U.S. Won’t Get 2014 World Cup
The United States will have to wait until at least 2018 to stage a men’s World Cup after FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, announced it would bring the 2014 tournament to South America.
The revelation wasn’t much of a surprise since FIFA had decided last year to rotate the event among its six confederations.
“We are bringing it to a continent which hasn’t organized a World Cup since 1978, although they have won it nine times,” FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter said.
Brazil figures to be a logical choice for 2014, although Peru, in anticipation of Friday’s announcement, had proposed a plan in December for a joint bid involving itself, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Argentina, in 1978, was the last South American country to stage a World Cup. The 1986 World Cup originally was scheduled for Colombia, but financial troubles forced FIFA to move it to Mexico.
The U.S., which staged the 1994 World Cup, had intended to bid for the 2014 tournament, but now will focus on 2018.
“I’m initially disappointed,” said Bob Contiguglia, U.S. Soccer Federation president. “Clearly FIFA has made a decision to focus on 2014 for South America. But a lot can happen between now and then. We definitely want to bring the World Cup back to the United States. We showed the world and FIFA what kind of tournament we can run.”
U.S. Under-17 Update
The U.S. under-17 national team tied El Salvador, 1-1, in a qualifying game at Guatemala City for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship but maintained its group lead after Jamaica stunned host Guatemala, 3-2, in the second game Friday.
Guillermo “Memo” Gonzalez, a Galaxy rookie, scored for the U.S. on a penalty kick late in the first half. That was set up after Eddie Gaven was fouled in the box after taking a pass from Gonzalez.
The U.S. (1-0-1, four points) plays Guatemala (0-1-1, one point) on Sunday. A victory would assure the United States a place in the August tournament at Finland.
Jamaica (1-1-0, three points) will play El Salvador (0-0-2, two points) in the first game Sunday, allowing the U.S. to know exactly what it needs to do to advance.
U.S. Finishes Second
The U.S. under-20 national team completed an undefeated week at the seventh annual Madeira International Tournament but finished second to host Portugal on goal differential.
A goal by Chicago Fire rookie Mike Magee in the 87th minute Friday at Funchal gave the U.S. a 1-0 victory over Madeira Select and a 2-0-1 record in the tournament. The team previously had tied Portugal, 1-1, and defeated Norway, 2-0.
The U.S. had been using the tournament to prepare for the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was scheduled for March 25-April 16 in the United Arab Emirates. But FIFA postponed the tournament indefinitely Thursday because of the threat of war.
New Calendar
FIFA approved an international match calendar for 2004-2008 that includes the return of the World Club Championship in 2005, despite protests from many European clubs that wanted to eliminate the addition of matches in the summer.
“This calendar is binding,” Blatter said.
European teams had threatened to pull their players from this summer’s Confederations Cup in France as a form of protest to the congested calendar.
Crew Gets Hejduk
The transfer of U.S. national team veteran Frankie Hejduk is complete and the defender/midfielder will return to Major League Soccer this season with the Columbus Crew.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
