Football Dispatch

Summer Football
25 June 2007
The United States defeated arch-rival Mexico to win the Gold Cup, yesterday. Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber scored within an 11-minute period in the 2nd-half to overturn a 1-0 deficit at Chicago's Soldier Field. Andres Guardado put the Mexicans ahead on the stroke of half-time; but the USA came gangbusters out of the tunnel after the interval. Jose Malgallon's ill-advised foul earned a penalty-kick for Landon Donovan -- the Los Angeles Galaxy forward making no mistake in converting the effort. Shortly thereafter, Benny Feilhaber produced a superb volley after the Mexican defense failed to clear an American corner-kick. Demarcus Beasley hit the cross-bar after a one-two counter-attack with Donovan in the dying moments; and Mexico blew several opportunities to equalize as the final seconds ticked from the referee's watch. In the end, captain Carlos Bocanegra and the United States claimed a second consecutive Gold Cup and a third in four competitions. Both finalists will now participate in the Copa America.

The United States will begin their Copa schedule on Thursday against Argentina in Group-C action. Mexico start a day earlier, on Wednesday, against 2004 Champions Brazil in Group-B. The tournament kicks-off tomorrow with Uruguay facing Peru and Venezuala taking-on Bolivia in Group-A. Ecuador and Chile make-up the remainder of Group-B while Paraguay and Columbia will participate in Group-C. Each of the winners and runners-up of the three groups will qualify for the quarter-finals. They will be joined by the two third-place teams with the best records. The knock-out stages will begin on Sunday, 08 July with the Final following a week later.

UEFA has realigned its qualification process ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The 53 member nations of Europe's governing body will be grouped into 8-brackets of 6-teams and a single group of 5-teams. Each group-winner will automatically qualify for the tournament and the top 8 runners-up will play home-and-away matchups to determine the final 4 spots.

Sevilla completed a double, Sunday, be defeating Getafe 1-0 to win the Copa del Rey. Freddie Kanoute scored the game's only goal in the 11th-minute. The UEFA Cup winners clung to the lead throughout the remainder of what was a rather rough and blustery final at Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Sevilla captain Javi Navarro was beyond ecstatic at the victory, gushing, "I can't find the words to explain a season like this." He continued, "It's going to take thime for all of this to sink in. We've made a huge effort and now we've been rewarded for it. The Rojiblancos finished 3rd-place in La Liga this season -- 5-points adrift of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Sven-Goran Eriksson will decide, today, whether to accept the vacant managerial position at Manchester City. With former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra having completed an 81.6M-pound takeover of the club, Eriksson has been offered the job and a 50M-pound transfer kitty, to boot. Still, the former England manager's appointment looks to be a public relations disaster at Eastlands. The 59-year-old Swede is hardly the most popular candidate for the job; but he has struck-out in numerous attempts to find work on the continent and is sure to be lured by Shinawatra's liberal spending policy. City have already been rejected by Gerard Houllier, Claudio Ranieri, and Juande Ramos and are desperate to land a big-ticket manager. Eriksson has been offered a 3-year deal worth approximately 7.5M-pounds. If he accepts Shinawatra's offer, he will kick-start his tenure by inquiring as to the tranfer-fees for Marlon Harewood, Nigel Reo-Coker, Freddie Ljungberg, and Craig Bellamy.

Manchester United look poised to strike a deal for Alan Smith. The 26-year-old England striker is attracting no shortage of interest from around the Premiership; and a small bidding-war seems to have broken-out for his services. Newcastle were considered the initial favorites for his signature; although a late, 3.5M-pound bid from Harry Redknapp scuttled the move. Portsmouth may have to double their offer, however; because Gareth Southgate has swooped-in with an impressive 6M-pound bid for the former Leeds striker. Varying reports have United already accepting the Middlesbrough offer; although nothing has been confirmed as yet.

Tottenham Hotspur look set to land Darren Bent for 16M-pounds. The fee is 1M-pounds less than that offered by West Ham a fortnight ago. Should the 23-year-old twice-capped England forward arrive at White Hart Lane as planned, he will become part of a 5-man striking-bounty at the London club. With Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Jermaine Defoe, and Mido already in the fold, it remains to be seen exactly how manager Martin Jol will rotate the group. He would, no doubt, prefer to sell both Mido and Defoe. Mido had looked poised to join Fulham for next season. But a last-minute disagreement over wages kiboshed the transfer.