CORNER KICKS
Five things happening around the world:
1 An aging former Real Madrid star in the twilight of his career and coming off an injury is said to be waiting to win one final championship in Europe before bringing his act to Los Angeles midway through the 2008 Major League Soccer season for one last hurrah.
Sound familiar, Galaxy fans?
Well, the rumor persists that Portugal’s Luis Figo, a FIFA world player of the year in 2001 but now 35 and no more than a bit player at Inter Milan, is headed this way. A Portuguese newspaper reported this month that AEG, which owns the Galaxy and MLS champion Houston Dynamo, had reached agreement with the midfielder on a two-year contract.
Figo’s agent, Miguel Macedo, has since denied that, saying it is “just speculation” but said that if his client is not offered a new contract by current Serie A leader Inter Milan, he might “consider” a move to MLS. Inter Milan’s final match in the Italian season is May 18. It is uncertain whether Figo figures in Portugal’s plans for Euro 2008, but if he does, it would delay any move to the Galaxy and a reunion with his former Real Madrid teammate David Beckham until July at the earliest.
2 Inter’s rival, European champion AC Milan, is moving in the opposite direction. In August, it signed 18-year-old striker Alexandre Pato for more than $26 million, and the teenager made an impressive debut Sunday.
Not in the least bit intimidated by playing alongside 2007 world player of the year Kaka and former three-time world player of the year and two-time World Cup winner Ronaldo, both fellow Brazilians, Pato was immediately at ease. He scored once in a 5-2 victory over Napoli to help AC Milan win its first home game of the season.
3 The U.S. women’s national team will make history today when it plays Canada at the Guangdong Olympic Center Stadium in China in the opening match of the Four Nations Tournament.
The game will mark the debut of Coach Pia Sundhage and will be the first time the U.S. women have taken the field in a competitive game without at least one member of the 1991 World Cup-winning team in the lineup. Captain Kristine Lilly, the last of the “91ers,” opted out of the trip because she is expecting her first child.
The only other time in the 23-year history of the U.S. women’s team that not one of the 1991 world champions was on the field was in a December 1998 scrimmage against Ukraine at UCLA before the 1999 World Cup when the senior players were involved in a contract dispute with U.S. Soccer.
4 If Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan has his wits about him, he might hold off signing withthe first European team that shows any interest in him.
One person who has watched the U.S. national team ‘keeper closely in recent years is Jurgen Klinsmann, who will take over as coach of perennial German power Bayern Munich in July.
Klinsmann made his reputation as a coach by rebuilding Germany with young players and then led it to third place in the 2006 World Cup. He might take the same tack with Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga leader, where the ‘keepers are 38-year-old Oliver Kahn, who does not see eye-to-eye with Klinsmann, and Michael Rensing, 23.
Guzan, like Kasey Keller before him, might find Germany just the place to boost his own World Cup aspirations.
5 The 16-team African Nations Cup kicks off in Ghana on Sunday, and MLS fans will be able to follow the progress of Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, who was recently elevated to Senegal’s national team.
Senegal, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria are among the favorites in the three-week event that ends Feb. 10.
STAT OF THE WEEK
When the U.S. men play Sweden on Saturday at the Home Depot Center, it will be the national team’s 500th match. The first, oddly enough, was also against Sweden, a 3-2 victory in Stockholm on Aug. 20, 1916. If the U.S. wins Saturday, its all-time record would be an even .500, at 194-194-112.
MAKING THEIR PITCH
Taylor Twellman, New England Revolution and U.S. national team forward, voicing his unhappiness on his teams or the leagues rejection of a $2.5-million offer for him from Englands Preston North End:
“I’m everywhere from confused to mad because I don’t know where we are on this.”
