Former USA international Landon Donovan will appear in his record 14th consecutive Major League Soccer All-Star game in Portland on Wednesday night when the MLS All-Stars host Bundesligapowerhouse Bayern Munich, winner of both the German league and cup last season. In an interview with The Oregonian, the 32-year-old recalls how the MLS showcase has evolved since his All-Stardebut in the 2001 with the San Jose Earthquakes.
“I’ve seen it go from a very casual, very friendly game to a very exciting, very meaningful, very real game,” Donovan said in an interview.”For us, it’s better because if you’re just going to go through the motions, you might as well stay home.” He added: “We understand that it’s not a game where we just go out and mess around and don’tprepare well. I think we’ve learned over the years that the times that we do things right and we work hard and we defend and we play the game like a real game, we get good results and when we don’tthen we can get beat.”
While Donovan’s LA Galaxy teammates Robbie Keane and Omar Gonzalez were removed from Wednesday’s roster in order to focus on Friday’s game with theSan Jose Eathquakes, Donovan said there was never a question as to whether he would participate. “There was never a decision otherwise,” he said. “We never had a conversation about it. I wanted tocome.”