Landon Donovan, the all-time leader in goals and assists for the United States men’s national team, says that the U.S. women’s team could beat its male counterpart.
“I think it’s safe to say the women are on top of the world right now, they would beat the men quite handily – but not without a fight,” Donovan said, via the Daily Mail.
The U.S. women are fresh off their third World Cup title, the most among any women’s program in the world.
Donovan made the comments while on the red carpet amid all the festivities surrounding the ESPY awards, where the U.S. women won the Best Team award. Donovan’s former U.S. and LA Galaxy teammate Cobi Jones was asked the same question this week and said the U.S. women couldn’t beat the men.
U.S. women’s national team forward Alex Morgan — who had knee surgery on Friday and will miss up to a month — said the U.S. women would hold their own against the men. Defender Ali Krieger says she and her teammates would beat the men’s team, settling on a 2-1 score.
All of this, of course, was said in good fun, as seen in the video above.
