The Official Site of Landon Donovan

Thu, Feb 12th 2009, 11:10

US defeats Mexico 2-0 in World Cup Qualifying

Behind 2 goals from midfielder Michael Bradley and a strong effort from goalkeeper Tim Howard and the rest of the US defense, the Americans defeated their neighbors to the south 2-0 in World Cup Qualifying. Landon played the full 90 minutes, recording the assist on Bradley’s second goal in extra time that sealed the victory.

The US squad came out of the gate slowly, but gained the momentum after a late first half goal.

“It wasn’t the best start and they had a good chance early,” Landon said after the game. “We got a lot more comfortable though and started putting pressure on them. We had a few chances and obviously the goal changed things. In the second half we knew that if we were solid and patient that they would open up and we’d have a chance to get the second.”

Mexico went down a man in the 65th minute when captain Rafael Marquez went cleats first on a high challenge with Tim Howard and was shown a red card. The US then used the man advantage and strong midfield play to control the rest of the game.

“I thought we dominated them through the middle. DaMarcus [Beasley] and Clint [Dempsey] did a great job tucking in and helping and working. Michael [Bradley] and Sacha [Kljestan] were excellent and Mexico had no where to go. Any loose ball we seemed to pick up. We were on top of them, anticipating well, and they didn’t really have an answer.”

Landon has left the states to rejoin Bayern Munich, as the US team doesnt play until March 28th when they travel to face El Salvador.