Before he had the tag of interim national team coach removed in May, U.S. coach Bob Bradley plunged into his latest job as he does everything else: meticulously and relentlessly, even a bit zealously. Bradley’s appointment as men’s national team coach set the stage for the busiest summer for the men’s programs in more than […]
Tag: gold cup
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Canada has strong MLS flavor
[GOLD CUP PREVIEW] The Gold Cup was the scene of Canada’s greatest achievement of the last 20 years. Indeed, its 2000 Gold Cup victory stands as the only bright spot for a program that has languished and fallen far behind its North American rivals, the United States and Mexico. The national team program is in transition. It hasn’t had a full-time head coach since Frank Yallop left a year ago to return to MLS as the coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Dale Mitchell won’t take over as his replacement until after the U-20 World Cup in Canada. Interim coach Stephen Hart will coach Canada at the Gold Cup. Canada has a considerable pool of talent to draw upon from overseas and now in MLS
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Medford sets sights on Costa Rica’s first Gold Cup title
[GOLD CUP PREVIEW] Costa Rica is a team in transition. Gone is Coach Alexandre Guimaraes, who led the Ticos at the 2002 and 2006 World Cup and will coach Panama at the 2007 Gold Cup. Star Paulo Wanchope announced his international retirement after the 2006 World Cup and is now playing for FC Tokyo in Japan.
Former Costa Rica star Hernan Medford leads the Ticos in his first major international tournament as national team coach. For the Gold Cup, Costa Rica will be at close to full strength with 11 holdovers from the 2006 World Cup and four players based overseas, including former Los Angeles Galaxy defender Pablo Chinchilla, who now plays in Austria.
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2007 Gold Cup Television Schedule
The Gold Cup begins Wednsday with two games at Miami’s Orange Bowl: Canada-Costa Rica and Haiti-Guadeloupe. Both games will be broadcast on Galavision. For the complete Gold Cup television schedule …
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Plenty to prove for USA at Gold Cup
Just about everybody connected with the U.S. team as it heads into the Gold Cup tournament this week has something to prove, from the head coach right on down to his son. Bob Bradley is replacing Bruce Arena, the most successful coach in U.S. history. His son, Michael, is one of several candidates vying to replace former captain Claudio Reyna in the middle of midfield. A slew of defenders, from MLS as well as abroad, are in the wake of Eddie Pope, who manned the back line for a decade.
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First-timer Guadeloupe taps into pipeline
[GOLD CUP PREVIEW] Like Martinique, which played in three Gold Cups, Guadeloupe is an overseas French department with a population of 450,000, so it is ineligible for FIFA competitions like the World Cup. But the French departments are CONCACAF members and compete at a high level within the Caribbean. Many high-profile French stars have roots in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe, this year’s only first-time entrant, is tapping into that pipeline of current and former European-based pros for the Gold Cup.
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Haiti has hometown edge in Group A
[GOLD CUP PREVIEW] Haiti will be the home team in Group A at Miami’s Orange Bowl. For Haiti’s first ever game at the Gold Cup in 2000, a crowd of almost 50,000, most of them Haitian supporters, turned up at the Orange Bowl to watch the USA beat Haiti, 3-0. Haiti enters the Gold Cup as arguably the hottest team in CONCACAF. Its victory in the Digicel CUF Cup final in January touched off wild celebrations in Port-au-Prince. (Its U-17 team qualified for this summer’s world championship in South Korea, knocking out defending world champion Mexico, in one of the biggest upsets in CONCACAF history at any level.)
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Canada calls up seven MLS players for the Gold Cup
Canada called up 20 players and three reserves for the 2007 Gold Cup, which starts on June 6. Canada’s 20-player roster includes six players from MLS teams — three from Toronto FC two from the Los Angeles Galaxy and one from the Houston Dynamo — and three USL players — two from the Montreal Impact and Martin Nash, brother of NBA star Steve Nash, from the champion Vancouver Whitecaps. The only uncapped player is Antonio Ribeiro of the Impact. Toronto FC captain Jim Brennan turned down an invitation to play for Canada to concentrate on MLS play.
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Dispute depletes T&T squad for the Gold Cup
Trinidad & Tobago will send a depleted roster to the Gold Cup, where it will face the USA in the first round. All 2006 World Cup veterans playing abroad won’t be playing because of a dispute with the T&T federation over World Cup bonuses. Dwight Yorke, the T&T captain at the 2006 World Cup, turned down an offer to return to the national team. His decision not to come out of international retirement a second time was reportedly to support his World Cup teammates who are currently locked in a dispute over bonuses with the T&T federation.
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Gold Cup teams to take 22 MLS players
[MAKING A LIST] Twenty-two MLS players were called up for the 2007 Gold Cup. Expansion Toronto FC led all teams with four players (including Chris Pozniak whom Canada is listing as a “reserve.”). New York (which shares the overall MLS lead with New England), D.C. United (last year’s regular-season champion, D.C. United) and Real Salt Lake were the only MLS teams not to have anyone called up for the Gold Cup. The list of 22 players includes Amado Guevara, who is persona non grata at Chivas USA, but not Mexican Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who will later join Chicago from Club America. In addition, six Gold Cup players play in the USL-1.
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CONCACAF releases Gold Cup rosters
[GOLD CUP ROSTERS] CONCACAF released the final rosters for all 12 teams that will compete in the 2007 Gold Cup June 6-24 at six U.S. venues. The roster for each team consists of 23 players. A player may only be substituted in the event of a serious injury up until 24 hours before the team’s first match. For complete rosters …
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Ambitious Panama calls up Rapids’ Brown for Gold Cup
[GOLD CUP ROSTER] Panama, the surprise runner-up at the 2005 Gold Cup, has called up Colorado Rapids striker Roberto Brown for the 2007 Gold Cup. Brown, who played on the 2005 team, was one of nine foreign-based players called up by Coach Alexandre Guimaraes. Panama faces Honduras, Mexico and Cuba in the first round.
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Mexico calls up Blanco for summer tournaments
[GOLD CUP ROSTER] Mexico included Chicago Fire signee Cuauhtemoc Blanco in its preliminary squad of 28 players for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Copa America on Friday. Hugo Sanchez will take 23 players to each of the tournaments, his first major tests as national team coach. Barcelona star Rafael Marquez is expected to skip the Gold Cup but will play at he Copa America.
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U.S. opponent Guatemala names Carlos Ruiz to Gold Cup roster
[GOLD CUP ROSTER] Colombian Hernan Gomez, coach of Guatemala’s national team, named his 23-player squad for the Gold Cup, where the Chapines will face the USA, as well as El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago, in Group B. MLS star Carlos Ruiz and Pablo Melgar of Chilean club Antofagasta are the only foreign-based players.
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Team-building, according to Bob Bradley
[BRADLEY AUDIO] Evoking the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and the 2006 Italy World Cup team, Bob Bradley set about expressing what he considers important as a coach on his first day with the tag of interim U.S. men’s national team coach removed. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New York and on a teleconference call shortly thereafter, Bradley talked about team-building as the USA sets forth on a busy summer with the Gold Cup and Copa America and 2010 World Cup qualifying beginning next year.