AP Photo

Not to put a damper on this, but I should point out that Becks is little more than a role player for England these days and often comes on as a sub. So it’s conceivable the two will not be on the field at the same time when the U.S. and England meets.

But that doesn’t make for a great story, so I’ll shut up now.

NEW YORK (AP) — Landon Donovan repeated the words, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

“It never ends,” he said.

The American midfielder and England star David Beckham may be forever linked by their tumultuous time together with the Los Angeles Galaxy. And just when they seemed to have fully embraced the idea of playing for the same MLS team, Friday’s World Cup draw put the United States against England in their opening match in South Africa next June.

Indeed, their story never seems to end.

“I wish we could have got a shot of his face as that happened,” said Donovan, who promised to text Beckham in the start of playful banter sure to consume the next six months. “I’m sure he was thinking the same thing, to play against your own teammate is obviously pretty incredible.”

Their conversations haven’t always been playful, though, and Donovan didn’t always smile when he heard Beckham’s name.

Two of the brightest stars on two different continents have had a tenuous relationship ever since Donovan’s comments this year in Grant Wahl’s “The Beckham Experiment.”

The highly critical book, in which Donovan ripped the England midfielder’s leadership and effort, chronicled Beckham’s first two seasons with the Galaxy. Donovan eventually apologized for airing his thoughts in public, and the two tamped down the potential locker room division enough to lead the Galaxy to the MLS Cup final this season.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of talking before the tournament starts,” Donovan said of the
World Cup, where the U.S. and England are joined by Algeria and Slovenia in Group C.
“We talked about seeing each other there and hoping we’re both there. I don’t think it entered our minds that we might be playing each other.”

Former national team coach Bruce Arena called it “stupid” to make anything of their
first-round matchup. He served as the peacemaker when he coached the Galaxy this season.

“The only story is that they’re teammates, that’s all it is. They’re two guys with the
greatest respect for each other,” Arena said. “There’s nothing else to discuss.”

That didn’t stop current national coach Bob Bradley from weighing in.

“I think that this game will have many different story lines,” he said. “The fact that Landon and David are teammates is a very good one.”

Teammates who apparently work quite well together when they’re not bickering.

The crisp passing of Beckham and Donovan set up the Galaxy’s first goal in the MLS final two weeks ago, although Donovan — the league’s MVP — became a non-factor until the shootout and Beckham struggled through discomfort from a bone bruise in his right foot.

Beckham later scored in the shootout against Real Salt Lake, but it was Donovan’s miss moments later that made headlines as the Galaxy lost 5-4 on penalty kicks.

“To have David and Landon playing against each other wearing opposite jerseys is just going to be a terrific story and something that I think the entire country will get excited about,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. “It will probably be one of the most exciting and anticipated games of the World Cup.”

U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said the meeting could help raise the profile of Major League Soccer, which counts Donovan and Beckham as its two biggest stars.

“The league will be under a microscope,” he said. “We’ll all be under a microscope because of the English media’s interest, David’s presence in the league, his teammate Landon and so on.”

Beckham plans to report on time Dec. 28 to start his second consecutive season on loan to AC Milan, something he initially did to help maintain his fitness for the World Cup. There are rumors Donovan may do the same, although he declined to say for certain.

The career leader in national team appearances, goals and assists, Donovan did say that if he remains in Los Angeles, having Beckham playing for the Italian club would help dim the harsh spotlight surrounding their budding rivalry.

“England’s a very good team and we’ll see how the rest plays out,” he said, rocking backward on a stool and slapping his hands on a soccer ball. “In lots of ways it’s a great matchup and it should be exciting. Lots of story lines, that’s for sure.”

One that stands out more than any other.

Here are a couple of quotes from today’s conference call:

*On playing England –

“They’re physical, they’re big and they’re used to playing the game at a very high pace … The game is going to favor them because they’re used to making decisions under those circumstances … Are we talented as England? Probably not. But we think on any given day we have a chance to beat them.”

*On the assumption – and pressure – that has the U.S. advancing out of its group –

“The expectation level around the sports fans and the soccer fans is we have a good chance to advance …. Those of us who were around in 2006 – we have been waiting a long time for this opportunity. … Any time now that we don’t advance, we’re going to be disappointed.”

I am hoping to talk to LD one on one on the phone within the next hour. We’ll see if that happens.

Carlos Bocanegra just jumped on the call and I asked him about the different level of expectation from U.S. fans this time around compared to four years ago when most merely hoped the Americans could hang with the likes of Italy and the Czech Republic:

“To be fair maybe it’s our performances over the past few years — American fans think we should advance out of this group and I like that, I like that thinking. … That’s just something we’ve got to live with.”

More quotes and reaction here.

Updated:

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley said today we should know the opponent for the by now traditional U.S. game at Home Depot Center “in the next few days.” He also said it wasn’t important that the opponent be from Eastern Europe or North Africa given the World Cup draw because the players in the January camp will be very different from those he will take to South Africa.

On a day when Palos Verdes Estates’ Kyle Nakazawa of UCLA was named a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy Award and UCLA’s Sydney Leroux and Lauren Cheney, USC goalkeeper Kristin Olsen, Palos Verdes Estates’ Christen Press of Stanford and Rolling Hills Estates’ Whitney Engen of North Carolina were all named semifinalists for the corresponding women’s award,it’s the pending World Cup draw Friday that has center stage.

Said Bruce over at DuNord: “My whole body is nearly shivering with nervous energy about the draw. This might be worse than day before big game jitter for me.”

Calm down folks.

Coverage begins at 9 a.m. on ESPN2 and 8 a.m. on Univision.

The breakdown:
Pot 1: South Africa (hosts), Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain.

Pot 2: Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, United States.

Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Cte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay.

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.

Technical details courtesy U.S. Soccer:

*The 32 qualified teams will be divided into eight groups. No two teams from the same confederation will be drawn into the same group, with the exception of Europe which can have a maximum of two teams in the same group.

*As hosts, FIFA announced that South Africa will automatically be positioned as A1, and the other teams from Pot 1 will be drawn into Position 1 in groups B-H. For the remaining pots, the teams will be drawn into groups A to H and Positions 2-4 during the draw.

Quotable:

“It’s a period when we’ll have a lot of work to do in terms of preparation,” said U.S. Coach Bob Bradley of what happens from now on once the draw is complete. “Certainly we will go to great lengths to prepare the scouting reports on our three first round opponents, there’s always going to be finishing touches on the details in terms of where we’re staying, our needs, what we want to put together in terms of our whole training schedule leading into the World Cup. And of course, we look forward to some of the opportunities when we’ll be together. The main one in 2010 will be the March 3 fixture date, the only one on the FIFA calendar, but there will be other times, of course starting in January, where we’ll have a chance to look at some other players and size up the depth of our pool.”

You can go live with Landon Friday. Joining him will be Chivas USA’s Jonathan Bornstein of Los Alamitos, Fulham’s Clint Dempsey and the Crew’s Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates. With any luck, I’ll grab a quick word with LD Friday afternoon.

Also:

* Local viewing parties. Chivas USA players Claudio Surez, Mariano Trujillo, Gerson Mayn and Jorge Flores will all be at the event, BTW.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham poses for a photograph with local mother Tamara, who is living with HIV and her three-year-old son Sesiphi who was born free from HIV, during a visit to a clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. During the visit Beckham met and talked to young pregnant women and new mothers who are living with HIV. The UNICEF “Mothers to Mothers” program supports HIV positive pregnant women and new moms.

*Meanwhile, for Beckham it’s all about World Cup 2018.

Updated – the adidas World Cup ball unveiled: