Landon Donovan Will End Retirement and Return to M.L.S.

Landon Donovan, the American midfielder who walked away from soccer two years ago at age 32, is not done playing after all.

Now a father who, at 34, has not played a competitive match in almost two years, Donovan said Thursday that he was coming out of retirement to try to help his former team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, win its sixth Major League Soccer championship. Donovan announced his intentions in a Facebook post, and the team later confirmed that he would be back — and available — for Sunday’s nationally televised game against Orlando City.

“I know this won’t be received well by everyone,” Donovan wrote in his Facebook post. “That’s ok. I’ve always made decisions in life based on two guiding principles: my own happiness and the happiness of those I love and care about.”

Donovan said he had begun considering a return to the field while working as a television analyst for a Galaxy game two weeks ago. Three Galaxy players sustained injuries in that match, and days later a fourth, midfielder Nigel de Jong, was dealt to a club in Turkey. Donovan said that while he was speaking with friends on the Galaxy staff that week, they had “jokingly asked if I was ready to make a return to the field.”

Several days of discussions with friends and family, as well as a frank discussion with Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena, who has known and coached Donovan for nearly two decades, persuaded him to try to return.

Of his talks with Arena, Donovan said, “We both agreed that if this was going to happen, the expectations would be minimal, and he would use me in situations that made sense for the team.”

Even as a late-game substitute, he could help the Galaxy. Los Angeles is in third place in the Western Conference, but it is almost assured of a playoff berth in a year without a truly dominant team. (The Eastern Conference leader, New York City F.C., has the same point total as the Galaxy.)

But injuries, notably to midfielder Steven Gerrard and forward Gyasi Zardes, who is out for the year with a broken foot, have left the Galaxy with a hole that suits the skills Donovan once provided better than anyone in the league. Two years after retiring, Donovan still holds the M.L.S. career records for goals (144), assists (136) and playoff goals (25).

He also returns as the father of a 8-month-old son, another factor in his decision.

While the chance to help the Galaxy was a big part of Donovan’s motivation, he said, “the opportunity to have my son Talon on the field with me after a game was a feeling that I would never be able to replicate.”