Home Sweet Home

Since the United States' early exit from the World Cup, it has been widely speculated that Landon Donovan is most comfortable playing soccer in his homeland. That's an acceptable distinction for someone from England or Italy, but not for a California boy. Here in the states, we expect our best players to challenge themselves in Europe.

This speculation put Donovan in an impossible position upon returning to the L.A. Galaxy. Consider: Had he played listlessly in his first game back we would have dubbed his performance a mere continuation of his uncommitted, disinterested play in the World Cup. On the other hand, when he played well in his return to MLS, scoring two goals and leading the Galaxy to their first win since the Clinton administration, Donovan, in a sense, could be said to have perpetuated the belief that his comfort zone stretches only from sea to shining sea.

Play awful and he's washed up. Play well and he's a limited player, capable of a good performace in only the most welcoming of situations.

That's obviously an oversimplification of Donovan - I thought he played competently against Ghana and Italy (though still not well enough to be the new number 10) and, had he just played a decent game against the Czechs, the casual fan wouldn't have picked him out as underacheiving. But he gave Arena the chance to publically bash him and, consequently, the media and U.S. fan base are now down on Donovan.

The dillema of his return to MLS shows you that Donovan can't beat this bad rap as a member of the L.A. Galaxy. And he likely can't quiet his critics with solid play in World Cup qualifying given the weakness of our country's region.

Sadly, barring a successful stint in Europe between now and 2010, Landon will have to wait until the World Cup South Africa to prove he can perform under adverse circumstances against the best the world has to offer.