CARSON, Calif. – Landon Donovan is back in Southern California and the LA Galaxy are confident that the club’s captain will be back to fitness soon after withdrawing from the U.S. National Team’s squad ahead of World Cup Qualifying.
Donovan returned to Southern California on Tuesday evening and is scheduled to be evaluated by the team’s physician Dr. Bert Mandelbaum.
The 30-year-old Donovan was forced to withdraw from the USMNT squad on Tuesday after being evaluated by the National Team training staff upon his arrival to the team’s training camp in Miami. Donovan’s injury—that he described as a “knee issue” – first surfaced during the closing moments of last week’s 2-1 defeat to Real Salt Lake.
Although LA’s captain was forced to withdraw from the U.S. qualifiers, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena is confident that his captain will be back on the field soon.
“I don't believe that it is anything serious and we will see him back again,” said Arena after the club’s training session on Wednesday. “We're hopeful that it is nothing serious and we're optimistic."
Whether Donovan is fit in time for LA’s next match, on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 21, remains to be seen, but the Galaxy and even the head coach of U.S Soccer Jurgen Klinsmann believe that he needs time to heal.
“Landon was very optimistic over the weekend when his knee was feeling much better,” U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a statement provided by U.S. Soccer on Tuesday, “but now he needs time to recover.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
