too long to be able to make an impact on the field? Could he actually help the Galaxy or is this just a publicity stunt to sell more shirts?
Those questions are all valid. And Landon has an answer.
For manager Bruce Arena and the LA Galaxy, they couldn’t have scripted Sunday night any better themselves. The Galaxy jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Orlando City by the game’s 70th minute, allowing Arena to substitute the night’s main attraction, Landon Donovan, into the match in the 83rd minute.
Permitting Donovan a few minutes, ending the media frenzy surrounding his comeback and giving the announced crowd of 27,167 a glimpse of what they came for were all positives for the Galaxy.
2016, you scoundrel! First, we had the trauma and ecstasy of Lionel Messi’s short-lived retirement. Now, we have this: Landon Donovan is set to end his retirement to return to the LA Galaxy for the remainder of the MLS season.