For Landon Donovan, the months leading up to the World Cup have featured a public divorce, therapy and the nagging itch of a four-year-old failure.
Yet four weeks out from the most important tournament of his career, Donovan credits the tribulations in his personal life with helping him attain the maturity and perspective that drives his World Cup dream.
Donovan and actress Bianca Kajlich, who stars on the television sitcom “Rules of Engagement,” were married for three years before separating last July and finalizing a divorce in late 2009. In discussing that deeply personal subject, the 28-year-old United States forward refers to the relationship and the split as a catalyst for his improvement as both a man and a player.
“I think every comment I got when I told people I was getting divorced was, ‘I’m so sorry,’ ” said Donovan, speaking on Day 2 of the USA national team training camp. “It is not always the case that it has to be ‘sorry.’
“Sometimes you learn more from those moments than anything. For me that was certainly the case. It doesn’t have to be something ugly or nasty. It can be helpful and you can grow from it. That is what we both took from it.”
