Landon Donovan

I've read that some people call Landon Donovan the Kobe Bryant of soccer; I wonder if the day will come when people call Bryant the Landon Donovan of basketball? Arguably the best player that soccer-lukewarm America has ever produced has taken his world-class game from casual kids' matches in the backyards of Redlands, to the massive professional arenas of Europe, and back to Southern California, to the L.A. Galaxy in Carson. Come June, Donovan is expected to anchor the U.S. team in the World Cup. You've heard of it?

VS. SAN JOSE When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: KDOC, KWHY; Radio: 1330. Records: Galaxy 3-6-2, San Jose 7-2-3. Record vs. Earthquakes: First meeting. Update: Yes, that really is the Galaxy in last place in the Western Conference, looking for its first win since April 14. And the defending MLS champions will be doing that without two of their highly paid designated players, because captain Landon Donovan and striker Robbie Keane will miss at least the next three weeks because of international duty, Donovan with the U.S. and Keane with Ireland.

Coaches come and coaches go, but Landon Donovan remains as vital a player as ever for the U.S. national soccer team. On Friday night at 8, when the U.S. plays Costa Rica in a friendly international at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Donovan is set to make his 138th appearance for his country and will seek to add to his record haul of 46 goals. It will be his second game under new Coach Juergen Klinsmann. Like former U.S. coaches Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, Klinsmann has long recognized Donovan's value to the national team — his experience, his pace, his ability to read the game, his finishing.

Galaxy tonight AT CHIVAS USA When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN 2, ESPN Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 3-5-2, Chivas USA 3-6-1. Record vs. Chivas USA: First meeting. Update: They call this matchup of Home Depot Center roommates the SuperClasico, but there's likely to be nothing either super or classic about a game between two losing teams languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

The Galaxy invited season-ticket holders to a lunch-time news conference Wednesday and many fans expected the team to announce that forward Landon Donovan would be leaving for the English Premier League. Instead, the team announced its captain and leading scorer had signed a four-year contract that would keep him in Los Angeles through 2013. "Thank you, Landon!" one fan shouted at Donovan, who responded with a shy grin. And Donovan had reason to smile -- millions of them -- since the value of his contract more than doubles the $900,000 base salary he got from the Galaxy last season, when he led it to the Major League Soccer championship game and was selected the league's most valuable player.

Just when we thought the David Beckham experiment -- to borrow a popular phrase -- would soon be coming to an end, there were signs Monday that it could be a longer-running production than expected. So don't be surprised if Beckham and his Galaxy teammate and new best pal Landon Donovan appear together in Major League Soccer's All-Star game in Sandy, Utah, on July 29. It might well happen. Although they have not exactly kissed and made up, their mini-feud is history. At least for now.

David Beckham wasn't there. The Galaxy was without its star midfielder Wednesday night for the third time this season. He was in (old) England. He'll rejoin his teammates in New England this weekend when they face the Revolution. There's a historical pun in there somewhere. But while Beckham stayed in his native land, where Tuesday he played a testimonial match with former teammate Gary Neville, the Galaxy posted a 1-0 win against the Houston Dynamo before 14,458 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Why all this fuss over Landon Donovan? Major League Soccer's highest-paid and most-prized American asset supposedly is contemplating a winter loan move to Everton of the English Premier League, where he would join U.S. teammate and goalkeeper Tim Howard. Everton Coach David Moyes' club apparently wants Donovan in the hope that the Galaxy forward can either score or set up enough goals to steer the team out of relegation danger and back toward respectability. Everton, which climbed to 15th place in the 20-team Premier League by managing an improbable 3-3 tie with league leader Chelsea in London on Saturday, hopes to land Donovan during the January transfer window.

The face of U.S. soccer often hides behind a hat and sunglasses. "And a fake nose," the face adds with a smile. Clearly anyone who believes Americans have ignored the world's most popular sport has never gone to the mall with Landon Donovan. "It used to bother me, before the World Cup," Donovan says of being mobbed in public. "If I'm out just like this with no hat on or no glasses, then I have to assume that's going to happen. But it's part of it. " "It" being the fallout from a spectacular World Cup in which Donovan scored three times in four matches, lifting the U.S. into the second round with a stunning extra-time goal that beat Algeria and made him a national star overnight.

The last time Galaxy forward Landon Donovan and midfielder David Beckham played a full 90 minutes together was May 14, when the two combined to score three goals. But since then, Donovan has left for, and since returned from, a month of international duty in the Gold Cup while Beckham is now battling a back injury. In those eight weeks, the Galaxy has won four games and drawn four games, extending its unbeaten streak to 11. "If you put together the number of games that the key players have missed," Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena said, "and at the end of all of this we're still the team with the most points in the league, it isn't that bad. " Even with Donovan back in the starting lineup Monday in a scoreless draw against the Seattle Sounders, the Galaxy lacked the spark and cohesiveness that were once its trademarks.

Apparently the Angels aren't the only ones who aren't getting what they paid for. Just a few miles down the freeway Major League Soccer's Galaxy has put together the most expensive collection of stars in its sport too. And though that brought them a title last year, the embarrassment of riches has been just that — an embarrassment — so far this season. After Saturday's 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Joel Lindpere's first-half goal, the Galaxy has already lost as many games this year — five — as it did all of last season.

When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: KDOC, KWHY; Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 3-3, FC Dallas 3-3-2. Record vs. Dallas (2011): 1-1. Update: Josh Saunders' diving stop of a penalty kick last week in Colorado not only preserved a 2-1 win, but it gave the Galaxy a two-game winning streak, evened its season record at 3-3 and gave the team some valuable momentum heading into Saturday's match with a tired FC Dallas.

A few hours before a wary Landon Donovan ran onto the practice field at the Home Depot Center on Thursday, a funeral took place in Bergamo, Italy. And those two events may have more in common than you think. Piermario Morosini, a 25-year-old midfielder for Livorno in Italy's Serie B, collapsed and died of cardiac arrest in the first half of his team's match last weekend. He was laid to rest Thursday, with thousands of fans packing the streets of his hometown as his coffin, draped in numerous jerseys passed.

Wouldn't you know it? As soon as the stumbling Galaxy figure things out, beating D.C. United, 3-1, Sunday for its first win this season, it gets the next two weeks off. Turns out that's a good thing. Because not only is the Galaxy exhausted after starting the year with four games in 12 days, but some of its players are still trying to learn each other's names. Take striker Robbie Keane and midfielder Marcelo Sarvas, for example. They combined for the Galaxy's three goals Sunday but they didn't meet for the first time until the team gathered at the airport to fly to its opening game, which also marked the first time Keane and striker Edson Buddle played together.

Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan, who is battling bronchitis, withdrew Sunday from the U.S. national team ahead of its friendly Wednesday in Italy. Donovan, the U.S. team's all-time leader in goals and assists, also sat out two dates with the U.S. team in the fall while preparing for the MLS Cup final, which the Galaxy won, 1-0, on a goal by Donovan. Donovan, who had been playing the past two months with Everton of the English Premier League, sat out his last game there because of illness and has not trained with the Galaxy since returning from Europe.

Galaxy forwards Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle were called up to the U.S. men's national soccer team Thursday, ahead of its Feb. 29 friendly with Italy in Genoa. The U.S. is on a roll under new coach Juergen Klinsmann, having won its last three Neither Donovan nor Buddle played in any of those matches. "I'm excited about getting everybody together and challenging a world-class team like former World Cup winner Italy on their home soil. I think we have put a very competitive roster together," Klinsmann said.  The team the U.S. will take to Italy is heavy with European-based players, with nine leagues from eight countries represented on the 21-man roster.

Mexico fears no one. That, at least, is the image that Coach Javier Aguirre and the players on Mexico's national soccer team like to project. Fans of "El Tri" feel the same way. The truth is somewhat different. Mexico should fear Landon Donovan. The Galaxy and U.S. national team forward's blazing acceleration and blistering shot are game-changers. He can beat anyone. Even Mexico. Even at Azteca Stadium. On Wednesday afternoon, he will have the chance. The U.S. has never defeated the Mexican national team in Mexico.

There was not a vuvuzela within earshot Sunday at the Home Depot Center, and the buzzing horns that have become the unpleasant soundtrack of the World Cup were not missed during the Galaxy's game against the Seattle Sounders. "It's not an attractive sound at all. I don't know why they like hearing it so much," said Galaxy forward Edson Buddle, who heard them up-close-and-annoying while playing for Team USA in South Africa. He much preferred what he heard during the Galaxy's 3-1 victory: the joyful noise of a holiday crowd celebrating the goal he scored off a setup from World Cup teammate Landon Donovan, each playing his first MLS game since the U.S. was eliminated by Ghana in a heartbreaking, extra-time loss in the round of 16. If Buddle had played more in South Africa, maybe they could have combined for a few goals like that and the U.S. might have advanced to the quarterfinals.