Landon Donovan

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American soccer player who plays for the LA Galaxy. He has previously played for Bayer Leverkusen, San Jose Earthquakes, Bayern Munich, Everton, and the United States men's national soccer team. He usually plays as a withdrawn forward for the Galaxy, but can also play as an attacking midfielder on either wing. He is widely considered the greatest soccer player to come out of the U.S..

A member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida, Donovan was declared player of the tournament for his role in the United States U17 that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, Donovan later signed with the German team Bayer Leverkusen. After six years with the club, the majority of which was spent on loan at the San Jose Earthquakes, Donovan moved to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005, though he returned to the Bundesliga for a three-month spell at the start of 2009 on loan to Bayern Munich. He went on loan again from January to March 2010 with English Premier League team Everton.

In Major League Soccer, Donovan has won five MLS Cups and is the league's all-time top scorer with 136 goals.

For the United States men's national team, Donovan is the all-time leader in scoring and assists, and has the most caps of all active players. Donovan is the only American player to reach the 50 goals/50 assists mark. He is a four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award (the only man to do so and the first man to win in consecutive years), as well as the only seven-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award. Donovan starred in the U.S. team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup where he received the Best Young Player Award. His three goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup made Donovan the highest scoring male American player in World Cup history and one of the three male American players to score in more than one World Cup (along with Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey).

Donovan is widely considered to be the best player to ever come out of the United States. On August 7, 2014, Donovan announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2014 MLS season.

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