LA Galaxy legend Landon Donovan admits that he'll be taking a page out of his former boss Bruce Arena's playbook when he leads the MLS Homegrown squad in Tuesday's Chipotle Homegrown match against Mexican side Club America's Under-20 squad.
In an interview with MLSsoccer.com's Greg Lalas on the ExtraTime Radio, Donovan reflects on his philosophy heading into Tuesday's match but also expounded on just how Arena's tutelage with the U.S. National Team, and later the Galaxy has helped him throughout his career.
"Bruce is special in the way that he handles players," Donovan said. "He has this knack for understanding personalities. What's good for one is not good for the other which is not always good for another player.
"He has a really good way of understanding how to deal with that. I think because of my experiences in playing with different players or players with different types of temperaments, I think that I am pretty good at that too. But I think that I'll realize in this respect as a coach that it's very difficult because you have to find the right buttons to push for every player."
Just how did Arena push Donovan's buttons though?
"Bruce and I always had this almost love-hate relationship at times because he always wanted to bring the most out of me. And a lot of times when he would say things, I would either take it personal or I didn't understand that he was just trying to help me," Donovan said. "We always had this back-and-forth, give-and-take, and he was very good at understanding that I'm built quite different than other people. I wasn't the guy who was always after 15 years of playing crazy motivated to go out and train. He worked with me constantly to take a break or get away from it, and still keep me motivated and going."
But will Donovan continue to follow in Arena's footsteps in the coaching realm after Tuesday?
Well, the retired American soccer legend said that his future in coaching is "TBD" or "to be determined" at this moment, and how he fares in the Homegrown match may very well determine if he decides to continue in the field.
"This will be a really good opportunity to dip my toe in a little bit and really see how I do and if I like it, and if I'm passionate about it. We'll see what happens going forward," Donovan said. "I had a chance to go with the [U.S.] Under-20's to New Zealand as Tab Ramos allowed me to shadow them and watch. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed that age group, I enjoyed being around the guys, and I thought it was a lot of fun. So when the opportunity came up to coach the Homegrown game, I jumped at it."
Check out more of Donovan's interview with MLSsoccer.com's Extra Time Radio below.