Maybe the introvert Landon Donovan is happy that Beckham is deflecting the attention from what may be the last game of the greatest American player in the history of the game. I don’t know.

But we should be paying tributes to LD’s career rather than Beckham’s this week. Donovan won MLS Cups in San Jose and LA, helped lead the USA to its greatest international success in the 2002 World Cup and 2009 Confederations Cup, and set a standard no American has been able to match. His goofy goal against Portugal in 2002 and his ten-second breakout goal with Charlie Davies and Ricardo Clark against Brazil in 2009 will live forever. Everton’s streak after LD’s arrival in 2012 (consecutive wins against Fulham, Man City and Chelsea) showed the Brits what we already knew. My hat’s off to him.

Also, obvious point: Donovan’s the one who will have the greatest influence over what happens Saturday. If he’s on, the G’s are favorites. If not, not.

As for Beckham, I’m with Nick. Four years (2007-2010) of expensive waste of space on the Galaxy roster, one year (2011) when he gained my respect for endless hard work and influence on actual results, then one year (2012) somewhere in between.