Great Q&A: Landon Donovan & Grant Wahl

Link Here: Q&A with Landon Donovan - Grant Wahl - SI.com

A few excerpts:

On the reaction returning home and specifically about THE goal...

Donovan: I haven't been out a lot yet. The one thing that was really clear to me was I've heard the same comment from almost everybody: Thank you for inspiring our country. It gives me goose bumps to say it. You've been around us for a long time and you know this is what we do. It's our job, what we do for a living. So we don't think of it in that way. It was my job to continue running and get in front of the goal and hit a six-yard shot into the goal with an empty net. So for me it's an easy play, something that happens over and over in my career. But the reality for everybody else is that was a moment where people could get away from everything, get behind their country and their team and went from--as I saw in the [YouTube] videos -- devastation to pure joy in one moment. Everybody has said, "Thank you for inspiring us." People I've known for a long time have sent me letters and presents saying, "Thank you so much for allowing me to share that moment with my kids or my granddad." It's just really cool.

If Bob Bradley or US Soccer decide to move on from each other...

Donovan: I'm a little skeptical of foreign coaches in our league and in U.S. Soccer just because of how different our league is and our players are than other players around the world. So in theory sometimes it sounds sexy to have a guy like Ruud Gullit or in this case, who knows? You could bring in [Fabio] Capello and I'm not sure you would get the results you wanted because there's so much to our league and our players than people realize. So it would be a little risky to do that unless you find the right person who really cares and understands and wants to learn about our league and our players.

Donovan: I had a really good experience with Jürgen. I like Jürgen a lot. I know his name gets thrown around a lot and was before Bob was hired. We'll see. If Bob's here I will be very happy. Jürgen was a guy I like a lot and respected. If he were hired I'd also be happy.

On the WC Final...

Donovan: I would like to see Spain win. I like the way the Holland plays, but I think for so long Spain has played the right way. You want that to be rewarded because you want that to be emulated by young players, by other teams. You don't want a team that just bunkers in for 90 minutes to win it. To that point it would be fine to see the Netherlands win too, but I just hope Spain wins.

I'm pulling for Holland (obvi), but if any other team were to win, I'd want Spain for this same reason.