Landon Donovan has been the point man for U.S. soccer, in the eyes of fans, certainly, for most of a decade now. Arguably since the 2002 World Cup. Unlike the country’s several prominent goalkeepers (Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, Tim Howard, for starters) … Donovan has excelled as a field player. And distinguished himself over a period of time like no American before him.

As good as he has been — and he holds national-team records for goals (41), assists and World Cup qualifying appearances (32) — he has been even better this year. And never moreso than in the El Salvador match on Saturday, when he was the trigger man for the offense, set up both goals with exquisite balls into the box in a 2-1 victory and worked back on defense as if that were his primary job, nearly running himself into the ground in the process.

He has never been better than he is right this minute.

Here’s why:

–Experience. Donovan has played in 117 national team matches now … plus 220 in Major League Soccer … and trained with a Bundesliga team on three separate occasions. He has been around the block — more than a couple of times. There isn’t much he hasn’t seen, in terms of competition, venues and elite opposition. You can’t invent experience, and you can’t buy it, and he has it, and it shows in the way he sees the game and the passes he makes and the attacks he breaks up with his anticipation.

–He is still young. At 27, Donovan is in his prime. He retains the speed he brought into the league with him, which anyone can see when he switches on the afterburners and blows past a team’s defense for one of his trademark run-of-play goals. He is refining his service on restarts. Add his physical gifts to his experience, and he presents the U.S. with an unmatched talent package.

–He has refined his game off the ball. A few years ago, Donovan let it be known — by his performance on the pitch — that he didn’t want to be known as a player who contributed only in the attacking end. He has proven that over and again, over the past couple of years.

–His move, on the national team, to winger. I thought this was a horrible idea, at first, thinking it would limit the positions on the field the best U.S. offensive player could get to and how often he would touch the ball … but coach Bob Bradley was right. Donovan is more useful than ever. Because 1) Donovan doesn’t get swallowed up in the middle of the field, as sometimes happened when he was asked to be the playmaking mid or a withdrawn forward (as in the 2006 World Cup) … 2) Because on the wing he often is pitted against an outside back who can’t hope to keep up with him, or a defensive mid who then spends his whole game in his own half of the field and 3) as an outside mid he immediately grasped and bought into the concept that he had to work back on defense. Which he does as well as any American winger … oh, ever. If  you need your wingers to drop back into defense, well, Donovan is your man.

–He remains in remarkable physical condition. Knock on wood, but he has never been seriously injured. And that could be a function of the training and nutrition regimen he has shifted to since being exposed to David Beckham as well as to the Bundesliga, again, especially at Bayern Munich, over the winter. Donovan routinely is the last man out of the Los Angeles Galaxy training room as he goes in for long, painful massage therapy. And a guy who once ate junk food regulary is carefully monitoring his diet.

–He has embraced and now earned a leadership role. Former U.S. coach Bruce Arena often gave Donovan the captain’s armband in the run-up to Germany 2006, but Donovan wasn’t always ready for it. He also had trouble being a true leader on the field because he was committed (by Arena) to the attacking end, and soccer teams tend to respect fully only those guys who help keep the opposition from scoring.

After the 2006 World Cup, a person with good sources inside the U.S. federation told me that new coach Bob Bradley didn’t respect Donovan’s leadership abilities and, in fact, Carlos Bocanegra has emerged as Bradley’s choice for captain, and ‘Los certainly looks the part (tall, rugged and a defender). But unless I am blind to the on-the-field chemistry of this team, Donovan is now the team’s actual leader. He may not scare opponents with his sheer physical force, but he is the brain of the team, and we shudder to think what sort of quivering, helpless mess the U.S. team would be if he wasn’t available for a big match.

Bradley now is a Donovan fan, and it was a long time coming. But give him credit for recognizing what has gone on in front of him, on the field.

After the El Salvador game, Bradley said, “Landon had a terrific game. He was very active and mobile. It was very important for us, and obviously there were the two great crosses for the goals. I think every game is different but we’ve seen some of that in the Confederations Cup. Landon has talked about how he feels he has matured, grown and taken more responsibility, and understands how to play the game at that kind of level all the time. It’s been huge for our team. For everyone else to see what he’s doing and how much he’s putting into it has really set a great example.”

Three years ago, Bradley thought Donovan was soft. Bradley tends to prefer his players to be big and beefy and physically imposing. Donovan is none of those. But he has brought around Bob Bradley, a coach who was predisposed not to like or value him, by the sheer quality of play he produces.

I bring up all this because we sometimes don’t notice or appreciate a player when he is in is prime, and at what may be his peak. This U.S. team isn’t out of the woods, in terms of winning one of three automatic berths to the 2010 World Cup … but it would be in serious trouble if it didn’t have Donovan around to take every corner and nearly every restart, to score goals and to make the clever through passes that lead to goals.

Landon Donovan is as good right now as he ever has been, which makes him as good as any American field player ever has been, and we may want to keep that in mind as we watch him play … continuing on Wednesday night in the qualifier at Port of Spain, Trinidad.