WASHINGTON – Landon Donovan and the rest of LA’s international contingent is back with the LA Galaxy ahead of Saturday’s match against D.C. United at RFK Stadium.
Although the hyper-focused Donovan is not letting any of the issues of national team duty come into his thinking as he prepares for Saturday, one of the main talking points of Wednesday’s match remains with him—literally. Donovan is still suffering from conjunctivitis in his right eye, which surfaced at some point last week.
The pink eye didn't affect him during his 2-0 victory with the U.S. National Team over Mexico on Wednesday and is unlikely to keep him out of Saturday’s game, but the question remains. Just how did it happen?
“I don’t know,” said Donovan following the team’s training session at American University. “I was getting treatment from the trainers and when I opened my eye it was all red. But I'm fine now and ready for the game on Saturday.”
Although the eye issue is still prevalent, Donovan doesn't expect that—or any national team hangover—to affect him when LA faces D.C. United.
“I feel great. It’s been a really good last week or so. It was a lot of fun for Omar and I to have that experience on Tuesday [against Mexico] and now it’s important to put that behind us and move forward. We have a game that we need to get three points out of and that has to be the focus now.”
And he expects a stern test from a United side that is currently the league’s worst team with just 14 points on the year. In fact, Donovan believes that United are circling this match on their calendar and he feels that LA must be cognizant of that fact.
“They've obviously had a rough year and I’m sure that if odds were made, we’d be the favorites, but this league is built on parity. You never know what could happen,” said Donovan. “We know that they'll have a good crowd; we know that they're excited for this game. Outside of their [U.S. Open Cup Final], this will be their biggest game of the season. We expect to get their best and we need to be ready to play.”
