No one's questioning Landon Donovan's passion to play soccer these days.
A month after Donovan himself openly discussed losing some of the hunger and desire he had in previous seasons, he's back to leading the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy to winning ways and the North American Soccer Reporters voted him the MLS Player of the Week for Week 16 (see who and how the media voted here).
Donovan registered two goals and an assist in the LA Galaxy's come-from-behind 3-2 win at Real Salt Lake in midweek and then led his club to a dominant 3-0 blanking of the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night with another goal and assist.
The Galaxy captain factored in all six LA goals scored in Week 16 as his team has vaulted back into the thick of the MLS Cup Playoffs race in the West.
WATCH: Donovan's game vs. 'Caps
"He's certainly shown since he returned that he wants to lead this team and be successful," Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena told the Los Angeles Times.
But Donovan, who became the first Galaxy player to win the Player of the Week award this year, is not only winning the plaudits of his own coach. Here's how Vancouver manager Martin Rennie categorized Donovan's play on Saturday against the Whitecaps.
“I thought that the movement of their front players was by far the best I've seen since I've been in MLS,” Rennie said. “The movement of Keane and Donovan, in my opinion, was like world-class. Their movement was fantastic. They caused so many problems the way they came out at the backline and then turned in behind, their pace and penetration. Those guys are really good players, but tonight I thought they were really on form."
2012 MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Week 16: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
Weeks 13-15: Patrice Bernier (Montreal Impact)
Week 12: Emilio Rentería (Columbus Crew)
Week 11: Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United)
Week 10: Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution)
Week 9: Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 8: Steven Lenhart (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 7: Chris Pontius (D.C. United)
Week 6: Dan Kennedy (Chivas USA)
Week 5: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 4: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 3: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
Week 2: David Estrada (Seattle Sounders)
Week 1: Kalif Alhassan (Portland Timbers)
Vote Now! Choose your First XI for the 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game
