Landon Donovan is the best goal scorer-and possibly the best player-the United States has ever produced. Along with the praise that comes with such success are boatloads of criticism when things go wrong. Donovan has experienced plenty of both.
The latest round of shots at Donovan came after recent comments where he implied that his passion for soccer may be starting to dim. Some were quick to suggest Donovan no longer cares about the game, which he refuted. On Saturday night, Donovan silenced any doubters and reminded every American fan how grateful they are to have him.
Donovan scored a hat trick to lead the Americans to a 5-1 victory in an exhibition game against Scotland. It was his first international hat trick in five years and raised his career international goals mark to 49, most ever for an American player.
It was not just Donovan who was on his game, the whole U.S. squad was sharp in what was their best performance in recent memory. The Americans controlled all aspects of the game and never allowed Scotland to pose much of a threat. Scotland's only score was an own goal, a header that deflected off of defender Geoff Cameron into the back of the net. Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones added goals for the U.S.
The match was the first of five games in 18 days for American squad. The first three are exhibitions leading up to two qualifying matches as the U.S. attempts to qualify for their seventh consecutive World Cup.
Next the U.S. will play Brazil on Wednesday then Canada next Saturday before qualifying matches against Antigua and Barbuda on June 8 followed by Guatemala on June 12.
