The US national team winning the World Cup? MLS legend Landon Donovan believes he’ll see it happen in his lifetime.
In an interview with Mexican news agency Notimex in which he also said that the USA “has the obligation to advance from the group stage” at the upcoming Copa America Centenario, the US national team’s and MLS’s all-time leading scorer explained how he thought a US World Cup title could happen.
“In each World Cup, to do it [win it], you need a lot of luck in addition to excellent preparation. While Brazil and Germany can have four regular [average] matches in a World Cup and two excellent ones to be World Cup champions,” the 34-year-old said, “teams like the USA and Mexico need to play great games and then it can happen [that they win the World Cup].
“Mexico has several decades playing in World Cups and hasn’t won it and the United States has only been to some World Cups. But, yes, I believe that I’ll see the United States as world champions."
According to Donovan, coaching remains a critical part of the USA’s future growth as a soccer nation and he says he might play a role in it down the line. He’s already taking on the coaching reins for the 2016 Chipotle Homegrown Game on July 27 for the second year running.
“We still need a lot of coaches for our young players and that they prepare them a lot better,” he said.
“As time goes by, this possibility keeps coming up and if I decide to do it, I’ll need to prepare really well before. I’ll make a decision soon."
