Recently in U.S. Men's National Team Category

Catching up from the long weekend:
*Top-ranked USC lost 1-0 in overtime to No. 6 Portland Monday in Oregon, the goal coming seven minutes into overtime. The loss dropped the Trojans to 2-1.

USC returns home to host Santa Clara at 3 p.m. Friday and Alabama at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

*In contrast the UCLA women battered Portland State 7-0 Monday, the Bruins' biggest margin of victory since a 2005 9-0 win over Mississippi Valley State. Lauren Cheney started the rout in the 14th minute, Canadian Kara Lang got the second six minutes later. Also scoring: McCall Zerboni, Kristina Larsen, Lauren Wilmoth, Caitlyn MacKechnie and Liz Zadro.

Next up for UCLA is a 1 p.m. Sunday meeting with UC Irvine at Drake Stadium.

*The Galaxy have confirmed a tour down under after the MLS season for the second consecutive year.

*In Rhode Island, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl interviews the Galaxy's Landon Donovan at a Cuban restaurant over steak chimichurri, sautéed garlic shrimp and maduros ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Cuba.

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has just announced a 20-man roster for the pair of upcoming World Cup Qualifying games against Cuba Sept. 6 in Havana and Trinidad & Tobago on Sept. 10 in Chicago.

There are just two changes and two additions to the squad Bradley selected for the recent qualifier in Guatemala.

Former Galaxy defender Danny Califf replaces Watford's Jay DeMerit in the back, while Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni is out and Houston's Ricardo Clark comes in at midfield.

In addition, Marvell Wynne of Toronto FC and Michael Orozco, who plays in Mexico and is the only uncapped player on the roster, come into the senior squad.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis retain their places, as does Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA.

"These next two games are very important to help us position ourselves to advance to the final stage," Bradley said. "With the win against Guatemala, we have put ourselves in a good situation at the start of the semifinal round. I was very pleased with the way our team stuck together in a difficult environment. We need to have that same type of effort in the matches against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago."

But Bradley has once again ignored Dallas striker Kenny Cooper and the Galaxy's Edson Buddle who have 25 goals between them and sit in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively in the MLS scoring race.

Here's the full squad, with World Cup qualifying caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) listed in parentheses:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 4/3 SO).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 14/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 16/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 12/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 9/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 3/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0).

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 17/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 3/1), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 1/0), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 2/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/3).

Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 8/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 22/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 9/2), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City: 8/8)

I'm getting up to watch the 6 a.m. U.S.-Brazil Olympic women's football final.

So briefly:
*The U.S. continued its domination of Guatemala Wednesday with a 1-0 win in the first game of the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying.

Notable:
*Seven yellow cards, two red cards and 40 total fouls kept the referee busy.
*Galaxy target Eddie Lewis needed five stitches to close a head wound sustained in a particularly nasty challenge with Guatemala's Gustavo Cabrera who earned a red card for using his body as a missile.
*Steve Cherundolo's red card means he misses the next U.S. World Cup qualifier in Havana vs. Cuba on Sept. 6.

Quotable:

"It was a very hard fought game, and for us a hard earned three points," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "The win is based more on the determination of our team. Sometimes it's necessary to win games in that way. It was a game where we relied on the effort, team spirit, and the mentality of the group.

U.S. lineup: 1-Tim Howard; 15-Heath Pearce, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 10-Landon Donovan, 12-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (13-Maurice Edu, 78), 7-Eddie Lewis (17-DaMarcus Beasley, 65); 11-Brian Ching, 8-Clint Dempsey (2-Frankie Hejduk, 65)

*Sven Wins For Mexico.

*CONCACAF WCQ Scores.

*Chivas USA discovered what happens when a team missing 10 senior players or so meets one of the best teams in the league: they are hammered 4-0.

How bad was it? Lawndale's Kei Kamara, (and these TV announcers have got to decide whether his surname is pronounced "camera" or "Kamara" and not use both) who was punted from San Jose for his dismal goalscoring record, got two goals. Nate Jaqua, similarly dismissed from the Galaxy for not recognizing a net, got another.

The view from Houston.

The Chivas USA lineup: - Zach Thornton, Carey Talley (Keith Savage 13), Claudio Suarez (Eric Ebert 46), Shavar Thomas, Bobby Burling, Paulo Nagamura (Kraig Chiles 46), Daniel Paladini, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Mendoza, Roberto Nurse, Atiba Harris.

Highlights if you dare to watch:

Wonder what Preki thought of Sacha Kljestan sitting on the U.S. bench Wednesday unused?

*The U.S. women will face the flamboyant Brazilians at 6 a.m. on USA in the Olympics women's football final.

From U.S. Soccer:

This will be the fourth meeting between the U.S. and Brazil since the USA's crushing loss in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal, a match in which the U.S. scored an own goal and saw Shannon Boxx sent off at the end of the first half ... All three previous matches have been played during the past two months ... The U.S. has won all three of those matches by the score of 1-0, with the first meeting at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup in South Korea on June 17, followed by two Send-Off matches in Commerce City, Colo., on July 13 and San Diego, Calif., on July 16 ... All three of those wins were against an under-strength Brazilian team that was missing their top European-based players including 2007 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Marta, who was in Sweden playing for her club team Umea

The importance of USC's Amy Rodriguez to the team is explained here.

Apologies for the late blogging since I am somewhat under the weather today (and, no, that's not because of all the soccer on TV).

Still, there is a lot.

First up at noon on Fox Soccer Channel is David Beckham and England taking on the Czech Republic in London.

Then at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, the U.S. plays Guatemala in World Cup qualifying.

U.S. Soccer observes there are plenty of MLS-Guatemala connections:

Carlos Ruiz and Landon Donovan share the same locker room at the Los Angeles Galaxy, while midfielder Guillermo 'Pando' Ramirez also used to ply his trade at The Home Depot Center. Marco 'Loco' Rodriguez and Fredy Garcia once wore the same uniform as Frankie Hejduk in Columbus. Gustavo Cabrera left Real Salt Lake for AGF Aarhus in Denmark, the club that just signed U.S. Olympic Team midfielder Benny Feilhaber. Finally, 20-year old uncapped midfielder Marco Pappa recently moved to the Chicago Fire, where he has assumed a starting role as a wide midfielder.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will equal Kasey Keller's U.S. caps total in today's game. Here's the top 10 players in appearances for the U.S:

Name Caps Goals (SO) Era
1. Cobi Jones 164 15 1992-2004
2. Jeff Agoos 134 4 1988-2003
3. Marcelo Balboa 128 13 1988-2000
4. Claudio Reyna 112 8 1994-2006
5. Paul Caligiuri 110 5 1984-1998
6. Eric Wynalda 106 34 1990-2000
7. Kasey Keller 102 (47) 1990-
8. Landon Donovan 101 36 2000-
9. Earnie Stewart 101 17 1990-2004
10. Tony Meola 100 (32) 1988-2006

There's plenty of other CONCACAF action today, too.

Finally, a crocked Chivas USA (6-8-5) will try to snap a four-game winless streak against a healthy Western Conference-leading Houston Dynamo (7-4-8). in a game that conveniently (for those watching the U.S. game) starts at 8 p.m. on FSN (tape delayed). It's also live at 6 p.m. on KAZA.

A bright spot for Chivas USA: Due to World Cup qualifiers, Houston is without its two leading scorers, Brian Ching (U.S. National Team) and Dwayne De Rosario (Canadian National Team).

Now excuse me, I'm going back to bed.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will lead the U.S. against Guatemala.

Photo by Scott Varley.

Galaxy hotshot Edson Buddle - 12 goals in 15 starts this season - was overlooked yet again by U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley today when he announced the squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala in Central America.

Instead, Bradley persists in naming striker Eddie Johnson to his squads.

Also dropped from the squad for the game were 12 players named to the Barbados roster including Rolling Hills Estates' John Thorrington, Freddy Adu and DaMarcus Beasley.

Here's the 17-man squad (with one player to be added later) with caps and goals (or in the case of goalkeepers shutouts) in parentheses:

goalkeepers Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 13/1), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 15/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 2/0); Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 2/1), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 1/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 19/3), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 10/0); Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 7/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 21/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 8/2), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 8/8).

On paper (or should that be computer screen?), the U.S. should have little trouble disposing of Guatemala, according to U.S. Soccer:

The U.S. is 10-4-5 lifetime against Guatemala and is currently riding a six-match shutout streak against the Chapines. The teams have met eight times overall in World Cup qualifying play, with the U.S. holding an unbeaten 4-0-4 mark in the series.

Notable: Donovan, who became the fourth youngest male player in history to reach 100 caps when he went 90 minutes on June 8 against Argentina, leads the roster with 21 all-time World Cup qualifying appearances. His eight career goals in World Cup qualifying are also a team best, tied with Johnson.

Quotable:

"We are excited to begin the next phase of qualifying," Bradley said. "There are no easy games, and we know that Guatemala is a very difficult team to play against at home. It's important that we start off the semifinal round in a positive way, and we are confident the work from the last 18 months has prepared us for the task."

Updated: Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz, Guatemala's all-time leading scorer with 39 goals in 75 games, was also called up by his country for the game.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Women's Olympic Team plays its quarterfinal against UCLA's Kara Lang and the rest of the Canadian team at 3 a.m. Friday live on USA.

The U.S. and Canada have met four times this year alone, with two comfortable U.S. wins and two closer affairs.

Notable: Torrance's Shannon Boxx will reach a career milestone against Canada. Boxx, who made her international debut in 2003 at the relatively advanced age (for a soccer player) of 26 will become the 22nd player in U.S. history to play 100 or more times for her country.

Quotable:

"We have played them a couple of times and they have all been different games, but certainly some close games," said U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage. "A good part is that they have not scored that many goals against us and secondly the more minutes we have together with this team, the better it is. If you compare the first half of the first game against Norway to the last half against New Zealand, we have improved our a game a lot, so we are really looking forward to the game."

Regular readers will know I'm no fan of the FIFA ranking system, but the latest was released today and it's somehow disturbing that the U.S. plummeted to No. 30 behind the likes of Israel and Egypt (but ahead of Northern Ireland!).

Here's the complete list. It's reportedly the lowest U.S. ranking in 15 months.

Meanwhile, Orange County resident and new Bayern Munich Coach Jurgen Klinsmann met the media for the first time today at a nationally televised press conference.

Lastly, the Loyola Marymount women's schedule was released today.

The U.S. beat Barbados 1-0 today to advance to the next round of CONCACAF qualifying 9-0 on aggregate.

Game story is here.

Still, if you were like me you were watching the rather dull Spain-Italy Euro 2008 quarterfinal. With that, the semifinals are set.

This is an excellent Sunday read on the trials of minor league soccer team the San Fernando Valley Quakes and its owner.

The Quakes play at 7:05 p.m. today at Calabasas High.

In Barbados, the U.S. Men's National Team is trying to stay focused on the task at hand. The game is at noon on ESPN Classic (opposite the 11:30 a.m. Spain-Italy Euro 2008 quarterfinal on ESPN one should note).

This weekend's World Cup qualifying so far.

In other PDL games, the Ventura County Fusion beat the Fresno Fuego Saturday (and Friday).

Other PDL scores:
San Francisco Seals 2 Los Angeles Legends 3
Orange County Blue Star 2 Lancaster Rattlers 4
San Francisco Seals 2 Southern California Seahorses 0
Lancaster Rattlers 2 Bakersfield Brigade 1

W-League:
Ventura County Fusion 0 Fort Collins Force 2

WPSL
Ajax America Women 1 West Coast FC 3
Claremont Stars 0 Los Angeles Rampage 3

I'm on Barbados time, so late blogging this morning.

The Galaxy face the Crew at steamy Home Depot Center (7:30 p.m. live on Prime) later today. Game previews are here and here.

The U.S. women (narrowly) won the Peace Cup overnight.

On the men's side, CONCACAF World Cup qualifying resumes this weekend. The U.S. is in Barbados for the second leg where the weather is typically tropical.

Back with more tonight from Carson.

Bob Bradley named his squad today for the irrelevant return World Cup qualifying leg in Barbados Sunday (caps and goals are in parentheses): goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 1/1 SO), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake: 0/0); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 12/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Drew Moor (FC Dallas: 0/0) Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 1/0); mikdfielders DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 15/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 1/1), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 18/2), Danny Szetela (Brescia: 0/0), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire: 0/0; forwards Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 1/0), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire: 0/0), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire: 0/0).

Out: Tim Howard continues to rehabilitate a lower back sprain suffered prior to the Barbados match. Eddie Johnson is ill.

Even if the lopsided score of the first leg meant Bradley didn't have to name his strongest squad, it was still a huge achievement for John Thorrington to win a recall with his fine form this term after almost quitting the game due to chronic injuries.

The above stats for Thorrington, who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, are wrong by the way. John played 19 minutes as a sub in a game against Ecuador in 2001, according to my 2008 U.S. MNT media guide (and confirmed by John). He said he had "fond memories of the experience."

"The good times are that much sweeter because a year ago I wasn't even playing. I'm certainly not going to get carried away with it. It is what it is."

Meanwhile, USC's latest NCAA champion teams will visit the White House Tuesday. The USC women's golf and soccer teams each captured NCAA titles in the past year, bumping the total of national titles claimed by USC teams to 108.

U.S. Women's National Team Coach Pia Sundhage will name the Olympic team Monday,

The U.S. Women are playing Canada in the Peace Cup final as I write this: the score is 0-0.

So my wife is taking the day off work to watch the Portugal-Germany Euro 2008 quarterfinal (11:30 a.m. ESPN).

I'm going to work in part because of tonight's Chivas USA-Chicago Fire game at Home Depot Center (7 o'clock ESPN2).

What's wrong with this picture?

A preview of the MLS game tonight is here.

Meanwhile, as U.S. Coach Bob Bradley tries mightily to persuade MLS clubs to release players for the largely pointless second leg of the World Cup qualifier Sunday against Barbados, names are filtering out although the complete squad apparently won't be released until Friday.

There have already been Chris Seitz and Danny Szetela sightings at the U.S. camp in Florida and the Chicago Tribune's Luis Arroyave is now reporting on his blog that a trio of Fire players including John Thorrington (Chadwick School) and Chad Barrett (UCLA) will join the team after the Chivas USA game.

Over in Galaxyland there have been sightings in Carson of the mercurial Clint Mathis, former Dutch international Edgar Davids and um, Brian Perk. More at the official Galaxy blog.

Meanwhile, I had hoped to ignore this one (much as I did the baseless rumors about a certain Brazilian joining the team - I'll let you guess the name).

The only problem with the story?

Galaxy officials told me Wednesday they don't have a player with a Brit wife. Except David Beckham. And he's too busy selling underwear to go to mighty Scunthorpe.

Lastly, as expected, the U.S. women beat Italy 2-0 overnight in Korea and advances to Saturday's Peace Cup final against Canada. More here.

Chivas USA learned Tuesday they will play their third group game in SuperLiga against the New England Revolution at 5 p.m. Sunday July 20 at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium.

If I recall correctly, Cal State Dominguez Hills, upon whose land Home Depot Center sits, restricts the number of games on "week nights" on campus and Chivas USA came up against a number game.

Of course, the Chivas USA SuperLiga game against an American opponent will draw fewer fans than those against Mexican teams.

Chivas USA probably could play the game at the HDC's Track & Field Stadium and comfortably accommodate all fans. But then the lights would bug the neighbors and that's a no-no, too.

From the (edited) Chivas USA press release:

Chivas USA opens its participation in the 2008 SuperLiga on Sunday, July 13, facing Santos Laguna, the current champions of the Mexican First Division, at Home Depot Center. The Red-and-White will then face 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup winner Pachuca, also at Home Depot Center, on July 16.

Chivas USA hosts Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Chicago live at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2.

Meanwhile, the Deseret News caught up with former Real Salt Lake defender Cary Talley (presumably before he was nailed for the lone and winning goal his old team scored against Chivas USA last weekend) here.

After demolishing Barbados 8-0 Sunday in Carson, U.S. Soccer apparently decided not to continue to piss off some MLS teams and released 10 players from the squad ahead of Sunday's return World Cup qualifying leg against Barbados.

From the (edited) U.S. Soccer press release:

The 10 departed players are Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundulo (Hannover 96), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids) and Matt Reis (New England Revolution).

Six out of the 10 players started in Sunday's first leg match against Barbados and three players notched five of the eight U.S. goals. Dempsey's goal put his name in the record books, scoring the fastest goal for the U.S. in FIFA World Cup qualifying history, just 53 seconds into the match.

Answer to Monday's trivia question from the (edited) U.S. Soccer press release:

Former president of the U.S. Soccer Federation Werner Fricker was honored during a ceremony on Sunday before the U.S. Men's National Team's World Cup qualifying match against Barbados.

A memorial located at the northeast corner of Mooch Myernick Field at Home Depot Center was unveiled during the ceremony. U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati unveiled the bronze bust and presented a commemorative plaque to Werner Fricker's children: Werner Fricker Jr., Marlene Fricker and Janet Malofiy (nee Fricker).

Werner Fricker, who passed away in 2001, served as President of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1984 to 1990, during which time he led the successful bid to obtain the 1994 World Cup for the United States.

Fricker was born in Yugoslavia and raised in Austria, but emigrated to the United States with his family in 1952. He lived his adult life in Pennsylvania, where he was a star midfielder and captain for the United German Hungarians of Philadelphia soccer club from 1954 to 1969, leading the team to the National Amateur Cup in 1965.

He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., in 1992.

The opening round of World Cup qualifying last weekend prompted me to take a look at the differences between the U.S. and Mexico given the disparate results the two nations achieved.

Read my weekly column here.

The U.S. Women's National Team, playing overnight in South Korea, notched its second successive victory at the Peace Cup with a 1-0 win over Brazil. USC striker Amy Rodriguez scored the winner just before half time. It was the first game between the two nations since the U.S. lost to Brazil 4-0 at last year's World Cup.

Next up for the U.S. in its final group game in the tournamant: Italy.

Here's a selection of post-game quotes from the U.S.-Barbados World Cup qualifier (and no, none from Coach Bob Bradley - he's a terrible quote):

Brian Ching on the importance of the opening goal in the first minute:

Clint (Dempsey) opened them up in the first minute. ... We capitalized on that the rest of the game."

Landon Donovan on the quick free kick that led to the goal:

"We don't want to wait for the whistle. (The referee) got the ball and makes sure you are set. He said 'you can play if you want.' It's a freebie. We'll take it."

On the progression of the game:

"We felt confident as the game wore on fitness would be an issue. With each goal it gets a little easier because they die a little more. We didn't want to go (to Barbados) having any doubts."

DaMarcus Beasley on the team's progress:

"We're starting to know each other much better. We're not the finished product yet. ... We're supposed to win these games decisively. We're not going to get a false sense of hope."

Clint Dempsey on the same subject:

"We're moving in the right direction as a team, but it's difficult to score against the best teams in the world," he said. "We'd like to score more goals against those kinds of teams.

Quote of the night goes to Dempsey:

"We've got to Barbados and make sure we don't get beat 9-0."

The U.S., by the way, leaves Southern California Monday and travels to Miami where they'll train before leaving for Barbados.

The second leg of the two-game series against Barbados will be played noon Sunday at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados live on ESPN Classic.

Here's a roundup from CONCACAF of today's World Cup qualifiers.

The U.S. will likely face Guatemala, Cuba and the winner of Bermuda-Trinidad & Tobago in the next round.

Read about what Landon Donovan is celebrating here.

U.S. lineup: 18-Brad Guzan; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra, 15-Heath Pearce; 10-Landon Donovan (9-Eddie Jonson, 81), 12-Michael Bradley, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (16-Freddy Adu, 26), 17-DaMarcus Beasley; 11-Brian Ching, 8-Clint Dempsey (7-Eddie Lewis, 72).
Subs not used: 1-Matt Reis, 2-Frankie Hejduk, 13-Maurice Edu, 14-Danny Calif.

The U.S. got its biggest ever win in Carson today, hammering a largely helpless Barbados 8-0, with Brian Ching (almost) netting a hat trick. They gave "his" second goal to an unfortunate Barbados defender for an own goal.

The U.S. must still visit the island nation for the second leg of course, but that will be largely an obligatory exercise and not much more.

Landon Donovan got the fourth (and the 36th of his U.S. career) direct from a quickly taken free kick that took Barbados by surprise in the 59th minute.

Dempsey made it 5-0 four minutes later, sliding home a rebound from 12 yards after Ching had a shot blocked.

The sixth came from an Eddie Johnson header one minute after coming on as a sub for Landon Donovan. He now has 12 goals in 36 games for the U.S.

Brian Ching got the last two, the final goal coming just one minute from the end of regulation time.

More from the dreaded mixed zone later.