LA Galaxy and US national team star Landon Donovan's work in Zürich is done. Now, like the rest of us, he must wait for FIFA's decision on who will host the 2022 World Cup.
That announcement will come on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. Until then, Donovan — and likely the rest of the US Bid delegation, who made their final persuasive points to FIFA's executive committee on Wednesday — are hopeful they did enough to convince those undecided voters that the US should host the 2022 tournament.
"At this point we've done what we can do," Donovan said. "You hope that maybe there are few people that are unconvinced and you convinced them or swayed them one way, but people are going to vote the way they are going to vote, and we did our best."
WATCH: Donovan on US Bid
Donovan addressed FIFA on behalf of the US Bid Committee alongside former President Bill Clinton, actor Morgan Freeman and US Soccer president Sunil Gulati. In his speech, he stressed the growth of soccer in the US, calling the sport's progress here "very real."
The 28-year-old also recalled attending a World Cup match at the Rose Bowl in 1994 — Romania's 3-2 upset of Argentina in the round of 16. Just 12 years old at the time, the forward admitted the experience helped blossom his love for the game.
Fast-forward 16 years, and Donovan has become one of the nation's best-known and well-respected athletes. But though he's a veteran of three World Cups and the national team's all-time leading scorer and assist-getter, having a hand in helping the US land the World Cup for 2022 would surely rank as one of his proudest moments.
"We are all cautiously optimistic," Donovan said.
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