The Official Site of Landon Donovan

Thu, Sep 3rd 2009, 16:35

Landon and the US ready for El Salvador

After training today Landon spoke with the media about this weekends match:

On what the team is expecting from El Salvador on Saturday:
“We played them a few months ago in El Salvador and they’ll be a different team from the one we played there. They’ll probably be very defensive minded and our job is to break them down and try to score a goal early. If we score a goal early it should help us a lot. The longer the game stays at 0-0, the better it is for them.”

On the previous game in El Salvador, where the U.S. came back late to earn a 2-2 draw:
“We saw it as a game where we did most things right, but the couple things we did poorly they made us pay for. It’s unfortunate we kind of turned it on so late. At the end of the day, when you have a bad day it’s better to get a point then nothing, but that’s a game we look back on and feel we should have won.”

On lining up against former U.S. Youth National Team player Arturo Alvarez, who Donovan played with at the Earthquakes:
“It’ll be fun. When Arturo first came in the league I was with him at San Jose. He always had a lot of potential, and I think he’s done a really good job of becoming a real professional. He’s done well and I’m excited for him, but I won’t be wishing him too much luck on Saturday.”

On the experience level of this iteration of the U.S. National Team:
“We’re relatively young compared to other national teams [I’ve played on]. That has pluses and minuses. The experience factor isn’t there like it was with other teams. We’re learning, we’re getting better and this is a big game for us on Saturday.”

On the pressure of playing an important game in front of the home fans at Rio Tinto Stadium:
“There’s pressure [because we’re at home] but there’s more pressure because there are four games left and this is the World Cup at our fingertips. If we lose points in this game or the Trinidad game it’s going to hurt us and there’s no more room for that.”

On whether the standings in the Final Round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying have been a surprise:
“Not really. In the beginning we probably would have expected El Salvador and Trinidad to be a bit below the other teams. We would have expected the other teams to beat each other at home and that’s what has happened. It’s an interesting scenario, but these two games are games we feel we need to win if we want to get to the World Cup.”

On taking a leadership role with the team:
“It comes with the territory. I’ve played a lot of games and been in these situations before, but a lot of other guys have too. We lean on guys that have been there before, especially in a week as important as this, and I’m one of those.”

On the team’s mindset heading into Saturday’s game:
“We want to be aggressive. If we go out and play tentatively and things don’t go our way, we’ll be pretty upset. We’re going to go out, be aggressive and give everything we have. We’re a better team, and if we do that we’re going to win the game.