With retirement only months away, Landon Donovan wanted to thank San Jose fans this weekend when the Los Angeles Galaxy plays the Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium. But Donovan, 32, is ineligible to play one final time in the Bay Area after getting his fifth yellow card this week.

America’s biggest soccer star started his Major League Soccer career in San Jose, from 2001-04. He scored 32 goals in 87 appearances and helped lead the Quakes to two MLS Cup titles. Donovan even understands why some fans have not forgiven him for leaving San Jose for the dreaded Galaxy.

Donovan, MLS’ all-time leading goalscorer, discussed his time in San Jose, his decision to walk away from soccer and other issues Friday with this newspaper. Here is an edited version of our conversation:

QUESTION: With three World Cups, all those goals and assists, do you ever think about the time you spent in San Jose?

ANSWER: I absolutely think back to those days. Mainly when I see guys on other teams that I played with. For me, they were pretty remarkable now that I look back as a 32-year-old. I began to assume that was the norm. Winning a championship every other year was the norm. Only now in retrospect do I realize how difficult that was.

Q: Did you know anything about San Jose when you arrived in 2001?

A: I didn’t know much about San Jose. I spent a little bit of time in San Francisco. When I was in Germany and we worked out the deal, I didn’t know where it was. I didn’t know about the organization. I didn’t know anything. For me, it was a big learning process. I quickly fell in love with everything about it.

Partially because I had my first chance to play, so everything was painted with rose-colored glasses. I was just so happy to be there to play. I loved the area. I loved the people, it was so beautiful. All of it was great.

Q: You went from being beloved to despised by fans, a small group who still feel betrayed by the move in 2005. Do you ever wonder about why they won’t get over it?

A: I understand why people are passionate. Why they didn’t like that. What happens in our society, there’s always been this notion athletes are supposed to do whatever they are told. They’re supposed to shut their mouth and just play and they are not allowed to be normal human beings like all of us.

If someone worked for Microsoft in San Jose and his family is in L.A. and he wants to be near his family, he makes the move and nobody second guesses it. People respect that. But in sports, when guys take that approach, they get criticized. I don’t agree with that. Everybody is entitled to live the life they want to live.

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity go to Los Angeles. A lot of people want you do what you are told. I never abided by that. To me, it was equally as important to be with my family as it was to play soccer. That was something I prioritized.

Q: It sometimes seems as if fans feel they are part of your family, or own a piece of you in some way.

A: I catch myself doing it sometimes. I’ll say, “Why did this guy make that move, or why did that guy do that?” The reality is none of us are privy to what’s going on in other people’s lives. Sometimes, taking a second, and saying, “Hmm, I wonder what it is he is feeling that he needs to do that?” If we took that approach it would soften things as opposed to having this venomous, visceral reaction to things. We should let people live their lives. At the end of the day, everybody has to make decisions that are best for them. We’re just too critical of things.

Q: Can you share some of your favorite memories of being in San Jose?

A: Playing my first game at the Rose Bowl and us beating L.A. in that first game. Scoring my first goal, was very special, no question. The championship runs in ’01 and ’03 and particularly the L.A. game. (In 2003, the Earthquakes rallied from four goals down to win a playoff quarterfinal 5-4 on aggregate). That for sure is a game I will never, ever forget.

Q: You’ve only played for two MLS teams — clubs that are fierce rivals. Did it feel as intense facing San Jose as a member of the Galaxy?

A: I’ve had some important games against San Jose, too. There’s a lot of great memories on both sides. That first year in L.A. was strange playing against San Jose. That team had become so much of my family and I loved that team so much, and the city and the fans and what the organization did for me. That first year in ’05 was different for me and a little difficult.

As the years go on, L.A.. has become my home team and the team I love. I still think back fondly at my time in San Jose. When I go to San Jose I talk to a lot of the same people, we hug and greet each other. I feel like I will always have that connection with San Jose.

Q: Does it make all the more frustrating you can’t play Sunday because of getting that yellow card in Montreal?

A: It’s very disappointing. I blame myself. I should know better than to go off verbally on a referee like that. The game is frustrating sometimes, and things happen. But I am experienced enough to know I don’t need to do that. I got caught up in the moment and I regret that.

But it doesn’t change the way I feel. I would have liked to play there for the last time but sometimes that is the way things work out. Life is happening the way it is supposed to.

Q: When looking at your season — nine goals and 15 assists — it seems difficult to think you really are leaving the game. Does the success this year give you second thoughts about your decision to retire?

A: As time goes on more and more, of course playing well and enjoying it is fun for me. It makes me think I could continue. But there’s a lot that goes into a season and getting ready to play. I’ve been doing this a long time.

I have thought about this decision for a long time. It’s not like I woke up one morning, “Hmm, I’ll retire.” This just feels right for me. Of course, there will be times that I will miss it. But I also missed out on a lot of things in my life. I’m certainly not complaining because I have had a wonderful life but I want to cash in on some of those things that I have missed.

Q: How do you view your legacy?

A: What is most important to me is that people enjoyed playing with me, playing against me, enjoyed being around me, said I was a good teammate, a good player to coach. The staff enjoyed being around me. I’m certainly far from perfect. But I always tried to do things that I thought were right and with good intentions. The stats and numbers and all that stuff, they’re enjoyable for me to look back at and appreciate. There is definitely part of my ego that loves seeing that stuff. At the end of the day it is the relationships that matter.

If people remember me as someone who was a winner, and really cared about his teammates and winning, that would be the highest compliment.

Q: I think they also will talk about what you have done to elevate soccer in the United States, being a great mentor for the next generation.

A: That’s the goal in any meaningful line of work. It is to do a job in a way that paves the way for others to hopefully do a better job. I’m a product and my generation is a product of guys like Cobi Jones, Jeff Agoos, Chris Armas, Brian McBride, (Eric) Wynalda, (Kasey) Keller and Claudio Reyna. They did it in a time where they had almost no recognition, no media around it, they couldn’t make a lot of money. They paved the way for us.

And when we came through the league, guys making 40 grand a year were ecstatic because guys before them had never done that. Now I see guys coming in the league making 100 grand, 150 grand, 200 grand. They are all over national media. They’re getting all the attention. That’s wonderful. That’s what we want. That’s the goal in a sport like this that still is growing is to help pave the way for others.

I’ve always felt I’ve been blessed in that way. If those guys hadn’t done what they did I wouldn’t have had the chance to do what I did. That to me is just part of a natural progression. That is part of being bigger than yourself. There are so many guys in my generation and in the past who have done that. We just hope the current generation does the same thing for future generations.

Q: It seems you’re leaving American soccer in good hands.

A: I’ve always taken that seriously and have taken that as a great responsibility, particularly as I’ve gotten older. I really enjoy helping the younger kids now. I can see myself in their shoes. I made a lot of really dumb decisions. I said a lot of dumb things. I did a lot of dumb things. If I had someone to help me at that time it could have prevented a lot of problems. I take that very seriously because I don’t want people to have to go through some of those things.

That is the beauty of life in a lot of ways. You get to experience things and help others not make some of the same mistakes that you did. On one hand, you have to learn things on your own and make your own mistakes but if you have someone along the way can help you a little bit that’s a big plus.

Q: Some of those mistakes happened because you were basically a kid working as a professional in a fishbowl.

A: That’s the difficult piece. On one hand you’re a 17-, 18-, 19-year-old kid who is expected to act like a 30-year-old and be a professional and not make mistakes. Ninety nine point nine percent of kids that age are going to college and learning hard lessons but nobody is watching them with a microscope. They get to do it in anonymity.

I strive to make sure kids get to be kids. You don’t want to grow up and reach 30 and look back and say, “Dang, I never got to be a child.” It’s OK to be a kid. We want to encourage that as it is part of developing as a human being that is important. If we all had a little more self awareness at an earlier age we could prevent a lot of problems, including some of the high-profile problems we’re currently seeing in the news.

Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/elliottalmond.