Landon Donovan scored a record 57 goals for the U.S. national team. No one else is close, unless you consider Clint Dempsey, trailing by 18, to be close. And given that the U.S. does not play as many friendlies as it did, into the early years of this century, it is hard to imagine someone breaking that record any time soon.

But how did he score them?

Where? Off which foot? Off his head?

How many were struck inside the box? How many were outside?

And how many were penalties?

Well, you have come to the right place for answers to those burning questions, now that I have studied a sometimes scratchy youtube compilation of the 57 varieties of Landon putting the ball in the net while wearing a U.S. jersey.

Here we go.

–First, what part of his body did Landon use to score — on goals that were not penalties?

Right foot: 24 goals. Left foot: 14 goals. Headers: 4 goals.

Penalties, all right-footed: 15 goals.

–What relationship did his goals have with the box? (Not counting penalties, of course.)

Inside the box, 35 goals

Outside the box: 7 goals.

–And how many of his goals were scored on free kicks?

Three goals.

So, what do those numbers tell us?

–Landon was an extremely opportunistic scorer. He was not much of a threat outside the box (as a passer, yes, but not as a scorer). When he got a chance in the box, he usually put it away. Much of this was about his speed and timing. Watch the video again, and you often will see him sprinting behind the defense, and pulling away. He was faster than nearly everyone he played against, especially in his prime, and he made his break for the goal at the first possible moment he could, without being offside.

Also, he tended to think about where the ball was going to be, not where it was at the moment. (Wayne Gretzky also thought like this; projecting into the future.) Perhaps his most opportunistic goal is the one most celebrated: The simple tap-in of that 4-on-2 jailbreak in added time against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup. He carried the ball most of the way, but it was Jose Altidore and Dempsey who handled it at the end, and a rebound trickled out, and Landon, filling in an empty “lane” on the left, following the play, tapped it in from point-blank range. Probably 90 percent of humans who played organized soccer past the age of 12 would have put that one in. (But far, far fewer would have been in the right place to do what he did.) Here is the Andres Cantor call of that goal. Again.

–Landon scored very few goals from distance. Which is another way of saying he scored very few spectacular goals. Important goals, yes, but dazzling goals … almost never. As noted, above, only seven of his 57 goals were launched from outside the box. All but two of those came maybe one step outside the box. The most prominent exception was perhaps the heaviest shot he ever put in the goal, No. 30, versus Ecuador, I believe, when he ran onto a cross just outside the half-circle and banged it into the top-right corner.

His goal from the greatest distance? A semi-sneaky, “I know the rules” goal, No. 36, when the referee blew his whistle to resume play. Landon was standing over the ball about 30 yards out, and he got under the ball and lofted it and it sailed over the startled defenders and the goalkeeper and into the goal.

His greatest goal? No. 1 among the 57?

The first against Slovenia, in the 2010 World Cup. The one from a steep angle he buried in the roof of the net. (Go to 2:30 of this clip to see it.)

–Landon rarely scored headers — only four of the 57 goals. In part, it’s because he’s 5-foot-8, and he never was in those scrums in front of the goal on corners. (He usually took the corners.) His first headed goal  (go to the 1:45 mark) is also his most remembered — the full-sprint rocket he put past Mexico, off a pass from Eddie Lewis, in the round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup, the second goal versus Mexico.

–And all those penalties. Without going back and trying to figure out how many penalties other leading U.S. scorers had, I think it is safe to say no one had anything like his 15 goals from the spot. Pretty much, from about 2004 forward, he was taking nearly all U.S. penalties. In fact, goals Nos 31 through 35 … all penalties. Five of them. Nos. 38 through 40, also penalties. So, eight of 10 goals, including the 34th, which tied him with Eric Wynalda for the U.S. record, and No. 35, which gave Landon the record … all from the spot.

(And don’t think Wynalda didn’t notice this. He told me, five or six years ago, that his total would have been higher had he gotten anything near as many penalty opportunities as did Landon.)

–One more comparison we need to make: How often Landon scored goals. His 57 leaves him comfortably ahead of Clint Dempsey’s 39, but Landon scored those 18 extra goals in an additional 47 matches.

Let’s look at it this by goals scored per game played. Doesn’t it seem like some guys scored more often that did Landon? Let’s check.

Of the top half-dozen U.S. scorers all-time, here is what we find:

6. Joe-Max Moore, 24 goals in 100 games — for each game played, 0.240 goals

5. Brian McBride, 30 goals in 95 games — for each game played, 0.316 goals

4. Eric Wynalda, 34 goals in 106 games — for each game played, 0.321 goals

3. Jozy Altidore, 23 goals in 71 games — for each game played, 0.324 goals

2. Clint Dempsey, 39 goals in 109 games — for each game played, 0.356 goals

1. Landon Donovan, 57 goals in 156 games — for each game played, 0.365 goals

That Landon leads in raw numbers, but also in goals-per-match played, says something about him, because a fair chunk of his career was spent on the wings, while Dempsey was much more likely to be an out-and-out forward.

At the end of the day, Landon was the closest thing to Lionel Messi the U.S. has produced. A small, quick guy who could hold the ball in traffic, who somehow seemed to get himself near the goal … and rarely missed a good chance.

No one would argue seriously that Landon is as good a player (better?!?) than Lionel Messi. The Argentine has played in a much tougher league, in Spain, than Landon’s Major League Soccer. And he has many more club goals in far less time.

But, before we walk away from Landon and his goals, consider this:

While playing for Argentina teams considered far better than those the U.S. took to the World Cup … Messi scored four World Cup goals in 16 matches. For the inferior U.S., Landon has five goals in 12 matches.

Maybe, at the end of the day, Lionel Messi is the Argentine Landon Donovan.