COREY LOWENSTEIN - clowenst@newsobserver.com
Landon Donovan, right, stretches with teammates during the U.S. national team's practice on Monday.
CARY -- The burden of stardom did not come easily to Landon Donovan. Look no further than his first attempts to play overseas, in Germany, which weren't a huge success.
You'd never know it now, not as the U.S. National Team wraps up its preparations at WakeMed Soccer Park for Saturday's friendly in Foxboro, Mass., against Spain ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Donovan seems at ease, comfortable in his role as the Face of American Soccer, aware of how his domestic profile has risen since last summer's World Cup.
At the moment, Donovan may not be the biggest star on the L.A. Galaxy, his MLS team - that's David Beckham, whose popularity transcends sports - but he is the most prominent star the United States has to offer, on and off the field. It's something he has learned to live with, a process he has undertaken on his own.
"It's a progression," Donovan said Wednesday. "You have to kind of take the ego out of it and realize what it is, I guess in a more genuine way. It's flattering to hear things like that, to be treated that way by opponents, but at the end of the day you have a job to do, and all of that goes away if you don't play well. So I keep it in perspective."
Being the focus of attention is more than merely mentally taxing. Even in a training session, Donovan knows he has to work harder to create space than other players, a determination audibly discernable by the meaty "thunk" of his elbow into Sacha Kljestan's chest as the two jockey for position on the field, the ball nowhere in sight.
The rewards, of course, are manifest: Donovan, the national team's statistical leader in nearly every category, will forever be remembered for his injury-time goal against Algeria that moved the United States into the second round. The loss there to Ghana was a disappointment, but making it out of the group at least cleared the bar set for last summer, and the opening-round drama served American soccer as well as further success would have.
After a 1-1 draw against England, the U.S. fell two goals behind Slovenia before Donovan started the comeback for a 2-2 draw - and appeared to set up Maurice Edu's late winner before it was ruled out by incompetent referee Koman Coulibaly.
The United States needed a win against Algeria to advance, and it took 91 minutes before Donovan poked in a Clint Dempsey rebound to set off delirious celebrations back at home. It was a great moment for U.S. soccer, and a great moment for Donovan.
For some of the Europe-based players on the U.S. team - like Dempsey, who plays in England and whose profile rivals Donovan's - not very much changed. "Since I've been over there it's pretty much been the same for me," Dempsey said Wednesday.
Donovan has played largely in America in recent years, other than one very successful winter loan to Everton in England before the World Cup, and for him, everything changed.
"Still, to this day, when I go out and meet people walking on the street, I still get the same comments I got when I got back from South Africa," Donovan said. "What we did gave people a memory that they'll have forever. The challenge now is to keep going and keep building on that."
Expectations are high for the United States at the Gold Cup, and the next World Cup, in Brazil, is a mere three years away. Donovan will be 32, presumably on top of his game. His time has come, and perhaps more important, he's ready for it.
