Landon Donovan: An American in Paris?

Landon Donovan of the U.S. national soccer team reacts during the second half of their World Cup 2010 qualifier match against Honduras in Chicago, June 6, 2009. There are rumors that Donovan will be the next U.S. player to flee to the European field. He could be headed to Paris St.-Germain. (John Gress/Reuters)

BOSTON — Despite the U.S. national soccer team’s lofty ranking at #12 in the world, despite its occasional glories in international play (most notably the run to the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup and the recent upset of then #1-ranked Spain to reach the finals of the Confederations Cup), there is an inferiority complex at the heart of American soccer.

It’s on display whenever American soccer fans get positively giddy at the news that one of their own will break out of the confines of homegrown Major League Soccer and get a chance to play on one of the major European stages.

The American soccer establishment usually shows a bit more restraint than the fans in these matters; it is hardly in a position to trash MLS, which still provides more than half the national team player pool. Still, its leaders will admit privately and, occasionally, even publicly, that if the United States hopes to make the next leap into the world elite, its stars will have to refine their skills and boost their mental and physical toughness in the European soccer wars.

The players are certainly heeding that counsel; only five of the 18 U.S. players who suited up against Mexico for the recent World Cup qualifier still ply their trade in MLS. Which explains why there was a lot of excitement here on all soccer fronts with the rumor in the soccosphere that Landon Donovan could be headed to Paris St.-Germain, a team experiencing a revival in France’s La Ligue. No American seems a better candidate for a European upgrade. Donovan is already America’s biggest star. Still just 27, he is the national team’s all-time scoring leader and, as the lynchpin of the offense, will likely do more than any other player to determine its success in its World Cup 2010 campaign. Yet he remains maddeningly inconsistent, capable of disappearing for long stretches on the field and too easily bullied off his game.

Of course, signing with a European team from an elite league is no guarantee of playing time for any American. And there may be nothing more damaging to U.S. World Cup prospects than to have its key players in Europe adding only rust to their game. There was much celebration earlier this summer when Oguchi Onyewu, the stalwart American central defender, signed with one of Europe’s most storied franchises, AC Milan. “Gooch” is only the second American ever to play in Serie A. Or he will be if he actually steps on the field, as he didn’t get a call in Milan’s opener.

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