The best soccer player in American history, Landon Donovan, announced on August 7, that he will permanently retire from the professional league at the end of the MLS season.
He shared his decision on Facebook, "After careful deliberation and after many conversations with those closest to me, I have decided that this will be my last season as a professional soccer player... I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have played a role in the remarkable growth of MLS and US Soccer during my playing career. And while my career as a player will soon be over, rest assured I will stay connected on many levels to the beautiful game."
In an AP Sports report, the 32-year-old athelete said, "I think for the last few years, I haven't had the same passion that I had previously in my career. To some extent, I had felt obligated to keep playing. ...It's time to enjoy the rest of the season, and there would be no better way than to go out as a champion, so that's what I want to do."
Donovan returned to the sport in 2013 after taking a one-year sabbatical but realized that it was time to retire permanently. Donovan established a reputation for being the top goal-scorer in the history of the MLS as well as the top scorer in the history of the United States national team. In the 14th All-Star game on August 6, 2014, he was named the most valuable player. The All-Stars won over Bayern Munich with a final score of 2-1.
According to USA Today, he shared, "I think in some capacity I want to coach. I'll certainly want to take some time to relax and get away from this world a little bit. Broadcasting has always seemed interesting to me, and enjoyable. I'm not exactly sure. But I'll try a lot of things."
In the past eight years, Donovan has been the face of American soccer and guided the sport to entice many to play the sport. He became a professional in 1999 and has scored 57 national team goals and 58 assists. He has five goals in the World Cup and played 12 World Cup games total, which is the most in American history. In the MLS, he scored 138 goals in the regular season and 22 goals in the playoffs. Donovan wore jersey No. 10 for most of his national team games.