U.S. Men's National Team: May 2008 Archives

First off, U.S. Coach Bob Bradley today named a 24-player roster for next week's game against Spain that's pretty much the same as the squad for the England game with the addition of recalled Colorado Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.

The Galaxy jetted off to Toronto today for Saturday's game in Canada (12:30 p.m. Direct Kick).

Chivas USA plays at Home Depot Center Saturday against Rolling Hills' Estates' Robbie Rogers and the Columbus Crew.

More on both games Saturday.

In PDL games locally tonight it's:
San Francisco Seals at Orange County Blue Star 5 p.m. Concordia University.
Fresno Fuego at Ventura County Fusion 7:30 p.m. Buena High.

Saturday:
Los Angeles Legends at Southern California Seahorses 7:30 p.m. La Mirada High.

W-League Saturday
Ventura County Fusion at Pali Blues 7 p.m. Palisades High.

Women's Premier Soccer League Friday
Los Angeles Rampage v Claremont Stars 8 p.m. Granada Hills.
West Coast FC v Ajax America Women 8 p.m. JSerra Catholic High School.

It looks like the U.S. misses Landon Donovan as much as the Galaxy.

Without Donovan (tight groin) the U.S. fell 2-0 to England today in London. Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan made a second half appearance for the U.S. to earn his sixth cap, but a disappointing U.S. team failed to show much. David Beckham had an influential 45 minutes, however, creating England's first goal from a free kick, naturally.

"First, I would give credit to England," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. "Overall, I thought that the first 30 minutes we dealt pretty well with the speed of the game. As we moved on in the half, certainly we hurt ourselves with giving away some fouls around the box to a dangerous team on set pieces, and they took advantage of that. In the second half there was an attempt to push a level up on our end, but we couldn't sustain enough pressure, and in that regard England on the night was quite good. The second goal for them was excellent passing movement and I give them credit."

The lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard (18-Brad Guzan, 46); 6-Steve Cherundolo (27-Frankie Hejduk, 46), 22-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (Capt.), 12-Heath Pearce; 8-Clint Dempsey, 13-Ricardo Clark (26-Maurice Edu, 78), 4-Michael Bradley, 7-DaMarcus Beasley (11-Eddie Lewis, 68); 9-Eddie Johnson (14-Nate Jaqua, 89), 16-Josh Wolff (19-Freddy Adu, 68).

ENG: 1-David James; 2-Wes Brown (13-Glen Johnson, 58), 6-John Terry (capt.), 3-Ashley Cole (14-Wayne Bridge, 83), 5-Rio Ferdinand; 7-David Beckham (17-David Bentley, 46), 4-Owen Hargreaves, 8-Frank Lampard (21-Gareth Barry, 57), 10-Steven Gerrard; 9-Jermain Defoe (25-Peter Crouch, 68), 11-Wayne Rooney (22-Joe Cole, 79).

Game story here.

Closer to home, U.S. soccer announced today the first round pairings in the U.S. Open Cup.

With the Galaxy out after last night's loss to the Colorado Rapids, the local representatives are PDL team the Los Angeles Legends.

The Legends host Crystal Palace Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. June 10.

No column today after the long weekend, but the Galaxy are back in action tonight in Carson against the Colorado Rapids in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier at Home Depot Center.

Valentin played in and started two of the three U.S. matches in France, by the way, while Gavin and Jordan each started one. The U.S. lost all three games at the tournament. Long-term injury victim Pete Vagenas could also play tonight.

The Galaxy lost 4-0 to the Rapids in the season-opener and the two teams last met in the U.S. Open Cup two years ago with the Galaxy winning 3-1 to clinch a semifinal spot.

The Rapids took an early lead through Clint Mathis before Quavas Kirk equalized just before half time. Landon Donovan scored twice in extra time to give the Galaxy the victory.

There's no TV, but I'll blog from the game as usual.

Meanwhile, the hype is building for the U.S.-England game Wednesday with Fabio Capello naming Chelsea's John Terry captain in a bid to cheer him up after his penalty kick miss in last week's Champions League final.

David Beckham apparently has a good chance of playing, while Columbus Crew midfielder Frankie Hejduk has been called into the U.S. squad.

In other national team news, U.S. Women's midfielder Leslie Osborne tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during training at Home Depot Center last week and is out of the Olympics.

Osborne, 25, has played 60 times for the U.S., but faces up to 10 months out with the injury.

In local games this past weekend, David Estrada scored three times and Camillo Rojas added a goal and an assist as the Galaxy Rios U-20s defeated the Poway Vaqueros 6-0 at Home Depot Center Saturday. Palos Verdes Estates' Kyle Nakazawa (UCLA) also scored as the Rios improved to 2-0-0 on the season and are alone in first place in the USL Super-20 League Pacific Southern California League.

In PDL action it was:
Bakersfield Brigade 1 Southern California Seahorses 0
Ventura County Fusion 0 San Francisco Seals 1
San Fernando Valley Quakes 0 Los Angeles Legends 5
Orange County Blue Star 3 Fresno Fuego 4

In the W-League:
Los Angeles Legends 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 2
Los Angeles Legends 0 Seattle Sounders 0

Finally, those psyching themselves up for Euro 2008 can relive the last nine finals in a condensed one-hour version of each game showing on ESPN Classic at 4 p.m. through June 5.

Tonight it's the 1976 final between two nations that don't exist anymore: West Germany and the Crech Republic.

Galaxy Preview

Late with today's post and in part you can blame this excellent restaurant (it's essentially a Japanese pub/barbecue place) that is a convenient dining option (and one of the few) near Home Depot Center either before or after (it stays open late) tonight's Galaxy game.

Especially recommended: the melt in your mouth chicken livers and the crunchy fried cartlidge (no, really).

And brace yourself if you go: We call it the "yelly restaurant."

Kampai!

Looks to be another chilly and possibly wet evening in Carson for the Galaxy-Wizards game (no local TV for this one).

Need motivation to go to the game? Tickets are up to 50 percent off through a Ticketmaster special offer. The code to know: FANATIC.

Former Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman (UCLA, CSUDH), who grew up in the South Bay, is looking forward to the game, although not necessarily because he gets to face David Beckham for the first time:

"To be honest, I'm just looking forward to getting back to playing in front of friends and family."

Read the whole story here.

I'll bundle up and blog from the game.

Chivas USA Preview

Meanwhile, Chivas USA (2-4-2, 8 pts) are on the road in Colorado hoping they have enough healthy bodies to put on the field against the Western Conference-leading (4-4-0, 12 pts) Rapids (kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. on Prime).

Loyola Marymount product Bobby Burling is likely to play on his return home, though.

Chivas USA need to make a little bit of history for the second consecutive game to get a victory: the team has never won in Colorado, although the record stands at one loss and four ties.

ETC.

*The U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team dropped its second game of the Toulon International Tournament to Ivory Coast, 1-0, Friday. UCLA product conceded the penalty kick that led to the goal; Galaxy players Bryan Jordan and Michael Gavin saw action in the game, while Julian Valentin did not.

*Mexican National Team Coach Jesús Rámirez announced the roster Friday for the upcoming internationals against Argentina June 4 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego and Peru four days later in Chicago:

goalkeepers Guillermo Ochoa (Club América), Oswaldo Sánchez (Santos), José de Jesús Corona (Tecos); defenders Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven / HOL), Johnny Magallón (CD Guadalajara), Oscar Rojas (América), Ricardo Osorio (VFB Stuttgart / GER), Aarón Galindo (Eintracht Frankfurt / GER), Patricio Araujo (CD Guadalajara), Hector Moreno (AZ Alkmaar / HOL), Adrián Aldrete (Morelia), Julio César Domínguez (Cruz Azul); midfielders Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Francisco Arce (Santos Laguna), Andrés Guardado (Deportivo la Coruna / SPA), Antonio Naelson (Toluca), Sergio Amaury Ponce (Toluca), Luis Pérez (Monterrey), Gonzalo Pineda (CD Guadalajara); forwards Carlos Vela (Osasuna), César Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Sergio Santana (CD Guadalajara), Edgar Andrade (Cruz Azul), Jared Borgetti (Monterrey).

The game is sold out, BTW.

*The U.S. Under-23 National Team plays the Ivory Coast at 9 a.m. today on Fox Soccer Channel from France.

*Fontana's Maurice Edu of Toronto FC has been called into the senior national team for next week's game against England, presumably as a replacement for the injured Benny Feilhaber.

*The Galaxy's Ante Jazic has only just returned from injury, but the defender has been recalled by Canada's National Team for its May 31 game against Brazil in Seattle.

*In other MLS news, former Galaxy midfielders Jovan Kirovski and Kelly Gray have joined the San Jose Earthquakes from the Colorado Rapids, with former Chivas USA reserve goalkeeper Preston Burpo moving in the opposite direction.

*ESPN has announced that Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea - the first-ever between two English teams - was ESPN2's highest-rated and most-watched UEFA telecast in history.

From the ESPN press release:

The telecast was seen in an average of 798,000 homes (and by 1,097,000 viewers), and received an 0.8 rating. The network's previous UEFA record was the 2006 final, seen in 613,000 homes (and by 770,000 viewers), based on a 0.7 rating.

On ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language telecast earned a 4.5 Hispanic coverage rating, representing 153,000 Hispanic homes, the highest rating the network has ever received.

ESPN Classic will re-air the telecast as an instant classic at 5 p.m. Saturday.

*Meanwhile, Electronic Arts' UEFA Euro 2008 video game has gone on sale, featuring 52 teams.

From their press release:

A new game mode called Captain Your Country will enable gamers to put themselves on the pitch, earn the captaincy of their team, and truly inspire their country to glory. Gamers will be able to celebrate their success on-field through user-controlled celebrations that will add to the pageantry and atmosphere of the event.

*Cal State Northridge women' soccer has announced the signing of eight high school seniors to letters of intent: sweeper Nicole Cruz and defender Emily Geckle (both Thousand Oaks High); goalkeeper Christina Herrera (Pasadena High); defender Marie Hirsch (Notre Dame High); midfielder Marissa Miller (Righetti High); defender Katie Russ (Canyon High); midfielder Brielle Slepicoff (Saugus High); and midfielder Sinead Vaughan (Royal High).

*Only two local PDL games scheduled this weekend.

At 7:30 tonight the San Fernando Valley Quakes play at Los Angeles Legends.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, it's the Bakersfield Brigade at Southern California Seahorses at La Mirada High.

*The Women's Premier Soccer League begins play locally this weekend.

Games scheduled locally:
Saturday- Ajax America Women- Los Angeles Rampage at noon at Nansen Field in Rolling Hills Estates.
San Diego WFC SeaLions- West Coast FC at 7 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic High in San Juan Capistrano.
Claremont Stars- SD United at 5:30 p.m. at Claremont High School.

*Finally, if you thought MLS officiating was bad, check this out.

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday's Telly

6:30 a.m. Fox Soccer Channel U.S. Under-23 National Team-Turkey in Toulon.

11:30 a.m. ESPN2 Manchester United-Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League Final.

4:30 p.m. Direct Kick Toronto FC-D.C. United.

Bradley's Boys

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has named a 22-man roster that will travel to London to prepare for the friendly against England on May 28 at Wembley Stadium including Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan:

goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United); midfielders Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Lewis (Derby County); forwards Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (Out of Contract).

And here's the England squad:

David James (Portsmouth), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Chris Kirkland (Wigan); Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Blackburn), David Wheater (Middlesbrough), Jonathan Woodgate (Middlesbrough); Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), David Bentley (Blackburn), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa); forwards Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Dean Ashton (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Noteworthy: Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, 26, is one cap away from becoming the fourth-youngest male player to reach 100 international appearances. After becoming the all-time U.S. goalscorer Donovan Wednesday would surpass the nation's most capped player - Galaxy Assistant Coach Cobi Jones (164) - as the youngest U.S. player to hit the century mark.

Galaxy Gossip

Galaxy players already managed to get an MLS coach fired this season and it wasn't Ruud Gullit. Dallas Coach Steve Morrow got the hook after his team's plumbing the depths of ghastly performance last weekend.

Tidbits on a date with the knife for Gullit, Galaxy UEFA Champions League final picks (c'mon, name names) here.

Under-20 Galaxy Rios forward Tristan Bowen has been named the to the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team for the upcoming Lisbon International Tournament, where the U.S. will take on Norway on May 21, Portugal on May 22 and Sweden on May 24. The team plays at the HDC Saturday in the season opener.

Also named: defender Jose Diaz (Chivas USA Academy) and midfielder Mike Roman (Real So Cal).

Foxy Programming

Fox Soccer Channel has announced a four-year renewal of its broadcasting rights to televise programming from England's governing body for soccer.

That includes the F.A. Cup as well as the final, finally back on free TV in the U.S.

Other games include the Community Shield and England internationals.

FSC also snared rights to the CONCACAF Champions League, for four seasons beginning in 2008/2009. FSC airs 56 games this year.

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers of the Columbus Crew, Fontana's Maurice Edu of FC Toronto and Chivas USA's Brad Guzan and Sacha Kljestan were among a pool of 33 players U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has selected for consideration for three upcoming friendlies.

Rogers is one of five uncapped players included in the pool. Others looking for their first cap: San Luis Obispo's Chris Seitz, Orange's Michael Orozco, Modesto's Heath Pierce and goalkeepers Troy Perkins and Dominic Cervi.

DaMarcus Beasley returns to the squad after injury.

There is at least one surprise. Or as one colleague so eloquently put it when he saw the pool: (former Galaxy forward) "Nate frikkin Jaqua???"

Prominent names not included: Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, Bobby Convey (injured) and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein of Los Alamitos, who suffered a serious knee injury last week.

Pool: goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United); midfielders Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids); forwards Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich).

The U.S., which is on a five-game unbeaten run, plays in England May 28, Spain June 4 and against Argentina in New Jersey June 8. The three games lead up to the June 15 opening World Cup qualifier against Barbados at Home Depot Center.

The 22-man roster for the England game will be announced next week.

Said Bradley: "With the challenging schedule of friendlies we have organized to prepare for World Cup qualifying, this is an excellent opportunity to continue to evaluate our player pool and at the same time balance the workload. Many of our players have just completed seasons in Europe, and the MLS schedule is in full swing, so it is important that we manage the time wisely to give ourselves the best chance to be successful in the important matches this summer."