CORNER KICKS
1_Intent on becoming the fifth player in history to play 100 games for England, David Beckham on Tuesday sent an unequivocal message to England Coach Fabio Capello, his former mentor at Real Madrid.
“I’m as fit as I can be,” the Galaxy midfielder told the BBC after several weeks of training with Arsenal. “I’m fit and sharp and I’m ready to be selected. Hopefully I’ve worked hard enough this month to get myself picked in the squad.”
England plays Switzerland Feb. 6 at London’s Wembley Stadium in Capello’s first game in charge. Beckham is counting on his former coach to put him on the roster and give him some playing time so that he can join Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton as the only England players to win 100 caps.
“I’ve been training with one of the fittest teams in Europe,” Beckham said. “I’ve done everything possible to be fit and I am without a doubt ready for it, but it’s out of my hands now.”
Capello will name his roster this week. “Beckham is important for England and can still give a lot,” Capello said earlier this month, “but as everybody knows, all the players are equally important to me and start from the same position, including David Beckham.”
2_The European transfer window closes at midnight Thursday, which means that either Celtic of Scotland, Aston Villa of England or some dark horse club has until then to reach an agreement with Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Celtic was the front-runner, having offered a reported $2 million for the 23-year-old U.S. national team player, but Villa, owned by Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner, is said to have doubled that bid and now has the edge.
Even if he agrees to a deal with one of the clubs, Guzan still would have to receive a government work permit to play in Britain, and that could be a problem since his five international appearances leave him well short of the required 75% of national team games over the last two years.
Guzan, the top pick in the 2005 MLS draft, could, however, be granted a permit on appeal.
3_Another Chivas USA player who has risen fast through the ranks is Jorge Flores. One year ago, the then-17-year-old had a part-time job cleaning churches and was playing soccer for Anaheim High. This month, he captained the U.S. under-20 national team when it played in Guadalajara.
Flores was one of more than 2,000 players who took part in Chivas USA’s televised Sueno MLS open tryout last spring. Flores won the tryout and made the roster.
The success of the concept has caused the league to repeat Sueno MLS this year, with Chivas USA and FC Dallas both holding similar free tryouts starting in mid-February. The Galaxy will hold its open tryout Feb. 9-12 and is charging participants $150.
4_On Friday, when Carlos Ruiz returned to the Galaxy, more than three dozen reporters were on hand to record the Guatemalan striker’s happy remarks at rejoining his former team. No mention was made of any knee problem.
Ruiz said he would be flying to Guatemala on Sunday to join the national team as it prepared for its Feb. 6 match against Argentina at the Coliseum.
Now, it turns out, Ruiz will not be playing in that game after Galaxy doctors took a look at his right knee and determined that it needed more rehabilitation work. Ruiz, 28, had the lateral meniscus in the knee cleaned up Nov. 13 while still with FC Dallas.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy on Tuesday said that it would play FC Seoul in South Korea on March 1 and an aggregation of Chinese players in Shanghai on March 5 before the MLS season begins March 29.
5_Elsewhere in MLS, Chivas named Leo Percovich, 39, as its new goalkeeper coach, replacing Zak Abdel, who has joined the U.S. national team as its goalkeeper coach. Percovich was the Colorado Rapids’ goalkeeper coach in 2006 and 2007.
Also, Bryan Arguez, 19, a midfielder on the U.S. under-20 national team who was selected by D.C. United in the first round of the 2007 MLS draft, has opted to go to Europe and has signed a 3 1/2 -year contract with Hertha Berlin of the German Bundesliga.
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STAT OF THE WEEK
* Barcelona and Cameroon national team striker Samuel Eto’o, above, became the joint all-time leading scorer in the African Nations Cup with his 14th goal in the competition. That tied the record held for the last 38 years by former Ivory Coast star Laurent Pokou.
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U.S. VS. MEXICO
The United States plays Mexico in a friendly in Houston on Feb. 6 in the 54th game between the countries. The series dates to 1934 and the Americans have scored 60 goals. All-time leaders:
*--* PLAYER Goals Landon Donovan 4 Aldo “Buff” Donelli 4 Alexander Rae 3 John McEwan 2 Eddie Murphy 2 Helmut Bicek 2 Steve Moyers 2 Roy Wegerle 2 Thomas Dooley 2 Eddie Pope 2 Frankie Hejduk 2 Brian McBride 2 Josh Wolff 2 28 players 1 Own goal 1 *--*
