CARSON, Calif. – Bruce Arena tempered expectations about Landon Donovan’s availability for the LA Galaxy’s match against Orlando City SC.
Donovan trained with the Galaxy for the first time on Friday, a day after ending his retirement and returning to the club. The 34-year-old was predominantly away from the rest of the group during the practice, but according to Arena, he’ll begin training with the full team on Saturday.
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Arena says that there is an “outside chance” that Donovan is available for Sunday’s match, but he intends to wait until the last possible moment before deciding if the Galaxy legend will be in the game day roster against Orlando City.
“Outside chance, but I wouldn’t know that until tomorrow. If you asked me right now, I’d say no. That can change,” Arena said. “He’ll be in his first one tomorrow. We’ll move him along at the right time.
“We have to try to get Landon to a place where he can run well enough to touch a soccer ball. We’ll see. I don’t think we know the [timetable]. There’s no science to it right now. He had a good week of training from what I’m told by our training staff. We’ll keep him progressing each day and hopefully get him to a point where he can help our team.”
