CARSON, Calif. – Landon Donovan’s name is written all over the MLS record books, but before he hangs up his boots at the end of the LA Galaxy’s 2014 campaign, the American soccer legend is determined to add to his rich legacy.
With three assists in the LA Galaxy’s 4-0 thumping of the New York Red Bulls, Donovan brought his career assist total to 135 and pulled level with New England Revolution mainstay Steve Ralston’s league record.
“I’m proud of it. To get an assist record you have to have a lot of people scoring goals so it’s not just putting the ball in the right place, its people finishing,” said Donovan, who also added a goal in LA’s victory. “They scored three very good goals tonight, which helped. I’ve had a lot of guys score a lot of goals on my behalf in my time so it’s a credit to all of them too.”
Against the Red Bulls, Donovan was rampant from the start as he made probing runs that caused havoc for the New York defense and after eight minutes, he helped LA go ahead for good with a pass that Robbie Keane finished with a audacious chip past goalkeeper Luis Robles. Donovan pulled to within one of the mark in the 69th minute when he helped Gyasi Zardes finish off a 16-pass sequence by the Galaxy with a one-two play that culminated with the Galaxy Homegrown Player’s 16th goal of the season.
Donovan finally tied Ralston’s mark in the 82nd minute with a probing chip from deep in midfield that found Keane who notched his second of the night past Robles to seal the record and LA’s 4-0 win.
That final assist was initially in doubt, however, as league statisticians scored Keane’s second goal as unassisted, ruling that the Irish forward had played the ball off Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. But once the final whistle was blown the score was changed and Donovan was awarded the assist needed to tie Ralston.
Although the record-tying second assist was initially a question for debate, it was an obvious decision according Keane.
“When you give a ball like that through [the defense], it’s obvious,” said Keane. But congratulations to Landon, I knew it was fairly close, and I said [during the game] to keep going and keep getting more assists… To have the most goals and the most assists, it’s an incredible achievement for anybody.”
Throughout his chase of the assist record, Donovan has downplayed the record’s importance to him personally—much like he did during his chase of the all-time goals scoring record—but after tying Ralston, the Galaxy striker was an introspective mood when discussing what the honor says about his legacy.
“I’ve always tried to be a guy who makes the right play in front of the goal,” Donovan told reporters. “So if that means making the pass that leads to the pass that scores, if that means making the pass that leads to the goal, or if that means shooting when you need to shoot. I try and make good decisions in those moments.
“More often than not, when I’ve made the right decision, guys have gotten in good spots and scored. So that’s something that I’m proud of,” he added. “I’ve always wanted to be that type of player. I didn’t want to be one dimensional; I wanted to have all sorts of different parts to my game and I hope that showed.”
But with just four regular season games remaining, Donovan is quick to note that he’s not at all finished with his pursuit of sole possession of the record.
“I want to get it. I want to get [the record], but I’m not going to pass up an easy shot to get it,” said Donovan. “If it is in the right circumstance and I see the right pass then I’m going to make it. I’m not going to kill myself trying to get an assist every time. I’m just going to keep playing the game and I think that it’ll come.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
