Los Angeles - Landon Donovan, captain of the United States national football team, tested positive for the new influenza virus A(H1N1) and was under observation, the daily Los Angeles Times reported Friday, quoting Donovan himself.

"I got home last night and when I woke up this morning I was just on fire so I took a temperature and had a 100.7 fever and figured something was going on. So I went to the doctor and sure enough," the striker said.

On Wednesday, already with symptoms, he played the full match pitting the United States against Mexico in Mexico City.

Bruce Arena, Donovan's coach at the LA Galaxy in the Major League Soccer, said the player may have got the virus from two members of the team's staff, but his condition is in any case not serious.

"He has a slight strain of the flu and he's at the tail end of it. There's no need for alarm," Arena noted.

He stressed that Donovan is out of the 48-hour period in which he could be expected to be infectious.

Donovan was part of the US team that deepened a negative streak in Mexico, where it has suffered 23 defeats and a draw since the two teams first clashed.(dpa)