Landon Donovan offered a stylish response to his World Cup snub, becoming Major League Soccer’s all-time leading scorer in the LA Galaxy’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia.
The 32-year-old scored twice on Sunday, seizing the MLS scoring record with his 135th career goal with his first strike of the night, four minutes into the second half.
Donovan launched the move with a pass to Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane in the box.
The Irishman squared across the face of goal for the onrushing Donovan, who was left with a tap-in for his first goal of the season.
It came days after US coach Jurgen Klinsmann left Donovan off his final 23-man squad for the World Cup finals in Brazil.
“It’s been an emotional three days,” Donovan told a television interviewer after the game. “A lot of down and a lot of up honestly.
“The love I’ve received from everybody here, including when I walked out for warm-ups with signs and people staying stuff, has been amazing. And I’m really happy it ended this way for this week.”
The goal put the Galaxy up 2-0, and Donovan had contributed to the first goal as well, his crisp free kick headed home by Leonardo from six yards out in the second minute.
Keane stretched the Galaxy’s lead to 3-0 with a 64th-minute goal, and Donovan added one more after a botched pass by the Union allowed Keane to get the ball with plenty of room.
He found Donovan in the box, and Donovan cut back and fired in his 136th MLS goal in the 81st minute, moving two ahead of Jeff Cunningham on the league’s all-time scoring list.
“Well, it’s been a while so there are a lot of emotions,” Donovan said of his feelings after breaking the record.
“Just getting on the scoreboard again was nice. Hitting the net was nice. Getting the 135 on the back of what happened this week — it was a good feeling.”
Philadelphia grabbed a late consolation goal when Maurice Edu — also cut on Thursday when Klinsmann trimmed his World Cup squad from 30 to 23 — converted a penalty.
Donovan, a veteran of three World Cups, is already the all-time USA scoring leader with 57 international goals.
He said on Saturday that he believed he “absolutely deserved” to be going to Brazil, challenging Klinsmann’s assessment that he was a step behind the other forwards in training camp.