The former USA forward and Everton loanee came off the bench for the last eight minutes of the Galaxy’s 4-2 win over Orlando City SC on Sunday night.
After 21 months away from football, London Donovan was back in action on Sunday night.
The 34-year-old US national team legend, who came out of retirement to re-join the LA Galaxy on Thursday for the rest of the 2016 MLS season, officially made his playing comeback in the club’s 4-2 home win over Orlando City SC, replacing fellow forward Raul Mendiola for the final eight minutes.
Goosebumps. #LAvORL https://t.co/yJXNXh6Xdb
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 12, 2016
It was his first competitive appearance since December 2014, when he helped Bruce Arena’s side secure their fifth MLS Cup title with a 2-1 extra-time win over the New England Revolution, and the 2009 League MVP admitted that he was touched by the reception he received from the StubHub Center crowd.
“It was really enjoyable,” Donovan told LAGalaxy.com after the match. “It was fun to be back in the stadium with the atmosphere and the crowd and being with all the guys again. Great to win obviously and that made the day a lot better.
“I realize I have a long way to go. I might have played five minutes or so and maybe completed one pass. It makes you realize it’s a whole different level. I have to get myself going again so I can really contribute, because not every week is going to be a charity five or ten minutes.”
Head coach Bruce Arena echoed those sentiments, adding that Donovan is some way off earning regular minutes, but he is confident that the 14-time All-Star can still offer his side something during their playoff push.
“You see he has a long way to go; he’s on the treadmill now,” Arena said. “It’s going to take a while, we knew that. Probably no other circumstances would have allowed me to play him today, but I wanted him to get out there and reward the crowd for showing up and all. It helps Landon see how far he has to go.”
The Galaxy, meanwhile, did not really need much help from Donovan on the night as they made easy work of Orlando after initially finding themselves 1-0 down in the 20th-minute, fighting back with two goals from Giovani dos Santos either side of an Alan Gordon strike to take a 3-1 lead into half-time.
Robbie Keane later came off the bench to add a fourth with 20 minutes remaining, before Break Shea netted deep into stoppage-time to make the scoreline look slightly less one-sided.
Arena’s men now sit second in the Western Conference on 47 points ahead of next Sunday’s trip to Sporting Kansas City, four points behind first-placed FC Dallas with five regular season games left.
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