CORNER KICKS
1_One of the more positive things to come out of the 2-2 tie between the United States and Mexico in Houston last week was U.S. Coach Bob Bradley’s frank assessment of his team.
“There were things that we were pleased with and things that we know we need to continue to work on,” Bradley said. “Against their pressure, our ability to play faster, connect faster, I think that’s certainly an area where we want to improve.”
Playing faster requires thinking faster, reading the game better, and reacting more quickly as situations unfold, and Bradley acknowledged as much.
“I see a lot of things that must improve,” he said. “The main thing for me is our ability to play faster and our ability in tight spaces to play the right pass. As one pass is being made, there has to be better movement off the ball so that the second play and third play can happen quicker. I think in moments [against Mexico] we were too slow.”
On the same night that the U.S. was tying Mexico, two of its upcoming opponents were earning noteworthy victories.
Poland, which the U.S. will play in Krakow on March 26, scored a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, the same team that overran the Americans in the 2006 World Cup. And fourth-ranked Spain, which will play host to the U.S. on June 4, beat Cup runner-up France, 1-0.
2_Now that Scotland has pulled out of a planned May 28 game against England at Wembley Stadium, word is that the U.S. could step in as a replacement -- thereby fulfilling U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati’s comment that the U.S. might play a top-20 team prior to the Spain game.
England is ranked No. 12 in the world, and if the game comes about, there are all sorts of interesting scenarios. For instance:
If Landon Donovan is called up, as he almost certainly will be, it would mean he would not play in the Galaxy’s MLS game May 31 at Toronto. Of more concern to Toronto fans, however, is the possibility of David Beckham being included in England’s squad, thus denying them the chance to see him play, just as they were denied in 2007 because of Beckham’s knee injury.
Elsewhere in Canada, the Edmonton Journal reported that the Galaxy will play the Vancouver Whitecaps at Commonwealth Stadium in late April or early May. The Galaxy has made no mention of the fact, but scheduling a meaningless midweek money-spinner in the midst of a long series of weekend games would be par for the course for the Galaxy front office.
3_The Galaxy leaves Monday for a three-week trip to Hawaii, South Korea and China during which it will play four games.
Those games, said England Coach Fabio Capello, should be enough to show whether Beckham has gained enough game-fitness to be called up for England’s game against France on March 26 in Paris and thus make his 100th appearance for his country.
“He will have played friendly matches and those will be important,” Capello said. “If he is fit and ready to play then he will be part of my team.”
Capello already is tired of media questions about the midfielder. “It seems that the most important thing is whether I choose David Beckham,” he said. “I think we should focus on England.”
If Capello calls Beckham into camp, Beckham would be away for the Galaxy’s final week of preparation for its MLS opener March 29 at Denver.
4_If Chivas USA owner Antonio Cue wants to guard against the very likely loss of goalkeeper Brad Guzan when the European summer transfer window opens, he might want to start thinking about a response that would be logical and popular.
Should Aston Villa again come calling for Guzan, dangling a $4-million offer, and should Guzan get a British work permit at his second attempt, Cue could make worse use of Chivas’ share of the fee than by bringing former Mexico standout goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez to the Home Depot Center.
5_Guatemala was trounced by Argentina’s Olympic team at the Coliseum last week, after which Hernan Dario Gomez quit as coach.
Gomez, who coached his native Colombia to the 1998 World Cup and Ecuador to the 2002 World Cup, was blunt and bitter in his resignation speech after having a 5-11-4 record in 22 months in charge of Guatemala.
“It would be a failure if I had been coaching Argentina,” he said. “It would be a failure if I had been coaching Italy. But, with all respect, it’s not a failure because Guatemala has never won anything.”
--
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
FIFA RANKINGS
The January ranking of national teams worldwide before last week’s spate of international games and Egypt’s victory in the African Nations Cup. Egypt was ranked 35th.
*--*
1. Argentina
11. Greece 1,114 1,523
2. Brazil 1,502
12. England 1,113
3. Italy 1,498
13. Romania 1,088
4. Spain 1,349
14. Scotland 990
5. Germany 1,305
15. Mexico 982
6. Czech
16. Turkey 924 Rep.1,290
7. France 1,243
17. Colombia 905
8. Portugal
18. Bulgaria 881 1,241
9. Netherlands
19. Nigeria 879 1,170
10. Croatia 1,129
20. U.S. 876 *--*
--
MAKING THEIR PITCH
Javier Clemente, former Spain and Serbia national team coach, on the political problems of becoming Iran’s coach:
‘Russians, Chinese, communists, capitalists, blacks or whites, are all the same to me. I’m a soccer coach and I don’t understand, nor want to understand, anything else.’
--
STAT OF THE WEEK
Michael Bradley, above with the U.S. national team and son of the U.S. coach, Sunday scored his 17th goal for Heerenveen, which is in second place in the Dutch league. That tied the single-season record of goals scored by an American in Europe set by three-time World Cup star Earnie Stewart at another Dutch club, Willem II, in 1990-91.
