CORNER KICKS
1 For the United States to salvage anything out of its first trip to the Copa America in 12 years, Coach Bob Bradley’s team will have to defeat Colombia in its final first-round match Thursday and then hope for help from other teams. After a 4-1 rout by Argentina and a 3-1 loss to Paraguay, the U.S. is on the brink of elimination -- not unexpected considering the inexperienced roster chosen for the tournament in Venezuela but disappointing all the same.
The glow of the Gold Cup victory and Bradley’s 10-0-1 start has vanished and questions now arise over Major League Soccer’s ability to produce international-caliber players without those players first having to attend “finishing school” in Europe.
Also, the debate will be renewed over the decision to allow the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan to skip the Copa America when his presence alone might have made a significant difference.
2 Mexico, meanwhile, has rebounded from its Gold Cup final loss to the U.S. -- and saved Coach Hugo Sanchez’s scalp in the process -- by defeating Brazil and Ecuador and clinching its quarterfinal place even before today’s final first-round Copa America game against Chile. More impressive still, Mexican striker Nery Castillo, 23, has emerged as the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) region’s most gifted and exciting player since Donovan stepped on the stage seven years ago.
3 American referees Kari Seitz and Jennifer Bennett have been selected by FIFA to officiate at the 2007 Women’s World Cup to be played in six Chinese cities Sept. 10-30.
This will be the third World Cup for Seitz, who took part in the 1999 and 2003 tournaments and officiated at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
4 Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium has been selected to stage the opening match and the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The 20-year-old stadium is being renovated and enlarged to seat 94,000.
5 It appears that AEG, which owns the Galaxy, the Chicago Fire and the defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo, is about to shed another of its teams, having earlier disposed of the MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls) and D.C. United.
Negotiations are underway to sell the Fire to an as-yet-unidentified group of Chicago businessmen, with the sale expected to be completed before the season’s end.
“All I can say is that it wouldn’t surprise me,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters in Chicago.
