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Mexico wins Gold Cup, routs US 5-0
By BARRY WILNER
July 26, 2009
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Vindication. Satisfaction. Domination.
After finally earning a win against the Americans on U.S. soil, Mexico’s players used all of those words Sunday to describe the 5-0 romp that gave them their fifth Gold Cup championship.
Oh, and one other noun: pride.
“I believe this is a great win for Mexico because we showed the pride we have in our hearts today,” Giovani Dos Santos said. “This is a huge step for us in the process.”
That process had included no progress this decade when the United States hosted its southern rival. The Mexicans were 0-9-2 since a March 1999 victory at San Diego.
They snapped that victory drought before an overwhelmingly pro-Mexico crowd of 79,156 at Giants Stadium with an offensive onslaught in the second half. Captain Gerardo Torrado scored on a penalty kick in the 56th minute, then the inexperienced U.S. squad came unglued.
“When a goal is scored, there’s always a change in the game and we didn’t respond well,” coach Bob Bradley said of the worst American home loss since a 5-0 stinker against England on June 16, 1985.
As the green-clad fans rocked Giants Stadium, game MVP Dos Santos and Carlos Vela scored 5 minutes apart despite several brilliant saves by Troy Perkins. Indeed, it seemed the goalkeeper was the only American on the field during the 11-minute blitz in which Mexico’s attackers could have sprinted all the way back to Azteca Stadium without being touched.
The fiesta was on.
“That’s soccer,” Dos Santos said of the penalty kick after he was fouled in the area by Jay Heaps. “Afterward, you must still do your job.
That’s how it is, how it must be.”
While the Mexicans kept at it, the Americans wilted.
Jose Antonio Castro and Guillermo Franco put the finishing touches on Mexico’s dynamic win. Castro scored off a great through-pass from Vela, a substitute who energized Mexico when he entered the game after halftime.
The United States, fielding a raw squad after the top team finished second in the Confederations Cup last month, could not maintain American dominance of its continental rival. Not even close.
“We were chasing the game a lot in the second half, and it tired us out,” said forward Brian Ching, a regular with the ‘A’ team who missed the Confederations Cup with an injury. “Look at anybody in the United States and this loss has to anger you.”
Mexico fell 2-0 in February in a World Cup qualifier in frigid Columbus, Ohio, the most recent meeting of the archrivals. The nations meet again in Mexico City on Aug. 12, but then the full American roster will be on hand, along with several of the players who carried El Tri to this Gold Cup crown.
But that is another tale. For now, after a 10-year wait, there was sweet victory in commanding style.
“The win injects us with some motivation, confidence and maturity,” Dos Santos said.
At the final whistle, the green-clad Mexican players stormed onto the field in jubilation, mobbing Dos Santos and coach Javier Aguirre. Then they saluted the crowd that made the Meadowlands sound more like Mexico City, making a tour of the pitch with the trophy in hand.
“This ends here in this locker room,” Aguirre said. “we’re celebrating now, but that’s it. Tomorrow is another day and we begin working for Aug. 12, and that’s a different story.”
For the Americans, it was a return to reality. After Bradley coached them to a runner-up finish in the Confederations Cup in South Africa, he gave most of the players a pass for the Gold Cup. Still, the untested fill-ins showed versatility and fortitude—at least until Mexico ran over them in a spectacular 45-minute scoring burst.
“We have to learn from this,” midfielder Stuart Holden said, “and use it in the future.”
Notes: Mexico has won the Gold Cup in 1993, ’96, ’98, 2003 and this year. The United States also has four titles: 1991, 2002, 2005 and 2007 … Heaps drew a second yellow card and was ejected in the 88th minute … Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa needed to make just one save … The United States had a 58-game home unbeaten string against CONCACAF opponents snapped. The last loss was Sept. 1, 2001, to Honduras.
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Top soccer official to invite Obama to World Cup
By BARRY WILNER
July 26, 2009
NEW YORK — FIFA president Sepp Blatter has specific ideas on upgrading the popularity of soccer in the United States. He hopes he has an eager listener in President Barack Obama.
Blatter plans to extend a personal invitation to Obama to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when the two meet at the White House on Monday.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Blatter said the invitation has been extended and that he will "confirm it" at the meeting.
"I know there are people around the president who are football fans, and that they will make everything possible in his agenda that the president be at the opening of the World Cup or the final," Blatter said.
Blatter also plans to discuss the state of U.S. Soccer with the president, including Major League Soccer's spring-through-fall schedule, and the United States' bids to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.
"I spoke with (MLS commissioner) Don Garber and (U.S. Soccer president) Sunil Gulati yesterday again," Blatter said. "We want also to have in this country a very strong professional league. The problem is, when they play out of the international season, they never attract the great players from the European market.
"They have to look at it and whether they can change the schedule and enter into the international (fall-to-spring) calendar. We can only suggest."
Blatter, who attended the Gold Cup final between the U.S. team and Mexico at a sold-out Giants Stadium on Sunday, is concerned that MLS can never become entrenched in this country if the best American players aren't playing in it. He noted that 18 of the 23 players on the U.S. squad that finished a stunning second in the Confederations Cup earlier this summer are on European club rosters.
"If they want to be called a major league ... and have this impact of other major leagues like American football, baseball and the NBA, I think they are far away in quality," he said. "I think with the number of participants on the youth level, they should try to do it.
"For the national team, they are not the only one with players mostly not playing inside the country. It's the same as Brazil and Argentina, who have most of their players in Europe. It can't help football in the U.S. if the heroes and stars are not playing here. How can the youth identify with the game?"
The entire soccer movement in the United States could receive a tremendous boost if the 2018 or 2022 World Cup is awarded to the Americans. FIFA will decide in December 2010, with England considered the front-runner for '18 — Blatter has expressed a preference for bringing the tournament back to Europe after stints in Africa and then South America, where Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup.
Blatter, as always, was noncommittal on the bids. The United States is one of 11 countries that has formally declared its desire to host either event, while Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have submitted joint bids.
But he is firm in his support of awarding both tournaments at the same time.
"One big reason is it gives the local organizing committee more time for the preparation of the tournament," he said. "Also, looking at who would be interested in 2018, there were 10 (bidders) indicating they would like to have it. We can not go 10 for one, so we said, `Let's go for two World Cups.'
"It's also very important for our partners — economic and television — and for FIFA to know where we will go. The interest is so huge in having the World Cup."
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Angry fans say Beckham wanted to fight
By Josh Peter
Jul 25, 2009
LOS ANGELES — Fans involved in the confrontation with David Beckham during halftime of Sunday’s exhibition game between the Los Angeles Galaxy and visiting AC Milan refuted the player’s account of events and said Beckham was an aggressor.
Beckham said after the 2-2 tie at the Home Depot Center that he told one fan who “was saying things that wasn’t very nice” to “calm down and come shake my hand.” A fan then jumped from the stands onto the field and was met immediately by security and ejected from the stadium.
But Josh Paige, a member of the L.A. Riot Squad, a rabid fan group, said he was the patron who leaped from the stands after Beckham motioned for him to come down to the field and fight.
David Beckham confronts rowdy fans on Sunday in an exhibition match against AC Milan.
“He came over and directly confronted us,” Paige told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. “I remember the look on his face, and he definitely was jawing right back at us, pointing at me and then to the ground in front of him a couple of times. … I looked at the video.”
Video footage shows Beckham pulling himself onto a barrier erected about 10 feet from the section of the stadium where Paige and other rowdy fans were heckling Beckham.
Paige, who said he is a 32-year-old employee of a small independent film company in Los Angeles, said he shouldn’t have jumped out of the stands.
“I regret it because I wish that I had been the bigger man,” said Paige, who was handcuffed and escorted from the stadium. “[Beckham] prides himself on being the consummate professional and he’s calling his own fans down to fight.”
Paige said the crowd noise at the sold-out Home Depot Center muffled Beckham’s exact words during the halftime confrontation. But David Martinous, who said he was sitting next to Paige in the front row of Section 137, said he heard Beckham clearly.
“He said, ‘Come down here and fight,’ ” Martinous said. “I said, ‘I’m not coming down there. You can come across that barrier and we can take it from there’ essentially. And he started to put a leg over the barrier and that’s when my friend next to me leapt down.”
But another fan said it was clear Beckham was gesturing for fans to pull down a sign that referred to him as “evil.”
“The gestures Beckham was making were consistent with asking them to take the sign down,” Dustin Guerra wrote in an email after reading allegations that Beckham wanted to fight. “At the same time, I can honestly see how that it could be confused with gestures indicating he wanted to fight if I was a belligerent Riot Squad member who had one too many beers.”
On Monday the Galaxy and the approximately 300-member fan club issued conflicting statements about the incident.
“We have a very good relationship with the LA Riot Squad and have already reached out to them to set up a meeting to discuss moving forward together in a positive direction,” the team’s statement read in part. “In addition, the LA Riot Squad has informed us that they have issued a lifetime ban to the fan that went onto the field of play.”
Not true, according to Jeff Skinner, a prominent member of the 300-member Riot Squad.
“The press release from the Galaxy claiming that we have banned Mr. Paige is factually incorrect,” Skinner wrote in an email. “We have yet to make any final decisions and I reiterate that at this moment we have yet to have any discussions with anybody at the Galaxy regarding this matter.”
Simon Oliveira, Beckham’s personal publicist, declined to comment Monday and said he would defer to Beckham’s postgame comments.
The week before the game, Riot Squad members prepared chants meant to insult Beckham during his first Galaxy home game of the season after he missed the team’s first 17 games while playing for AC Milan on an offseason loan deal.
Earlier this year, Beckham said he wanted to remain with the Italian club instead of returning to the Galaxy because the higher caliber of play would help him achieve his goal of playing for England at the 2010 World Cup. Comments like that – along with the recent controversy over the questioning of Beckham’s commitment to the Galaxy by L.A. star Landon Donovan – prompted the Riot Squad to bring homemade signs expressing their displeasure.
Martinous said he thinks the incident stemmed from Beckham’s actions in front of the Galaxy’s goal about two minutes before the end of the first half, when Beckham smiled while giving the ball to AC Milan’s Ronaldinho for a corner kick where the Riot Squad members sit.
“I yelled directly at him, ‘Wipe that [expletive] smirk off your face,” recalled Martinous, who said he’s a 28-year-old technical support representative for Disney Interactive.
At that point, according to Martinous, Beckham pointed at Martinous and shouted expletives. Martinous said he fired back by shouting, “You need to be worried about the play on the field rather than handing the ball off to [Ronaldinho].”
When the first half ended, Beckham ran toward the Riot Squad members.
After the game, according to Martinous, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena and Galaxy players Chris Klein and Bryan Jordan paid tribute to the Riot Squad.
“Chris Klein came over like he does normally after games and thanked us for being there,” Martinous said. “Bryan Jordan and Bruce Arena came over to the corner and acknowledged us.
“I think those guys know that we love them and last night we just had to get our feelings [about Beckham] out.”
Chris Tucker, another Riot Squad member, said he took issue with Beckham’s comments about a heckling fan “stepping over the line.”
“It was kind of a group agreed-upon thing that nobody would [verbally] go after his family,” said Tucker, a 23-year-old student at Santa Monica College.
“Nobody would say anything about his wife or his kids, because they weren’t responsible for his actions.”
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