CLUB AND COUNTRY: Can Redlands' Landon Donovan Rise to the Challenge?

President Barack Obama smiled last week when he welcomed Redlands' most famed homegrown athlete and the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy to the White House, reward for their second consecutive MLS championship.

Whether Landon Donovan can make the rest of the nation smile and help the U.S. make it to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil remains to be seen.

After taking more than three months away from soccer due to physical and mental exhaustion, Donovan looked both sharp as a new tack and rusty as an old nail Saturday in his return to the Galaxy.

Donovan came on as a second-half sub during a Major League Soccer match in Toronto, and accepted the captain's armband.

He was sharp as he timed his first run at goal to meet a perfectly-weighted pass from Mike Magee. But he was rusty with his first touch, getting off a less-than-lethal shot straight at Toronto FC's keeper.

The match was tied 1-1 at that point and Toronto scored a go-ahead goal minutes later. Thankfully for the Galaxy, Inglewood teen forward Jose Villareal pounced on a poor clearance and tied the score on a scissors-kick in stoppage time.

"Fitness wise I felt great," Donovan told lagalaxy.com after the 2-2 draw. "Obviously I have a ways to go soccer wise.  But you've got to get minutes to get better and so it was good to get some time today."

Now Donovan, whose stated goal is to settle in with the Galaxy and earn his way back to the U.S. national team in time for their next World Cup qualifiers, has about two months to prove himself to Yanks manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

The Galaxy has 11 matches scheduled in April, May, and early June, including CONCACAF Champions League dates this week and next week against the regional tournament's back-to-back winner, Club de Fútbol Monterrey of Liga MX.

Theoretically, Donovan could go the next two months without scoring and still get a call-up to the U.S. team. He is the Yanks' career-leader in goals scored, 49, and assists, 48, according to U.S. Soccer.

The U.S. team has lacked scoring punch lately, with two goals in three qualifiers.

The "easy way to make the U.S. team better before its next round of qualifiers in June" is to bring back Donovan, Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times wrote in a column published Sunday March 31.

"U.S. soccer must bring back Landon Donovan," the Times headlined the column. The dek: "The national team without the Galaxy star isn't good enough."

Donovan, 31, grew up playing soccer in Redlands and he has played professional and international soccer since his teens.

He scored against Mexico in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea to help the U.S. advance to the quarterfinals, their best finish to date.

When he scored an injury-time winner over Algeria to put the U.S. in the round of 16 at South Africa 2010, Argentine announcer Andres Cantor called Donovan "El mejor jugador de la historia de los Etados Unidos."

The U.S. is now third in the final stage of CONCACAF qualifying with four points from three matches - an opening loss at Honduras, a win over Costa Rica, and a draw with Mexico, who are now fifth in the group. The top three teams qualify for Brazil 2014 and the fourth place team enters a playoff for a chance to advance.

The Yanks resumes qualifying on June 7 with three matches in the space of 12 days - on the road against Jamaica, at home against Panama, and at home against Honduras.

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