USMNT legend and San Diego Loyal manager Landon Donovan joins the show, first to ask 10 minutes of good questions about the coronavirus to Dr. Celine Gounder, Grant's wife and co-host of the Epidemic Podcast (at 18:53). Then Grant interviews Donovan about soccer stuff (at 31:10), including his thoughts on the German Bundesliga and the culture around soccer in Germany compared to his experience on loans at Everton. They also discuss Donovan's emotional reaction to Matt Pentz's recent oral history in The Athletic about Donovan's famous World Cup 2010 goal against Algeria—and why Grant was in the stadium that day but didn't see the goal. Donovan also discusses his feelings about sharing the all-time USMNT goals record with Clint Dempsey, what made Dempsey special and why he thinks it's no coincidence that he and Dempsey came from lower-middle-class backgrounds.
This podcast is a co-production with our friends at the Total Soccer Show, and to open the show Grant is joined by TSS's Daryl Grove to look ahead to Tuesday's Bundesliga game of the year, Borussia Dortmund-Bayern Munich. They also give their thoughts on the new manufactured crowd noise on the Bundesliga broadcasts, the rise of Bayern's Canadian left back Alphonso Davies and the breakout star turn of Lutz Pfannensteil, who analyzes Bundesliga games on TV, works as Fortuna Düsseldorf's sporting director, is the only pro to have played on six continents and has an insane memoir, The Unstoppable Keeper.
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Landon Donovan Interview; Dortmund-Bayern Preview