SEATTLE -- LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan may have sat out Sunday's 2-1 defeat with Seattle Sounders FC that saw LA advance to the MLS Cup 4-2 on aggregate, but Donovan is confident that he'll be ready when the final rolls around on Dec. 1.
Donovan's status for the match in Seattle was always a question mark as he was unable to resume exercising until Friday after suffering tightness in his right hamstring during the first leg at The Home Depot Center a week prior. Without Donovan on the field on Sunday, the Galaxy struggled at times to create opportunties going forward amid an early onslought by Seattle, but were ultimately able to hang on to advance to MLS Cup.
But despite not participating in Sunday's Conference Championship clincher, Donovan believes that if the circumstances were different, he could have played.
"I think if this was two weeks from now we would have tried to play," said Donovan. "No question."
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena was quick to echo his captain's sentiments.
"If it was a Cup Final tonight, Landon probably would have played," said Arena. "But we wanted to try to do the smart thing and not put him out for the rest of the season.”
After erring on the side of caution with Donovan's injury during the second leg in Seattle, the Galaxy are hopeful that they'll have their captain back at full strength when they host the Houston Dynamo on Dec. 1 at The Home Depot Center.
"You always miss Landon, he’s probably the best playoff player that MLS has ever seen," said defender Todd Dunivant. "He’s clutch and comes up big in these kind of games, so we’re hoping to get him back for the final."
