Perhaps you noticed a less-than-stellar Landon Donovan on the field for the United States last night at Azteca. Perhaps you noticed that Donovan didn't quite seem himself, despite his sweet pass to Charlie Davies for the game's first goal.

Perhaps you thought to yourself, "What's wrong with Landon?"

Now we know.

Donovan apparently contracted the H1N1 virus (yes, swine flu) in the days leading up to the match, and it's fairly clear that it affected his performance on Wednesday afternoon. The pace-y, ridiculously fit, and insanely active Donovan that we have all come to expect wasn't there; he not only did not factor in much of the match, he also had a few poor moments that left us scratching our heads. Most fans and observers immediately chalked it up to Donovan's somewhat-notorious tendency to disappear in big games; perspective obviously changes a bit now, with this new information providing Donovan with a reasonable excuse for a lackluster match.

Of particular interest to me is the winning goal by Mexico; Donovan was literally left in the dust of Efrain Juarez as the Mexican sliced through the US defense to the endline. At the time, I assumed that Donovan lost that foot race because we was gassed after seventy minutes in the altitude and smog of Mexico City; now we know that there was more at play than just a little fatigue.

It's also somewhat ironic that Donovan seems to have picked up the virus in the United States, and not in Mexico as would be naturally assumed.

What do you make of this news? Do you view Donovan's performance differently in light of it?