Donovan's status unclear after flu spell
Galaxy forward recovering from bout of H1N1 virus
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Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena said he believed Donovan may have come down with it during the team's trip to Foxborough, Mass., last weekend. Arena said a couple of staff members didn't feel good last Friday "and it carried through."
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Donovan was quoted in Friday's Los Angeles Times as saying he started coughing on Monday and then felt a little tired before Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Mexico in Mexico City. Donovan also told the newspaper he came down with chills, a fever and congestion when he returned home Thursday.
Arena said the team "took the necessary precautions" when tests revealed Donovan had the illness.
"Everything's fine," he said Friday. "There are no other cases among our players. The little understanding I have of this flu is it's a flu that's very manageable.
"I think the worst part of it is the word 'swine.' Then people tend to panic. I'm told there are other flus that are much more difficult to deal with."
Arena said Donovan's illness is not infectious -- "We're well past that stage," he said -- and there was nothing to worry about.
"There are no issues on our team or anything else," he said.
Arena also said he wasn't sure if Donovan would play on Saturday and said it depended on the quickness of Donovan's recovery.
"If it's how I felt, he's playing," Arena said with a smile. "It's certainly on how Landon feels and what the doctors tell me.
"Like anybody else who has that flu it depends on how quickly you can turn it around. He might be an option (on Saturday)."
Arena said there were a number of possibilities should Donovan be unavailable. Among them, he said, were Bryan Jordan, Kyle Patterson, Mike Magee, Jovan Kirovski and Dema Kovalenko.
Arena also was asked if the flu had affected Donovan during Wednesday's World Cup qualifier, a 2-1 loss.
"I thought he was one of the better players (on the U.S.)," Arena said. "If it affected his performance, than he really had a good game.''
Galaxy teammates said the strategy for Saturday's game between the two Western Conference playoff contenders, a rematch of a 1-1 in Seattle on May 10, won't change that much if Donovan can't go. The Galaxy (7-3-10) are second in the conference while Sounders FC (7-5-8) are fourth.
"I don't think it will be that much different," Magee said. "We've kind of been in this situation a lot with Landon missing national team duty and being gone early in the year. Our guys have stepped up.
"Obviously you want Landon on the field ... he's a decent player," he added with a grin.
The Galaxy have a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) and have not lost a 2-1 defeat in San Jose on June 20. Sounders FC, on the other hand, have been shut out in three consecutive matches.
Klein said he was confident the Galaxy would carry on, despite the temporary loss of their captain.
"Obviously it's big," Chris Klein said. "He's the best player in our league. On the flip side we feel we have enough depth on this team to fill in.
"Any team that doesn't have Landon in the lineup is going to be a different team. That's out of our control, so we're moving forward with the guys we do have. Whether Landon's in there or not, we're going to go out and try to win the game."
Larry Morgan is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
