Top Stories

Landon Donovan: Support of Mexico preceded ad campaign

Former U.S. Men’s National Team member Landon Donovan has recently gotten criticism for his support of Mexico for this summer’s World Cup.

The 35-year-old Donovan recently stated in an appearance with Sports Illustrated that his support came from a genuine appreciation of the country. The former MLS player also stated that his support preceded his sponsorship agreement with Wells Fargo.

“A couple months ago, Wells Fargo reached out and said, ‘We’d like to do another commercial with you,'” Donovan said, referring to the “Hat Trick Rick” commercial he had previously done with Wells Fargo.

“I said, ‘Well I grew up with Mexicans, I literally learned how to play soccer from Mexicans, and I owe a lot of my career from Mexico,’ and I said, ‘Believe it or not I’m actually rooting for them,’ which took a lot of people in the Wells Fargo sponsorship and marketing team by surprise.”

Despite the absence of the USMNT from the tournament in Russia, Wells Fargo wanted to get fans behind their CONCACAF rivals given the heavy Mexican influence in the United States. Donovan doesn’t regret supporting Mexico for the tournament but also feels it could’ve been handled differently, rather than just in a promotional campaign.

“But I said ‘I do, I want them to do well, I just lived there for four months, and I know how much this means to them, and I realize it’s probably a little bit controversial, but I do want them to do well,” he said.

“I think had I done that, it would have been a little easier to manage.”

Donovan is currently without a club after him and Club Leon of Liga MX parted ways on June 17th.

Comments

  1. Mexico’s first half against Deutschland was the best 45 minutes of forty in the tourney so far. I can’t wait to see more of them actually. If we would’ve played with a half that much passion in qualifying we would be there now. Sombreros off to their squad.

    Reply
    • (footy) +1 that’s what i’m talkin’ about! mexico was fun to watch against germany. more of that, please.

      Reply
  2. and this idea that ld is just saying this (without really meaning it) just to make some $$ doing wells fargo commercials is just silly. for pete’s sake, the guy was playing for a mexican club. i’m pretty sure he means this from his heart. what else does the guy have to do to prove it?

    Reply
    • well as gi joe told us, “knowing is half the battle.” and as michael jackson told us, “i’m looking at the man in the mirror. and i’m asking him to change his ways.”

      Reply
    • this was not about money. don’t you understand this player’s mind? it was about making a statement. a statement in line with his previous famous statement that he doesn’t believe in walls. he likes leon, the city. he wanted to play there. he wanted to wear green (for club leon). and now just as a fan he has a green mexico scarf that reads “my other team is mexico”. landon was always a leader on the soccer field. and now he’s taking a leadership role off the field to show all soccer fans (and all americans by extension) that we don’t need walls, we don’t need hatred, we don’t need bigotry. we can wear green. we can root for our neighbor to the south, mexico.

      this was about money? no, not at all.

      Reply
      • Note: I was born Uruguay, lived most my life Southern California, & served 18 years.

        Yes. We need borders, like mexico has borders & mexico’s strict immigration laws…haha..typical snowflake…haha

      • note; “bigotry” ..haha…you heard mexican media, that’s “bigotry”.
        Vicente Fox racist comments towards American Blacks.
        “indios que juega con pelota cuadradad.”
        Ronaldihno compare to ape by mexican media.
        Booing of U.S. anthem, in 1998, Los Angeles CA.
        Mexican fans screaming “Osama” at USNT under 23’s..etc…

    • well scott e dio93, how about you and i make a deal? we’re not gonna do that. we’re not gonna talk like that? let others say and do whatever they want. change starts with us. how about it?

      Reply
      • As an American (by choice & via “SERVICE”), I will never such a xenophobic/hateful team like mexico.

      • Scott – Nobody is telling you that you should root for Mexico! Stop being so paranoid. Donovan simply said, “Go Mexico,” and you are going to make it a big deal. Get a life and stop being so angry about someone who simply has a different viewpoint than you.

  3. dear larry, ld is not just a former member of our national team, he was our captain.

    i read this article, the above comments and this other article:
    Ex-USMNT Star Landon Donovan Ripped For Supporting Mexico in World Cup
    https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/17/landon-donovan-world-cup-mexico-ads

    my two cents:
    who is right: landon donovan.
    who is wrong: Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, herculez gomez, Kyle Martino,
    Sebastian Salazar (whoever he is) and
    Taylor Twellman.

    guys, and i mean this lovingly, LIGHTEN UP.

    by tweet, ld said, “The tournament is here! USA fans, our team may not be in Russia, but our neighbors to the south are. So join me and their proud #sponsor @WellsFargo to cheer on our other team, Mexico @miseleccionmxEN. ¡Vamos México!”

    and i feel the same way (and i didn’t even play on a Mexican club team for four months prior to the wc). i am also personally rooting 100% for mexico in this wc.

    i feel a little sorry for people so are so “programmed” to “hate” team x or country x that they can’t even root for their sports teams in a wc or in an olympics. i think that’s sad, really.

    Reply
    • I’m not rooting for Mexico, but these people who want to chastise another man for rooting for them are pitiful losers.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to don Lamb Cancel reply