Califf and Vanney on U.S. Team
U.S. national team Coach Bruce Arena Friday named an 18-player squad to play Paraguay on July 6 in Columbus, Ohio, in the Americans’ final tune-up before the July 12-27 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The United States is the region’s defending champion, and Arena will announce his 25-player Gold Cup roster on Monday.
For the Paraguay game, he chose 13 players from the team that played in the FIFA Confederations Cup in France, including Galaxy defender Danny Califf and former Galaxy defender Greg Vanney.
Among those returning to the team are goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who has been sidelined since undergoing elbow surgery in May, and Columbus Crew striker Brian McBride, whose 20 goals in 67 matches for the national team rank him second to Joe-Max Moore among active players.
Paraguay Coach Anibal “Mano” Ruiz has included four foreign-based players for the team’s two-game tour of the United States. Paraguay plays El Salvador at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on Wednesday before traveling to Columbus.
Its foreign-based players are defenders Celso Ayala (River Plate, Argentina) and Ruben Maldonado (Venezia, Italy); midfielder Claudio Morel Rodriguez (San Lorenzo, Argentina) and forward Jorge Campos (Universidad Catolica, Chile).
Among those not on the roster is veteran goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who has contacted the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and told them he is interested in playing in Major League Soccer.
Foe to Be Honored
Preliminary autopsy results on Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, who died Thursday during his team’s Confederations Cup semifinal victory over Colombia in Lyon, France, revealed only that he had not suffered a stroke.
Foe, 28, had been treated for an upset stomach earlier in the week and had undergone blood tests in Saint Etienne, France, but told teammates he was fine and wanted to play. He collapsed late in the match and died within an hour.
On Friday, FIFA agreed to a request by Cameroon’s players that they be allowed to wear his name on their jerseys in Sunday’s final against France in Paris. World soccer’s governing body also canceled all festivities previously planned for the championship game.
“The Cameroon team have expressed their desire to play the final in memory of their teammate,” said Chuck Blazer, the U.S. president of the tournament’s organizing committee. “We accepted their decision and they will also pay tribute to Foe by putting his name on their shirts.
“We have removed all aspects of the entertainment to keep the occasion purely a football one.”
Meanwhile, Manchester City, the English club to which Foe was on loan from his French club, Olympique Lyon, said it would retire his No. 23 jersey.
Seeking a Host Role
South Korea, which along with China and North Korea has qualified for this fall’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States, said that it wants to play host to the tournament in 2015.
“The United States achieved substantial improvement in football after hosting the men’s and women’s World Cups,” Chung Mong-Joon, president of the Korean Football Assn., told the Korea Times in Seoul. “We will also try our utmost to bring the 2015 Women’s World Cup to Korea.”
Quick Passes
Dutch international midfielder Patrick Kluivert put more pressure on his Spanish club, Barcelona, which wants him to accept a pay cut, by revealing that he has received several offers “but the most important ones are from Arsenal and Manchester United.”
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
