Landon Donovan will take to the pitch on Friday night at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT for his final national team match. All eyes will be on him, for it is his farewell match and a chance to bid goodbye to the country's all-time leading scorer. And when he walks onto the field, he will do so as the United States captain.
Jurgen Klinsmann announced that Donovan would get the armband on Friday against Ecuador.
Donovan has captained the U.S. before. While he was never the primary captain for an extended period of time, he was often a vice-captain and would take the armband if the captain was out for the match or subbed off. Wearing the armband will not be new for him, but it will be a nice tribute to the man who has been arguably the most important man in American soccer history.
That Donovan is even getting a farewell match is a bit of a surprise considering Klinsmann left him off of the U.S. World Cup roster and the relationship between the player and manager was non-existent at best. Donovan confirmed that he doesn't speak to Klinsmann, but when Sunil Gulati and U.S. Soccer proposed this match and show for Donovan, both the player and manager agreed so that was progress. Now Klinsmann is giving Donovan the armband and it looks like the German will go all-in to try and make sure Donovan gets the send-off he deserves, which is wonderful.