SoccerLandon Donovan making the right move?

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The 27-year-old Donovan is coming off arguably his best year ever. He played a key role in the USA’s run to the Confederations Cup final this summer, where he and his teammates scared the life out of Brazil by going up 2-0 at the half. The Brazilians stormed back to win the game 3-2, but his performances over the course of the tournament did Donovan’s reputation no harm.

He deservedly won the MLS Player of the Year, and he came within a whisker of lifting the MLS Cup, as he and his Galaxy teammates lost out on penalties to Real Salt Lake in the final.

With the World Cup in South Africa looming next summer, Donovan should be using this time to rest and recover. He is in his prime and this could be the World Cup where he fulfills his potential on the game’s biggest stage.

Knowing the importance of next summer’s tournament, he should have taken four weeks of complete rest after the MLS Cup final. He could have then gradually built up his fitness so that he was ready to go on the first day of pre-season training with L.A., thus ensuring he would be in perfect condition in time for the World Cup.

Instead, Donovan has chosen to have no rest at all. He decided to carry on training after the MLS Cup final, in an attempt to stay in shape for a loan move overseas.

The problem with this move is that Donovan will have no rest at all between now and the World Cup next summer. In fact, going into the USA’s first game against England on June 12th, Donovan will have been playing without a break from the game for the best part of two and a half years, dating back to pre-season training in January 2008.

Why so long?

After the 2008 MLS season, in which Donovan scored an impressive 20 goals in 25 games, he moved on loan to Bayern Munich in Germany. Although he played sparingly for the German club, he stayed there until the start of the 2009 MLS season – which meant he had no time to rest and recover in the offseason.

You might think he wouldn’t need a rest since he didn’t see much of the field for Bayern, but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.

When you are not a regular starter for your club side, you train longer and harder than you do if you are. In trying to recreate the intensity of playing competitive games, clubs often go overboard when training the reserves. This results in injuries and fatigue that can often be more draining than playing a full 90-minute game.

Not having a break from the game for such an extended period of time could prove to be a big mistake for Donovan.

Donovan has failed on two occasions to prove himself at the elite level in Europe. The first occasion was in 1999, when he joined the youth academy at Bayer Leverkusen. He failed to make a significant impact at the club, and was sent back on loan to the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001.

Donovan’s second attempt at European stardom came this year when he joined Munich. Again, he failed to live up to expectations in Germany, and he was returned to his current club at the end of the loan agreement.

His desire to prove his critics wrong – that he is mentally strong enough to compete against the best in the world for a club team rather than just for his country – seems to have had an effect on his decision, because it isn’t one that will pay off for him at the World Cup.

Donovan is priming himself to suffer from burnout by playing too much soccer without taking any time to rest. There is only so much strain an athlete can take, and rest is just as important as training.

It begs the question: Why go out on loan when the biggest tournament of your life is just 6 months away?

He doesn’t need to do it for the money – he just signed a 4-year contract extension with L.A. at a reported salary of $2 million per year – and he doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone other than himself.

Or does he?

Donovan doesn’t like criticism, and he doesn’t like being seen as David Beckham’s understudy. He likes being a big fish in the relatively small pond of American soccer – but it would be even better to be a big fish in the big pond of the English Premier League.

That is his reason for making this move. He wants to prove everyone wrong and show that he is capable of succeeding at the highest level.

And you know what? I agree with him 100%.

Every elite athlete should have the same desire – to test themselves against the best in the world. It is the only way you will ever know if you have fulfilled your potential as an athlete.

I don’t fault Donovan one bit for wanting to play in the Premier League. Where I disagree with him is in the timing of the move.

If I were in his shoes, I would have used this time to rest and prepare for the World Cup. I wouldn’t have signed a contract extension with the L.A. Galaxy, and I would have done everything in my power to ensure that I was in peak condition for the World Cup.

I would have left the lure of a move into England until after the World Cup, because that is the tournament where players cement their reputations on the world stage.

Moving to Everton now is going to leave Donovan tired and susceptible to injury due to overtraining, jeopardizing his chances of being at his best when it really matters next summer.

He might gain in the short term by moving to Everton now, but in the long term I think he’s made the wrong decision.

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