During his state of the league teleconference with media members on Monday, MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters that he plans to reach out to Landon Donovan as the LA Galaxy captain refects on his future following Saturday's MLS Cup.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Baxter, Donovan admitted that he'll take time to evaluate his desire to continue playing following Saturday's MLS Cup against the Houston Dynamo at The Home Depot Center.
Garber's complete comments on Donovan are below.
GARBER: “I hope to spend a little time with Landon. I don’t think anybody who loves this game and is connected to U.S. Soccer or Major League Soccer doesn’t fully appreciate what contributions Landon has had on our sport in this country. He's arguably the best player in U.S. Soccer history, he started as a teenager and he's spent his entire life committed to the sport. I sympathize with what he’s experiencing in trying to soul-search and figure out what his future might hold on and off the field. Unfortunately for Landon, even more so than the Jordans and Gretzkys of the world -- or Messis of the world, frankly -- is that Landon had to be not only a great player, Landon also carried a lot of the promotional burden of growing the sport for a decade or more on his shoulders. He played during the day and had to promote it at night. That is tiring. I sympathize with that. I hope he can continue to help grow the league and the sport here. I want to do everything that we can, and everything that I can personally to help him figure out a right way to be able to do that."
