Landon Donovan talks in this article about how he gets support from Mexican fans in Los Angeles.
It's true, I've seen green national team jerseys wait for him both at Galaxy practice and USMNT practice.
Just after the draw versus Guatemala this year, when every morning I was clearing my email of messages where the subject line read stuff like "DoNoHeart doesn't want to go to Venezuela? Good riddance!" I was interviewing Landon after a Galaxy practice. We were walking as we talked, and passed in front of the receiving dock for the HDC stadium. A Latino guy stuck his head out of the window of his big truck. "Are you Landon Donovan?" He seemed incredulous. "Yeah," Landon answered. The guy hesitated, as if torn, then he gave Landon a thumbs up and said, "Good job, man!". "Thanks," Landon responded. "Does that happen a lot?" I asked him. He shrugged. "It happens."
I remember once telling Luis that Mexican fans seemed to have more respect for Landon than most U.S. fans. I still think that's pretty valid, although impossible to really measure.
Andrea, next time you see Landon, if you don't mind, ask him what the Mexican player was saying to him as he squatted down "collecting himself" before his PK. We'd already seen Oswaldo blowing him a kiss; I'd love to know what the other player said to him.
ReplyDeleteAs if they could throw LD off his game. He's their daddy!
So true nicky. He may not be as good as some people would want, but he clearly deserves his props as one of the best (if not the best) the US currently has to offer.
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