CARSON, Calif. -- In his first in-game action in a little less than a month, Landon Donovan hardly missed a beat as he tallied a goal and an assist in his first ever Reserve League performance with the LA Galaxy on Monday during LA's 4-0 victory over the Portland Timbers on Monday.
Donovan came on in the 57th minute and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as in the 60th minute, he sent in a through-ball that found Pat Noonan, who beat Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson for LA's second goal of the afternoon. Noonan would repay the favor in the 65th minute when Donovan played a ball out to Noonan on the left, the forward then crossed a ball into Donovan that he easily finished for the Galaxy's third goal of the game.
Following the match, Donovan told reporters that while he felt "tired and out of shape" -- and will likely take it easier during Tuesday's practice -- that he'll "be ready for Friday" when the Galaxy host the Colorado Rapids.
Below are Donovan's thoughts from the match:
(On his condition after the game...)
DONOVAN: "It was fun, it was a really good result for us. Those guys [the Reserves] played a game six days ago in San Jose and were pretty disappointed so I thought that the attitude of all those guys was good and a really good win today.
(On his impact on the match in a reserve capacity..)
DONOVAN: "Well, that's your job when you come off the bench. On a day like today, it's a lot easier than normal because it's really hot and everyone is kind of worn out so if you have any kind of energy then you can make an impact and Pat [Noonan], Jack [McBean] and I were able to do that."
(On being ready for Friday and potentially being 90 minutes fit...)
DONOVAN: "I'll be ready for Friday...That's always dictated by the game, but the thing is, as a forward it's a little easier than if you're in the midfield doing a lot of doggy work. I should be fine."
(On what he liked about his performance...)
DONOVAN: "It's fun to play with a lot of these guys who don't get a chance to get a lot of minutes with the first team and it's nice to have a positive impact. It's nice to try to have a positive impact and I talk to these guys a lot, but it's different when you can show them and I'm glad that Pat and I were able to do that."
(On his play with Noonan...)
DONOVAN: "Like I said, everyone is tired so we're at a big advantage when you come into a game like that. As you can tell, it's really hot today so the majority of the time, you're playing against guys that aren't game fit so we want to take advantage of that and Pat's a good soccer player and knows how to play the game properly."
(On if he's played in a Reserve League match before...)
DONOVAN: "I think that was the first time. Leverkusen, I did. I played in a lot of Reserve League games there. This was my debut and I'm going to go on top with a win."
(On how he decided to play in the Reserve League...)
DONOVAN: "I asked them last week if I was ready if I could play and they wanted to see how I had progressed, I was still not training on Friday or Saturday and on Sunday, I was able to do a little bit. So if I had the chance, I wanted to and Curt [Onalfo] was great and let me play."
(On the condition of his hamstring...)
DONOVAN: "We're getting better. It's a fine line between it being ready enough to play on and not hurting anymore. Right now it's just ready enough to start working on and now we have to be careful with it to get ready for Friday."
