ESPN Soccernet´s Steve Davis says Landon Donovan's hat trick against Ecuador was one of the top 10 all-time performances by an American player in a U.S. international. Had it been during a major competition, his performance probably would have broken into the top three.

Davis points out that Donovan's afternoon was "a biggie because everybody connected to U.S. soccer wants badly for the versatile attacker to consistently realize his seemingly boundless potential. " This is true, and almost unfortunately for Landon, he really did prove the media right-that he is capable of more-because he showed us everything on Sunday: speed, balance, technique, deadly finishing and intelligence. But its those " gaps in between" that "have always dogged Donovan in the bigger picture."

Davis ranks Donovan´s Ecuador performance seventh on his all-time list, which you can see by clicking below. Here are the top three: Kasey Keller's legendary shutout during the Americans' 1-0 semifinal win over Brazil in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brazil legend Romario later called it the finest performance by a goalkeeper he'd ever witnessed. Second is the brave, industrious captain's performance Claudio Reyna gave during the Yanks´ 2-0 win over Mexico in the 2002 World Cup round of 16, and third was Eddie Johnson´s hat trick against Panama in World Cup qualifying in 2004 -- which he grabbed after coming on as a sub with just 25 minutes left; it was his second cap. Read the original story...