Landon Donovan has played in World Cups, Gold Cups and MLS Cups, but there is one moment from the youth of America's greatest soccer player that has stuck with him throughout his career.

Donovan was a 14-year-old freshman at Redlands High School in Southern California when the Terriers played in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) quarterfinals at home against Alta Loma High. Donovan said at least 1,000 fans surrounded a field that wasn't meant for 100 spectators to watch Redlands win the game on penalty kicks.

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"To me, that was by far the biggest soccer moment in my life and probably the biggest soccer moment for most of those kids up to that point," Donovan said this week while doing promotional work for Neutrogena Men. "And the cool thing about it was we played against a guy named Carlos Bocanegra, who went on to have an incredible national team career. So every time that I see him, I make sure to let him know.

"For me, I've had this incredible blessing to be able to play this game for so long at a professional level and at World Cups and all that, but I still remember that year as being special. For me, at that time, there was nothing better in my life. I really, really enjoyed that year."

As Donovan prepares for his final United States men's national team game against Ecuador on Friday in East Hartford, Conn., and completes his final season of Major League Soccer, he relished the idea of taking a few moments to look back at how he got to this point and his humble beginnings in a small town west of Palm Springs and less than an hour from Orange County.

Donovan's family moved to Redlands when he was 10 years old and he was immediately immersed in its soccer culture. Redlands is a unique place. The town treats soccer the way Texas treats football.

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When Donovan was a boy, many of the city's families would gather at one of the local junior high schools for American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) games while other families traversed the state with club teams. Donovan dabbled in a little of both, and in his free time he could be seen practicing free kicks at the elementary school near his home or dribbling a soccer ball through the aisles of the local supermarket.

"Randomly, he always had a ball on him or he'd always want to go play," said Aaron Nessman, who played with and against Donovan in high school, and later coached him. "When you get a little older, that's not the normal things you do, but he always wanted to make himself better. At the drop of a hat if you wanted to play, he was right there. There was a passion for playing. It was who he was. I think that's how he was defined, as a soccer player."

Donovan was known in soccer circles well before he entered high school in 1997, but he credits that first year on the field with Redlands High for helping shape him as a player and helping him mature.

Redlands High was considered one of the perennial soccer programs in California. At the time, only one high school served Redlands and a couple of communities around it creating a deep talent pool. Making the varsity team was almost impossible for freshmen and those that did make the team rarely played in their first season.

But during tryouts, which included more than 100 players, Donovan stood out not only because of his skill but also because of his haircut, which former teammates refer to as "Roberto Baggio curls."

"It was kinda like a curly mullet," said Jerad Bailey, who was the starting goalkeeper and captain of the Redlands High varsity team.

Donovan's haircut, skill, confidence and maturity didn't sit well with several of the varsity players who had waited their turns for their shot to play at the highest level. So there was needling and complaining and sometimes even fighting, but one thing was for certain: Donovan could play and he wanted to play, no matter the cost.

"There was some jealousy from some individuals, but he was a confident guy," assistant varsity coach Jon Bailey said of Donovan. "He knew his ability, he knew his potential and he had always been the best when it came to his age. In his age group, it was not even close competition. But when you're dealing with three to four years in high school, that's a big physicality difference and ego difference, too.

"He knew how to push people's buttons and that wasn't taken very well. But once he learned how to humble himself a little bit, that's when he fit in."

Donovan didn't start right away, but injuries started to happen. To get on the field, he volunteered to play almost any position – even goalkeeper – and would often stay behind at practice to work on the nuances of various positions or to take things he had seen in practice and apply them to his game.

"We had a lot of great players that could have had similar opportunities, but what set Landon apart was his ability to quickly and immediately learn something and master it," said Nessman, who played with Donovan on the 1997 team. "It was amazing because he would see a move and before the end of practice he had mastered it and was plugging it into his own repertoire of plays. That was something that he was head and shoulders above other people in our league."

Donovan shaved his curly locks and tried to be a team player. But even he admits that didn't come easy. He said he was "sheltered" from the things high school kids liked to do and, consequently, he didn't roll in the same circles. He didn't hang out late at night in the parking lots of fast-food restaurants or go to parties.

"I was always mature in certain ways," Donovan said. "Although I'm sure many of the guys said that I was just this little brash punk kid that was annoying and probably really conceited. So, I was that, but I probably understood the game as much as those guys, if not better, just because of the sheer number of hours I had put in playing. So for me, it was all very natural and very easy to make a transition to play with older players."

But sometimes Donovan's brash attitude made him a prime target for pranks. Nessman said his fondest memory of Donovan didn't occur on the soccer field, but it came during a sleepover when he and another soccer player covered Donovan in flour while he was sleeping. Donovan woke up, ran into the shower to wash off and the flour turned into a paste to create an even bigger mess.

Donovan never complained. Just like on the soccer field, he absorbed everything and those experiences helped him along the way, especially when he was the youngest player on the national team and on his MLS team.

"He wasn't the outgoing, trying-to-fit-in guy," Nessman said. "I guess I could describe it as he didn't really feel like he needed to prove anything. As a freshman within our program I think, yes, he wanted to be liked. Yes, he wanted people to hang out with him and things like that. So yes, he was always trying to be a part of everything. But I don't think he was validated through other people.

"The individual that I think he became – being very driven and really kind of doing what he did – kind of speaks to that," Nessman added. "You can't be driven by other people, you kind of have to be driven from within. That's a lot of what I observed."

Eventually, Donovan became a full-time starter as a freshman and the MVP of the Citrus Belt League, an award that, even now, some players wonder if he deserved over other seasoned players. After beating Alta Loma on penalty kicks, Redlands played Fountain Valley in the CIF semifinals, and with little time remaining and Redlands losing, Donovan sent a beautiful free kick into the 18-yard box that was headed off the crossbar. The whistle blew and Donovan dropped to the ground crying.

It was the last time he would play for Redlands High School.

"You see him send balls like that in all the time and to think that, you know, we were there for like the beginning of that is kinda cool," Nessman said.

In 1998, Redlands opened a new high school called Redlands East Valley (REV). All of the seniors at Redlands got to stay at Redlands, but every other class was divided using the 10 Freeway, which essentially split the town. Donovan ended up ushering REV into the soccer fold, but by the time he joined that program he had started training with the U.S. Under-17 team and most of his time was spent traveling.

However, Donovan's attitude toward the game never wavered. And if there was a game available for him to play, he was going to play in it.

"I had him periodically and he probably averaged 11 or 12 games a season out of the 30 games because he was always traveling," former REV coach Dennis O'Neil said. "There was a time when he flew in from, I want to say South America maybe Central America, got in at like 3 in the morning and he met the team bus at a tournament and he played at 8 a.m. in the morning. He was jetlagged, you could totally tell it, but yeah, he played. There was no stopping that kid."

Since Donovan wasn't in school a lot – doing most of his work via independent study – O'Neil said his starting for REV on the rare times he was in town sparked controversy in the local media and within the athletic department. O'Neil said he often was asked why Donovan got preferential treatment. However, Donovan's teammates never complained, according to O'Neil.

"How do you deny a kid that?" O'Neil said. "He comes back to play for his high school with his buddies that he's grown up with. The other players understood. And I was straightforward with them. I said, 'Listen, as long as Landon's here, Landon's playing.' They were all good. Plus, I think they realized that he was going to be something special. There was no backlash, no issues. I think the other guys enjoyed playing with him."

Nessman, who, as a senior in 1998, played against Donovan and REV and then went on to become an assistant coach the following year, echoed O'Neil's sentiments about players just wanting to play with him. Nessman said even now, as a coach and a guidance counselor in Lake Elsinore, Calif., he is not immune to mentioning that he once played with and coached Donovan.

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Nessman said he would read the various letters colleges would send Donovan and be in awe. They were hand-written, almost love letters, fawning over Donovan asking him to join their respective programs. But by that point, Donovan had decided to leave Redlands and play professionally in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen.

Looking back on it, Nessman said he never expected Donovan to be the player he ultimately became.

"To elevate and get to the level that he did is amazing," Nessman said. "He has busted his butt and done so much work that it's a testament to him. If you had asked me during that freshman, sophomore year if he could have gotten to that level? No. I think he surprised many people.

"But going back and looking at the things that he could do, the things that he could pick up so quickly. Do you ever look at anybody and think that they're going to be the face of U.S. Soccer? No, I don't think so. But is it a surprise? In a way, no. Just because the building blocks were there and then from that, it was just his desire and his true effort that made the difference, I think."

Redlands natives, especially those who were around when Donovan was gracing the street, field and grocery store aisles with his dribbling skills, take great pride in saying they're from the same town as the USMNT's all-time leading scorer. And Donovan exudes that pride right back.

While he makes his home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., Donovan's mother still lives in Redlands and his twin sister, Tristan, lives in the neighboring town of Yucaipa. He goes back often, though not as often as he would like. He actually worked out with Redlands High while he was making a comeback from a three-month sabbatical early last year.

With retirement on the horizon, the desire to get back to where it all began is strong for the 32-year-old Donovan, but moving back home is probably still some years away. He did mention that he plans to do more in the Redlands community.

As he looks back on his soccer career, Donovan is proud of his humble beginnings and that first year at Redlands High School that more or less started it all.

"I accept REV as the high school I went to, but as far as my soccer career, really when I think back on it, I think of my freshman year at RHS," Donovan said. "That was such a special year. And REV was new, so athletically they were far inferior in that way. But RHS my freshman year was so good and those guys were really good players. Tony Murtaugh was our coach, who I loved and learned so much from. That for me was just such an incredible year.

"For me, I just love the town. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of what it's done for me and what it's meant for me and I love it. A lot of people don't know about Redlands. Every time I say Redlands they say, 'Oh, that's up north?' and I have to say, 'No, that's Redwood.' And I try to let them know that it's a great small town in Southern California that will always be home for me and I've always loved being there."