Landon Donovan’s World Cup predictions, message to USMNT in new Nescafe partnership

The FIFA World Cup is coming to North America, where the United States, Canada, and Mexico will host the 2026 Summer competition. For the former LA Galaxy and USMNT star Landon Donovan, it’s the biggest event in the world happening right in his backyard.

In order to prepare for the World Cup, Landon Donovan partnered with the world’s largest coffee brand, Nescafe, which introduced “The Third Half” campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. As part of the creative campaign, Nescafé is releasing limited-edition soccer-themed Nescafé Espresso Kegs and bringing Donovan and Luis Garcia aboard.

“Nescafe is nostalgic for me because I grew up with it in my home,” Donovan told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview at an event in Los Angeles. “My mom drank it while we were growing up, so the opportunity to partner with them was pretty easy for me. It’s an amazing company, amazing people, and this summer is going to be quite literally the biggest sporting event on the history of the planet.

“And it’s not just the games that we love and pay attention to. It’s the time before the game, the half-time, and then after the game. Having conversations, connecting with people, and Nescafe is a great way to do it with friends. It’s an amazing way to connect and continue talking about the game once they end.”

As the USMNT’s all-time leading goal scorer and leader in international appearances, Landon Donovan has an extensive history of being a leader on the biggest stage. Donovan recently sat down exclusively with ClutchPoints to discuss his new partnership with Nescafe, predictions for the upcoming World Cup, a dive into his new memoir, and much more.

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Tomer Azarly: I know you said your mom was a big coffee drinker, were you a big coffee person growing up?

Landon Donovan: Not until probably my late 20s and then when you have kids, Tomer, I don’t know if you have kids. Not yet. When you have kids, you need a lot of coffee because you got to keep up with them. You got to keep up with them. As I’ve gotten older, not only do I drink it functionally, but I actually really enjoy it too. This is just an easy way to have it when I’m on the go and I’m working or I’m working the games or calling the games. It’s dependable, reliable, easy and a fun way, like I said, to enjoy it with people and connect around the game.

Tomer Azarly: People don’t always talk about, for an athlete, coffee brands as a partnership. Why was it important for you, aside from you said your mom, why was it important for you for this brand?

Landon Donovan: For me, it’s simple. I’m able to be very selective in what I do. Great people I want to work with, great products, and people who are passionate about what they do. When this opportunity came about, it was a no-brainer for me. Again, the nostalgic piece, my mom was like, you have to do it. I love Nescafe. The people, I’ve gotten to know the people and I love them. What they’re trying to do is be a part of something I love, soccer, that’s been a huge part of my life, and connect through it. You have the game, first half, second half, and now we talk about having a third half in between the games or after the game to talk and connect and be a part of something together, and I love that.

Tomer Azarly: Your mom immediately was like, you got to take this partnership.

Landon Donovan: She said, ‘You are doing that!’ I said, ‘Whoa, Mom, okay, I guess I am.’

Tomer Azarly: She’s more passionate than you!

Landon Donovan: Yeah, she loves it.

Tomer Azarly: Let’s get right into the upcoming World Cup. Are there any teams you’re watching, any nations in particular you’re eyeing for the World Cup?

Landon Donovan: I think Spain are the best team, France are the most talented group of players. There are some other teams on the periphery of that like Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, England, Germany, who are in that next tier, but I would be pretty surprised if Spain or France don’t win the tournament.

Tomer Azarly: at 12 goals, Kylian Mbappé is four goals away from getting the all-time World Cup record. This is about to be just his third World Cup, if I’m not mistaken. What can you say about that kind of record being so close to being reached for a 27-year old?

Landon Donovan: Kylian Mbappé has been a phenomenal player for a long time, but what separated him is that he’s done it for his national team consistently and in big, big moments. In World Cups, he’s produced. A lot of players have amazing club careers, and then it comes to their national team and they’re good or okay, but he’s been elite at the national team level and it’s been really fun to watch.

Tomer Azarly: You played in places like Germany, England, the Premier League, and the U.S. as well. What atmosphere was your favorite to be a part of? Which one had you taken aback when you took on the pitch?

Landon Donovan: There are a few, and there are some that you wouldn’t think of. The most intimidating was in Costa Rica. So they used to play at a stadium called Saprisa. And in Saprisa, it was a very old stadium, Astroturf, really dark, and felt kind of eerie. The locker room was right underneath their crazy fans. So two hours before the game, when you pulled up to the game, the stadium was full, and they were jumping and chanting, so literally the locker room would shake as we were trying to get ready for the match. So as a human, yes, you’re focused on the game, but you’re also focused on just trying to get out of there alive because you feel like, you know, you feel threatened in some ways, even though they were amazing people, beautiful people, but the feeling was very real.

Tomer Azarly: Did they know the locker room was under the stands?

Landon Donovan: Of course, they knew.

Tomer Azarly: Ahh, so it was an intimidation tactic.

Landon Donovan: Oh yeah. They know exactly what they’re doing.

Tomer Azarly: Well okay then. I’ll take it back to your 2010 World Cup goal, I think it was against Algeria. Is that the highlight of your career? Is that like the moment that still stands out to you? What is the moment that stands out to you.

Landon Donovan: Well, because of what it meant for soccer and what it did for my life, yes. I mean, was it the most amazing goal? I mean it was a seven-yard pass into the goal, which anybody could do, but because of what it meant and what it did? Absolutely.

Tomer Azarly: Is that a moment that you to this day remember vividly like everywhere where you were how you were approaching everything?

Landon Donovan: Well, yeah, I mean I get reminded about it and the beauty of that goal — Well, there’s two things. One is people remember where they were for that goal and then I always want them to share that story because it’s really special to me that I could help provide a special moment in their life and, two, many, many people to American to me and say I became a soccer fan that day because of that goal and then now they’re diehard soccer fans and that’s amazing.

Tomer Azarly: How do you even take a compliment like that? What does that mean to you?

Landon Donovan: I mean it’s powerful. Because all of my life without knowing it as a child and all of my professional career, consciously, I’ve been trying to help this game grow. It’s why I’m here and it’s why I’m partnering with amazing company like Nescafe. So I’ve been trying to be an ambassador and grow this game forever and when you do that in a powerful moment and it quite literally makes people a fan of the game. That’s the best.

June 23, 2010: On the brink of elimination, Landon Donovan scores the game winner in stoppage time against Algeria to send USA to the knockout round of the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/5H7a5S2heY

— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) June 23, 2020

Tomer Azarly: What do you think the United States needs to do to get maybe more respect or just to just to be considered among like the elites in the world? Is there a step they need to take?

Landon Donovan: So this is what I always say. We don’t need to win a World Cup. Of course, that would be amazing, but we just need to be one of the teams I talked about in the beginning that are competing to win it every time. So every World Cup we have, Spain France Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England, you’re like, oh they could win it. But you don’t think, ‘oh the U.S. could win it, so we want to get to a place where we’re producing players of quality that are capable of winning a World Cup. Once we get there, with all the resources, the infrastructure, the amount of people we have here, the athletic talent in this country, we will win World Cups, but we need to get to that point.

Tomer Azarly: I feel like Soccer in the U.S. has become a bit of a pay-to-play type thing enough to discover talent where overseas I think they prioritize finding that talent. Is there an easier path to finding talent here in the U.S.

Landon Donovan: There are a lot of us working hard to sort of fix that right? But the reality is is soccer is a very inclusive, easy game to play. You don’t have to get focused on the club team. You can just go play and for me all I did growing up was play. Yes, I played on a club team, but we practiced once a week had some games, but it wasn’t the biggest part of my soccer development. I was just outside kicking the ball and maybe that’s an example of what we need to get back to. Just go play. Just go play. You can learn about the other stuff when you get older.

Tomer Azarly: Where do you see the game grow the most from when you started? I think it was 2001 to when you retired?

Landon Donovan: It’s hard to say because there’s the on-the-field part and then there’s the off-the-field. Off the field, in 2001, franchises in Major League Soccer were literally were zero. Worth nothing. And now they’re worth literally a billion dollars, right? So there’s that piece of it. The stadiums might have had 3,000 people in them. Now there’s 30,000 people. And then the actual on the field product in Major League Soccer I’m talking about has just gotten so much better. The quality is so much better. And for our national team players, they are now playing at big clubs right all over the world and that didn’t happen in the past.

Tomer Azarly: You wrote a memoir that came out in March. Just talk about why that was important for you to write and put out there and talked about a lot of I think it was Depression just battles you were going why was it important for you to get that message out there?

Landon Donovan: So I just said to you like what’s most powerful to me is when people come up and share stories where they were for 2010 the comment I get almost as much as that is, ‘Thank you for speaking openly about all things, but depression, your childhood, your strained relationship with your dad.’ People really resonate with that and it’s something they can relate to and so I think there’s a lot of power in that and I wanted to share my story. My story is very unique and that a kid who grew up in a 900 square foot home in Southern California is sitting here today with you, but it’s also really common. A kid without a dad dealing with depression, a mom struggling to make ends meet, a lot of people can relate to that too, but there is a way out.

Tomer Azarly: Before you wrote that though, like what was the inspiration because now people are telling you, ‘Thank you for speaking out,’ but what drove you to say I need to tell my story, I need people to know that it’s okay to feel this way.

Landon Donovan: Because I like to humanize myself. Like, my mom was a special education teacher, okay, so I was always acutely aware. When people would say, ‘oh you missed that shot’ or, ‘you lost,’ this and that, I was like ‘It’s just a game.’ My mom’s doing real stuff. Yeah, she’s really changing lives. So it never was that important to me. And so I like to make sure people understand that we can be human and there’s more to us than just who we are as someone who’s in the media, an influencer, a soccer player, an artist, whatever. There’s more to us. We’re human beings just like you are.

Tomer Azarly: How long did the memoir take you to write?

Landon Donovan: We started six years ago. It didn’t really take that long. We kind of took our time, but it was a long process.

Tomer Azarly: When fans look at your career, maybe on the field or off. What do you want them to remember in 10 to 15 years? What do you want them to know most about you? Was it stuff off the field is on the field?

Landon Donovan: Oh, well, I would prefer I would prefer off the field, but I understand that there’s a powerful part of what I did on the field, and I also realize now that people were paying their hard-earned money to come watch, to be entertained, but to be inspired. And I think I tried to always play with that in mind, that I was trying to provide them a relief, a reprieve from their life, entertain them, motivate them, inspire them. And I hope I did a good job.”

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