HAMBURG, Germany _ Landon Donovan kept getting advice, not goals.
Coach Bruce Arena criticized his play in the opening loss to the Czech
Republic, and there was no shortage of teammates and staff who spoke with him,
attempting to prod the prodigy back on track.
He responded in last weekend's dramatic 1-1 draw against Italy, and now he
heads into Thursday's must-win game against Ghana with the confidence he lacked
against the Czechs.
"I think he emerged in this game and demonstrated to the world, but more
importantly to his teammates, that he's a great player in any kind of game,"
U.S. coach Bruce Arena said Monday. "Landon did things against Italy I've never
seen him do before. He was a warrior on the field."
It's a simple formula that will get the Americans to the second round _ win
and get help. The simplest scenario would be a U.S. victory coupled with an
Italian win over the Czech Republic. Other possibilities are remote.
So, as far as Donovan is concerned, all the fouls Saturday night are
forgiven.
"Listen, I'm rooting Italy for the rest of the week," he said. "As far as I'm
concerned, they're the nicest guys in the world."
At times it's hard to forget that while he's a two-time World Cup veteran,
he's just 24. His 25 goals are third in U.S. history, behind Eric Wynalda (34)
and Brian McBride (30), but he's been blanked in 17 national team games since
July 9 against Canada.
Scoring has proved to be troublesome at this World Cup for the Americans, who
lost to the Czechs 3-0 and came from behind against Italy when Azzurri defender
Cristian Zaccardo kicked a clearance attempt into his own net.
"It's not lost on the U.S. that we haven't scored a goal," Donovan said, "and
it's likely that we're going to need to score to win the game on Thursday."
As time goes by, and others retire, get hurt or sit out, Donovan is becoming
one of the more experienced players on the field. In the weeks leading up to the
World Cup, he often talked about expectations people have for him, and it was
unclear if that was as much an asset or a burden.
