Olympics: January 2008 Archives

Chivas Chatter

Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan left the U.S. training camp in Carson to sign with EPL team Aston Villa.

Guzan and Everton's Tim Howard are likely to share U.S. goalkeeping duties for years to come.

It's been a pleasure watching Guzan mature between the posts at Home Depot Center and the move is well-deserved. Still, local soccer reporters never like to see someone like the always quotable Guzan exit the locker room. And considering the state of the Chivas USA roster - no goalkeepers listed you'll notice - new Chivas USA goalkeeping coach Leo Percovich is probably wondering about his job security.

Here's more on Percovich's appointment Tuesday from the (edited) Chivas USA press release:

A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Percovich served as goalkeeper coach for the Colorado Rapids from 2006 to 2007. He replaces Zak Abdel, Chivas USA’s goalkeeper coach from 2006 to 2007, who has left the club to pursue other opportunities.

“Leo’s professionalism and playing experience at the highest level will serve our goalkeepers and our team well as we prepare for the 2008 campaign,” said Chivas USA Head Coach Preki. “I am confident he will capably fill the shoes of Zak Abdel, who did outstanding work for us during his time with Chivas USA.”

Percovich, 39, joins Chivas USA from the Colorado Rapids, where starting in August 2006 he worked with 2006 Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year finalist Joe Cannon, and later with Bouna Coundoul, who enjoyed a breakout 2007 season and was named to the Senegalese National Team’s roster for the current 2008 African Nations Cup. Percovich has also apprenticed under goalkeeper coaches throughout Europe and Latin America, including stints with club sides Real Madrid, Valencia, Stuttgart, Cruziero and Pachuca, as well as the national teams of Brazil, France, and Uruguay. Following the 2006 season, Percovich was also named assistant coach to Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo.

As a player, Percovich made six appearances with the Uruguayan National Team during a professional goalkeeping career that included time with South American powerhouses Nacional de Montevideo (1987-1993), Atlético Mineiro (1994), Guaraní FC (1995), and Fluminense FC (1995-1999) and Alianza de Lima (2000), as well as Spanish side Racing de Ferrol (2001). While with Nacional, Percovich won the Uruguayan First Division twice, as a starter in 1991 and 1992, as well as the prestigious Copa Libertadores in 1989.

In other Chivas USA news, the team will participate in a preaseason tournament in Texas in early March, playing D.C. United, the Houston Dynamo and Toronto FC. Details here.

And three Chivas USA players have signed new contracts, according to the team:

Chivas USA players Jorge Flores, Bobby Burling, and Anthony Hamilton recently signed developmental contracts in anticipation of the 2008 season. Flores, a forward, won the first Sueño MLS competition which was held last spring, and made his first team debut for Chivas USA on Sept. 9 against the New York Red Bulls. Forward Anthony Hamilton made two regular season appearances last year before coming on a substitute in Chivas USA’s 0-0 tie against the Kansas City Wizards during the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs. Meanwhile, Burling, a defender, showed tremendous potential while playing for the Chivas USA Reserve team in 2007.

The Ramon Nunez experiment has apparently ended though and he's returned to his native Honduras.

Galaxy Gossip

Over at the Galaxy, David Beckham opened his third academy in Brazil this week and is anxiously awaiting word on whether he'll be named to the England squad Thursday in hopes of winning his 100th cap.

The Galaxy have belatedly got around to officially announcing their two-game tour of Asia and extended the deadline until Sunday for their open tryouts.

Incidentally, recently reacquired striker Carlos Ruiz won't be joining the Guatemalan national team for their Feb. 6 game at the Coliseum against Argentina the Galaxy announced Wednesday:

Recently acquired LA Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz will remain in Los Angeles to prepare for the club’s preseason training and to continue to rehabilitate his right knee which underwent successful arthroscopic surgery in November to clean up his lateral meniscus. Therefore Ruiz, who was acquired by the Galaxy on January 15, was not part of Guatemalan National Team head coach Hernán Darío Gómez’s 35-man roster which reported for training camp on Monday in Guatemala.

“Carlos is coming off a period of inactivity that included arthroscopic knee surgery. To jump right back into international competition would be irresponsible and counter-productive,” said Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas. “We want Carlos to progress through a proper preseason so that he is ready for the start of the MLS season and World Cup qualifying with Guatemala later in the year.”

Ruiz initially began to feel discomfort in his right knee in September while with his former team, FC Dallas, following a U.S. Open Cup Semifinal win in Seattle. An MRI after that game revealed loose fragments in his knee, but no extensive damage. The 28-year old missed one game as a result of the injury but did not miss any more time for the rest of the regular season and postseason as a result of it.

“We had a chance to examine Carlos on Friday and upon our examination, we did not feel that his knee has progressed to the stage of being ready for the rigors of international competition quite yet,” said Galaxy club doctor Dr. Bert Mandelbaum. “We now have a plan of systematic progression in place for Carlos and with this we expect him to be ready for the upcoming season.”

Didn't take long for the Galaxy to start accumulating injuries, did it?

Nats News

U.S. Soccer has unveiled its new men's national team jersey.

Initial reviews are, to put it kindly, mixed.

Finally, tickets go on sale at noon today for the Olympic qualifying games in March:

The eight-team event, which includes national teams at the Under-23 age level, will be played as eight doubleheaders from March 11-23, 2008, and will send two finalists to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Group A, which includes the United States, Honduras, Cuba and Panama, will play at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on March 11, 13 and 15. Group B features Canada, Guatemala, Haiti and Mexico facing off on March 12, 14 and 16 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. LP Field in Nashville will host the semifinals on Thursday, March 20, and the championship match and third-place game on Sunday, March 23. Tickets priced from $18 to $65 for each of the eight doubleheaders in the tournament go on sale beginning Wednesday (January 30) at 12 p.m. local time in each venue through ussoccer.com, by phone at 813-287-8844 (Tampa), 213-480-3232 (Los Angeles) or 615-255-9600 (Nashville) and at local Ticketmaster ticket centers in the venue cities.

Preps Press

Is here from the Daily Breeze and here and here from the Daily News.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram checks in with prep coverage here.

Sueño MLS 2008

Should American soccer fans rejoice that last year's winner of Spanish-language reality television show Sueño MLS, Anaheim's Jorge Flores, latched on with Chivas USA or worry that the domestic scouting system can't unearth players like that (especially Latinos) in more conventional ways?

In any event the show returns at noon today on Univision for a second season.

More details in this (edited) press release:

Sueño MLS, the nationally-televised search for America’s best undiscovered young soccer player, attracted in its inaugural year of 2007 an overwhelming 2,000 hopefuls from across the U.S. and several foreign countries to Chivas USA’s open tryout. After six weeks of intense competition, forward Jorge Flores, a 17-year old high-school senior from Anaheim, CA, was crowned the winner. Flores not only earned a spot on Chivas USA’s roster, but he was later called up to the United States Under-20 National Team.

Today, the dream continues for thousands of aspiring players around the nation as Major League Soccer unveils plans for Sueño MLS 2008. The program returns to Los Angeles as Chivas USA searches for the next Jorge Flores. Simultaneously, Sueño MLS will also take place in Dallas, providing an opportunity for another set of aspiring young soccer players to showcase their talent in an effort to earn their way onto the FC Dallas roster.

Celtic or Aston Villa for Guzan?

Chivas USA and U.S. international goalkeeper Brad Guzan has reportedly been offered a contract with Scottish powerhouse Glasgow Celtic by Manager Gordan Strachan and is mulling the offer, although there is at least one report claiming Guzan is headed to England's Aston Villa. Keep in mind though, the source is the breathless News of the World, among the worst examples of the English gutter press.

For what it's worth, here's what the newspaper reported:

The Celtic gaffer will miss out on American goalie Brad Guzan after Aston Villa's last-ditch £2million swoop.

(Snip)

Yank Guzan's apparent snub comes as a huge blow though. Celtic had identified him as a successor to Artur Boruc.

Last week we revealed the USA international was jetting in to join up with the Hoops at their Lennoxtown base.

The 23-year-old, voted the best goalie in the MLS last season, took just one session to convince Strachan and his coaching staff he was the real deal and well worth the £1.5m the MLS wanted.

At his weekly press conference, Strachan confirmed chief executive Peter Lawwell had offered Guzan a contract and the player was heading home "to think about things".

But it's understood he headed instead for hush-hush talks with Villa representatives, and is on the verge of signing a pre-contract.

Galaxy Head (Far) East

Details are emerging about the Galaxy's preseason trip to Korea and China. More here.

Argentina-Guatemala at Coliseum Feb. 6

Tickets start at $25 to see what is apparently Argentina's Under-23 or Olympic team play the senior Guatemala team at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

Among the over-age players Argentina is bringing are Liverpool's Javier Mascherano and former Barcelona midfielder Juan Román Riquelme. Barcelona's Lionel Messi is recovering from injury, in case you were wondering.

Full squad is here.

Supplemental Draft

Even the name sets the pulse racing doesn't it?

The Galaxy's moves today from the team's (edited) press release:

The LA Galaxy made four selections in this afternoon’s 2008 MLS Supplemental Draft, selecting a pair of defenders, as well as a goalkeeper and a midfielder in the four round draft. These four selections, as well as the six players drafted by the Galaxy in last week’s MLS SuperDraft are scheduled to arrive at The Home Depot Center early next month when the club begins preseason training for the 2008 campaign

In the first round of the Supplemental Draft, the Galaxy selected defender Michael Gavin from Portland with the fourth overall pick. A four-year starter for the Pilots, Gavin appeared in 76 games during his four years in Portland, tallying four goals with two of them being game winners while helping his team reach the NCAA Tournament twice.

The Galaxy used their second round pick (16th overall) to select 2007 Big West Goalkeeper of the Year, Charles Alamo, from University of California–Riverside. A four-year starter for the Highlanders, Alamo had six shutouts as a senior and finished his college career with more than 300 saves.

One round later, the Galaxy took UCLA defender Greg Folk with the 32nd overall selection. An honorable mention All-Pac-10 defender as a senior in 2007, the former captain of the U.S. Under-18 National Team started 64 of his 72 career games with the Bruins, including the 2006 College Cup Final.

With their final pick of the Supplemental Draft, the Galaxy selected midfielder Daniel De Geer from the University of San Francisco. De Geer scored a career-high two goals as a senior and played 44 career games for USF where he was a teammate of Brandon McDonald, who LA drafted in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft.

Chivas USA picked: San Diego State University forward Kraig Chiles, UC-Berkeley midfielder Javier Ayala-Hill, North Carolina State midfielder El Hadj-Cisse and UNC defender Andre Sherard .

UCLA defender Brandon Owens was selected by D.C. United. The (edited) UCLA press release:

Owens, who was chosen as the 10th pick in the first round, was a starter on three Pac-10 Championship squads. Owens was team captain for the U.S. Under-17 National Team at the 2003 World Youth Championships and has 36 career caps with the U-17s and U-20s.

Bob's (and Pete's) Boys

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley Thursday named a 21-player roster that will train in Carson ahead of the Feb. 6 game against Mexico that's essentially the same as the camp for the Sweden game minus New York's Jozy Altidore, Fontana's Maurice Edu, Chivas USA's Sacha Kljestan and UCLA's Marvell Wynne who will participate in the Under-23 camp being held through Feb.3 in Bradenton, Fla. European players will be named later for the Mexico game.

Local participants in camp include Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin (0 caps/0 goals), Landon Donovan (97/35) and soon-to-be-ex-Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan (5/0).

Coach Peter Nowak's picks included UCLA products Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Chance Myers (Kansas City Wizards) and Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire).
Also in camp: Mike Randolph (Galaxy) and Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).

Chivas USA-Columbus Crew in Santa Clarita

The game is Feb. 23.

London-Bound

A Pasadena kid gets a chance in England.

Best Vets

Finally, the National Soccer Hall of Fame released its list of eligible vets today.

It's disgraceful that former LA Aztec (and Hermosa Beach bar owner) George Best is still not a member.

Your vote doesn't count, but presumbably you can send a message here.

InterLiga began Wednesday night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco and only 8,504 fans took in the first doubleheader played in freezing temperatures.

Not surprisingly there are increasing calls to revamp or eliminate the tournament largely seen as an irrelevant cash cow for the organizers. I could have told them that five years ago.

Over in Blighty the David Beckham for England debate continues to rage.

You can almost hear Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas saying "just give Becks his 100th cap and then let him play out his career with the Galaxy."

A lack of passion and noise from the Galaxy's ever-larger corporate crowd has been increasingly evident at Home Depot Center. We're not alone in dealing with that affliction it seems.

Finally, if you drive by the HDC and wonder what all the activity is, U.S. Soccer has provided the answer in this (edited) press release:

As 2008 begins, U.S. Soccer will kick off the new year in full swing with a total of 11 Men’s, Women’s and Youth National Teams holding training camps during the month of January. The majority of the camps will take place in two locations: U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. The HDC will be the most active location as a total of six different national teams will hold camps during the month, beginning on Thursday when the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams return to action.

Also training in Carson are the U-20 Women's National Team and U-23 Women's National Team from Jan. 12-20, the U-15 Girl's National Team from Jan. 20-25 and the U-23 (Olympic) Men's National Team from Jan. 26-Feb. 3.

Time to play a little catch-up after the holiday blogging break..........

Seven uncapped players, including UCLA product Marvell Wynne, are among the 26 players U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley called into training camp that begins Thursday at Home Depot Center and culminates with a Jan. 19 game against Sweden in Carson.

The other six: San Jose Earthquakes defender Clarence Goodson, Colombus Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer, Chicago Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens, Houston Dynamo defender Eddie Robinson, new D.C. United goalkeeper Zach Wells and forward Jeremiah White, who plays in Demark and gets his first-ever camp callup.

The full roster: goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Will Hesmer (Columbus Crew), Matt Pickens (Chicago Fire), Zach Wells (D.C. United); defenders Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Ramiro Corrales (SK Brann), Todd Dunivant (Toronto FC), Clarence Goodson (San Jose Earthquakes), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC); midfielders Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Brian Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Pat Noonan (New England Revolution); forwards Josmer Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas Cit y Wizards), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution), Jeremiah White (AGF Aarhus).

U.S. Men's Under-23 national Team Coach Peter Nowak is also taking the opportunity to look at new players ahead of Olympic qualifying, naming just eight holdovers from the December camp to the 24-player roster he's called in for a camp that begins Sunday in Florida.

Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers, Galaxy defender Mike Randolph and former Galaxy striker Robbie Findley are among the returnees.

Nine collegiate players on the camp roster include UCLA Bruin Chance Myers of Thousand Oaks and Cal State Northridge defender Sean Franklin of Palmdale.

The full roster: goalkeepers Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake), Chris Brown (Boston College), Billy Chiles (Towson University); defenders Sean Franklin (Cal State Northridge), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Greg Dalby (SC Charleroi), Julian Valentin (Wake Forest), Pat Phelan (Wake Forest), Mike Randolph (Galaxy), Chance Myers (UCLA); midfielders Stuart Holden (Houston), Johann Smith (Darlington), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Stephen King (Maryland), Alejandro Bedoya (Boston College), Eric Avila (UC Santa Barbara), Arturo Alvarez (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew); forwards Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Charlie Davies (Hammarby), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg).

Finally, the 2008 version of InterLiga begins tonight in Texas.

A preview is here.