Donovan Shows Well In Bayern Debut

American forward Landon Donovan made a strong showing in his debut for Bayern Munich, earning two assists in a friendly against the UAE's Al Jazeera tonight in Abu Dhabi.

On loan from MLS side LA Galaxy, Donovan started up top with Luca Toni and quickly had a few good scoring chances in the 2oth and 25th minutes but was unable to convert either.
The host side did not make it easy, scoring early with a fourth minute Fernando Baino goal to give Al Jazeera the lead 1-0. Donovan worked well on the right setting up Bastain Schweinsteiger for a score to make it 1-1. The home side attacked well again with a good shot from distance by captain Ebrahem Diake but Bayern went on the offensive again. This time, Donovan layed off a gorgeous ball to Christian Lell, who seeming surprised by the service, muffed it wide.

In the second half coach Jurgen Klinsmann replaced nine players but left Donovan on but now playing up top alongside Miroslav Klose. After Donovan was taken down hard 20 meters from goal, Daniel van Buyten converted the resulting free kick in the 47th minute to put Bayern on top 2-1. Yet, the nine new players did not seem to get into much of a rhythm and a poor Van Buyten backpass to keeper Joerg Butt went in for an own goal tying the game at 2:2. Finally Miroslav Klose secured the win for Bayern with an injury time goal to give them a 3-2 win.

After the match, a few German online fan forums also seemed positive on Donovan's performance with comments from Bayern supporters such as "...thank God Donovan is here and Podolski is gone" or "Hoeness sure knows how to find good players."

Donovan's next opportunity to play will be on Monday in a friendly against Al Weda in Saudi Arabia.