DONOVAN WARY OF GUATEMALA

LA Galaxy striker Landon Donovan has said that the team should be extremely wary of the threat given by Guatemala. The United States national team will be taking on Guatemala in the first World Cup qualifier knowing that they are the favourites to win the match. Landon Donovan, though, has said that the team should not allow their tag as the favourites to affect them in the match. There have been suggestions that United States national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann will be naming a weak squad for this match, but Landon Donovan resisted such speculation by saying that they are extremely wary of the threat posed by Guatemala.

The LA Galaxy star has also said that the surprise loss that the under 20 team suffered at the hands of Guatemala is the perfect example that they should not take their opponents lightly. The under 20 team from the United States was once again the favourite last year to win the match against Guatemala. However, the failure to do so meant that they also failed to qualify for the World Cup that took place in Colombia. Paraguayan coach Ever Hugo Almeida has done an extremely good job with Guatemala according to Landon Donovan.

“[The U-20 team’s] elimination helped us wake up a bit. We learned from that and got better, and it’s clear to us that teams in the region are getting better too. Many of the faces are the same, if you look at ‘Pescadito’ Ruiz or [Marco] Pappa, I think that now with their new coach they’re more organized and for me, this is a better team than before. We saw the match against Jamaica, and we know that at home this is a different side,” said Donovan ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifier with Guatemala.