Landon Donovan hails England as “one of the top teams in the world” before Saturday’s game

By Viorel Mesca

Landon Donovan has been talking to fifa.com ahead of this weekends World Cup clash between England and the USA. Donovan believes his two and a half month loan spell in the Premier League with Everton last season can help play a part in defeating England on Saturday, while taking time to praise the work David Beckham has done in the States both on and off the field. The LA Galaxy forward is his country’s record scorer with 42 goals, said:

“In my opinion, England is one of the top teams in the world and top teams don’t have any weaknesses.

It also gave me the ability to understand the way their league is, the way and style most teams play in their league. Those are all beneficial things to us. Will it have a huge impact on the game, probably not. But having some comfort in that way will be helpful on Saturday.’

It would be hard for me to point anywhere and find a weakness in their team. But the experience at Everton was valuable in a lot of ways, for me personally and also in getting the chance to play against some of the players we will see on Saturday.

Donovan praised Ashley Cole saying he is “one of the top two or three left-backs in the world’ and hailed the impact of David Beckham in helping soccer to flourish in the USA:

“David has been terrific in every way. I think he will tell you initially on the field it was difficult for him to understand the way the game was played (in America). But he has adapted well, as he always does, and before he was injured he was a big part of our team last year.

Off the field, he has almost single-handedly brought awareness to our game that wasn’t there before. It would be one thing if he did that subconsciously without knowing and without putting effort into it, but he puts a lot into helping grow the game in our country and we all appreciate that.”

Regarding USA’s game against England this weekend, Donovan said:

“Everyone is aware of what this game means back home. For the last six months all we have seen is things about USA-England. If you were a casual sports fan back home, you might think that this is the World Cup final. You wouldn’t know any different.

We are not like Brazil, where soccer is still the biggest game even if they don’t win a World Cup. For us, everytime we have an opportunity to play, we have an opportunity to grow the sport and we clearly understand every four years that is magnified at a World Cup.”

Do you think USA can upset England on Saturday?