Was Landon Donovan the most abused American soccer player ever?

It’s a question worth asking in a week when we’ve seen an outpouring of appreciation for the country’s greatest-ever player before he retires from international duty on Friday against Ecuador.

It wasn’t always like that.

For proof, check out the column after the jump I wrote on that subject back in 2007:

To provoke an impassioned debate among American soccer fans in general and Galaxy fans in particular, you just have to utter two words: ” Landon Donovan .”

Virtually any MLS player or coach will tell you Donovan is the most complete soccer player the nation has ever produced.

Statistics back that up:

The national team captain leads the U.S. with nine goals this year, including a spell-binding hat trick against Ecuador.

With 34 career international goals, he’s tied with Eric Wynalda as the top scorer in U.S. national team history. He is the all-time assist leader, too.

He leads the Galaxy this year with seven goals and 11 assists in 22 games.

Which is why on Friday Donovan was named the Honda Player of the Year for an unprecedented fourth time.

And he’s still only 25 years old.

“He’s the most talented player 99 percent of the time when we step on the field with the Galaxy and the national team,” said Galaxy defender Chris Albright. “There’s certainly nobody better in this country as far as what he can do technically.”

And yet, there’s a certain segment of soccer fans who don’t just dislike the man derided in some quarters as LandyCakes.

They despise him.

Donovan is dismissed for fading out of some games.

He is castigated for a perceived lack of toughness and determination, in part because he didn’t stick it out with Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen before scuttling back to MLS.

Others take issue with his work rate in tracking back to regain possession or a lack of killer instinct in front of goal.

To those fans, Donovan is a whiny, coddled, inconsistent, overrated player squandering his natural ability to the detriment of the Galaxy and national team.

It’s not that Donovan is accorded anti-hero status on the scale of a Cuauhtemoc Blanco, hated by some, revered by others and yet regarded as a talented player by virtually all.

It’s just that some fans don’t like Donovan .

Period.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley likens it to the theory of rising expectations. Even if things are improving, when reality doesn’t meet expectations, the peasants – or soccer fans – revolt.

“The best players always carry the greatest responsibility,” he said. “They want to see the U.S. accomplish more.”

There’s no doubt that on the big stage, Donovan has not always excelled.

During the last World Cup, Donovan failed to make his mark on the tournament many expected he would.

But then, precious few U.S. players came out of that debacle with bolstered reputations. And it was clear then-coach Bruce Arena organized the team around the plodding, aging Claudio Reyna rather than Donovan .

Many remember a ghastly 2005 UEFA Champions League game against Liverpool, which Donovan proclaimed beforehand he wanted to dominate.

Instead he froze in a 3-1 defeat.

“Nothing seemed to go right for me,” Donovan said. “I didn’t play the passes I can play, I missed a good chance to give us the lead and I can only hope that the coach won’t judge me on today’s performance.”

He did.

Donovan was left out of Leverkusen’s next game and was soon back in the U.S.

Whether it was the gloomy German winter weather, the regimented Bundesliga playing style or the fact he had actress-model and soon-to-be wife Bianca Kajlich awaiting him back home in California didn’t matter to some.

The perception was he had failed, and in doing so had underlined the mediocrity of American soccer before the eyes of the world.

“Decisions he has made in terms of his career path have been unpopular and at times have been untraditional,” said Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas. “To a certain extent, he’s misunderstood and he doesn’t fit into a lot of people’s idea of what the best player ever to come out of American should be, either on or off the field.”

Sometimes Donovan ‘s candor works against him.

He readily admits to a bad game and will explain exactly where he and the team went wrong rather than fleeing the locker room as some other players do. And he understands the expectations.

“I don’t mind if people don’t like me as a player,” he said Friday. “As long as people don’t attack me personally, which they do sometimes, then I’m fine with it. I’m not always going to have the best game.

“I honestly feel I’ve changed more in the last year than the previous seven mentally. It’s not good enough that I show up in training or do well 70 percent of the time. I have to be good every time I’m around.”

Lalas believes Donovan is still a work in progress.

Donovan would say the same.

But that work in progress is already better than any other American player ever.

Period.

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About Nick Green

South Bay-based Los Angeles News Group soccer columnist and blogger Nick Green writes at the 100 Percent Soccer blog at www.insidesocal.com/soccer and craft beer at the Beer Goggles blog at www.insidesocal.com/beer. Cheers!