Merseyside's Man

By Jared Launius

Landon Donovan notched his second assist in the league – and fifth across all competitions – for his club mistress, Everton, in a crucial 1-0 defeat of league-toppers Manchester City yesterday. I, at this point, have caught nearly every minute of every game the U.S.'s all time leading scorer has played since embarking on his second two-month loan with the club (which happens to be every minute of every game Everton has played) began and, best I can tell, he's been their most dangerous attacker.

It's been kind of an interesting last 10 or so months for Donovan professionally, as his form was up-and-down – and injury-ridden – during his MLS season and, as you probably remember, he was benched for two knockout matches in the Gold Cup, which would have never been dreamed of a year before when he was scoring three goals in the World Cup. This all coincided with the finest run of Clint Dempsey's career, as the Cottager has scored a remarkable 22 goals across all competitions since the start of the Premier League's winter term in 2011.

For reasons perhaps unfair, but completely understandable, this has all lead to many proclaiming Dempsey's passing of Donovan in the U.S. best-player pecking order.* This is all, as the players like to say, media and fan created, and the players don't really care, or at least they say they don't. For me, personally, as a fan of the team and as someone who's dying to see the sport grow in this country, it doesn't really matter. I'm just smitten we've produced two attacking players of this caliber in one generation, and I hope they can both maintain their skills through 2014.

*For what it's worth, I find it hard to argue anything else. Dempsey has been a man possessed for about 14 months and, even if he's a different player than Donovan, seems to have been much more influential for a club in a much better league. National team form has bared similar results.

But I have to wonder if it does mean something to Donovan, not because of anything I know about him, but because of how I know I'd react if I were in his shoes. It's not fun being told you're not good enough, and it's not fun being told your teammate is better than you. Not because you don't want your teammates to do well, but it's just not fun being told this person is better than you, even if it's true.

Ultimately, for what matters most to us (the national team), this isn't exactly critical. The two occupy different spaces on the field, offer different things on the ball and have played effectively together for better than four years. But for us, the fans, this impressive seven-game run at Everton almost feels like Landon's response to Clint's year-plus of Premier League ascendancy. Or, at least, his reminder of exactly who he is and what he's about.

And it's given us plenty to talk about.