Donovan's hat-trick powers US

All-time US goal leader Landon Donovan scored a hat trick Saturday and the Americans routed Scotland 5-1 in an international football friendly that served as a World Cup qualifying tuneup. Donovan, a striker for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, scored in the third minute and found the net again in the 60th and 65th minutes, boosting his US career goal total to 49 before 41,000 spectators.

"It was a good day for me," Donovan said. "We wanted to come out and put on a good show. It's not often we get 41,000 people." Donovan, playing for the Americans for the first time since last September, also set a US record with his 125th start, one more than defender Jeff Agoos totaled for the "Stars and Stripes" from 1988 through 2003.

AFP