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José Francisco Torres got his first cap against Cuba.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Five soccer thoughts on my mind heading into another day of World Cup qualifiers and the MLS stretch run:

• I'm more stoked to see U.S.-T&T on Wednesday than I have been for any other U.S. World Cup qualifier this year. I know the U.S. is already through to the Hex, and I know that tonight's game (8 p.m. ET, ESPN and Galavisión) is meaningless for the Yanks in the WCQ standings. But the game should provide an excellent chance to see the top U.S. youngsters playing significant minutes on the road in a qualifier that means a ton to Trinidad & Tobago.

I'm looking forward to seeing major PT from most of the following guys: Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu, José Francisco Torres, Maurice Edu, Michael Orozco, Marvell Wynne and Charlie Davies. Who will make the most of the opportunity to stake a claim for more run in the Hex? We'll find out in the next two U.S. games. Altidore, Adu and Torres all impressed in the second half against Cuba-granted, a 10-man side of amateurs, but still.

• Mexico's loss should remind U.S. fans (and journos) not to be too complacent. Yes, CONCACAF is pretty terrible these days, and yes, the U.S. should be 4-0 in its less-than-mighty group. But El Tri's 1-0 loss at Jamaica on Saturday should also be a reality check for anyone who thinks the U.S. and Mexico can just show up for a road qualifier and grab three points. (That 1-0 U.S. victory at Guatemala suddenly looks a wee bit better, no?)

Bob Bradley's bunch hasn't been perfect on style points, but the U.S. has shown more attacking flair in the last two home wins against admittedly meager competition. Most important, though, the Americans haven't settled for one-goal wins like they did in Cuba. The U.S. stepped on the throats of T&T (last month) and Cuba (on Saturday), using its superior fitness to devastating advantage in the final minutes against the hapless Cubans.

• My MLS year-end award votes are ready. Most Valuable Player: Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew. It's still amazing to me that Guille isn't a Designated Player, but you wish that every DP would have had as big an influence as the Crew's Argentine string-puller. Rookie of the Year: Sean Franklin, L.A. Galaxy. See, not every Galaxy personnel decision was a disaster! (Just most of them.) Defender of the Year: Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew. The big blond dude was a rock for one of the league's best defenses (and has even scored four goals). Coach of the Year: Sigi Schmid, Columbus. The Hunt Sports Group takes a lot of stick for being overly conservative, but its patience with Schmid has been amply rewarded.

• Get ready for World Cup 2022 in the United States. Although U.S. Soccer has made noises about considering a bid for the 2018 World Cup, it never seemed likely that FIFA would keep three straight editions of the world's showcase sporting event out of Europe. The latest evidence is FIFA prez Sepp Blatter's statement that he doesn't think a second straight World Cup should be staged in the Americas (after Brazil hosts the 2014 event).

One thing to keep an eye on: Will FIFA decide to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the same time? That would certainly be in the U.S.'s interests, since it could work an immediate quid pro quo with Euro voters in exchange for the U.S.'s support of a European candidate for '18. (Otherwise, a lag time between votes for '18 and '22 could allow for backroom shenanigans and promised return votes not to come through.)

Awarding '18 and '22 at the same time should also be in FIFA's interests, since it would allow for the bundling of televisions rights fees and sponsorships. Long story short: The U.S. is the clear front-runner for '22, barring any problems with South Africa or Brazil that could cause the U.S. to step in as a replacement even sooner.

• Just because the U.S. is done playing Cuba (for now) doesn't mean I'll forget the Cubans. If you're a Blog reader you might remember Manuel Díaz Rodríguez, the lifelong Cuban who showed up at the U.S.-Cuba game in Havana wearing a U.S. flag, a U.S. bandanna and a knockoff U.S. soccer jersey. A hardcore fan of U.S. sports, he said he had been put in jail for 32 days last year for having a satellite antenna that he used to watch as many American sports as possible.

The now-legendary Cuba Cinco gave Manuel a U.S. Soccer scarf, and Manuel and I have been exchanging e-mails ever since. It's kind of overwhelming when you read an e-mail from Manuel saying that the U.S.-Cuba game in Havana was "the five happiest hours of my life." In any case, Manuel wanted me to thank Blog readers for their reaction to his story, and if any U.S. soccer fans want to communicate with him he said he'd be psyched to get your e-mail. (Keep in mind that Spanish is his main language.) He goes by the nickname "Manolo Manguera," and he can be reached at mangue72@yahoo.com.

A sample of life on the field ... and off for David Beckham.
(Andrew H. Walker/Greg Bartram/Getty Images)

Most American sports fans probably missed it, but David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy lost again on Saturday (1-0 to Columbus), which in all realistic terms ended the Galaxy's playoff hopes and (combined with Toronto's win at New York) gave L.A. the worst record in MLS (7-12-8) with three regular-season games remaining.

Beckham will almost certainly play just one more MLS game in 2008: the Galaxy's season finale on Oct. 26 at home against FC Dallas. Beckham will miss L.A.'s game against Colorado this Sunday on England national team duty, and he'll miss the Oct. 18 game at Houston on a suspension for accumulated yellow cards. (Cue disappointed fans in Houston, the only MLS city where Beckham has yet to play.)

Nobody in the print media has spent more time around Beckham's team than I have -- I'm writing a book on the first two seasons of the Beckham-era Galaxy -- and there's a fascinating tale to be told about what has gone on behind the scenes during the Beckham Experiment.

From a soccer perspective, Beckham has had an up-and-down year. Before the All-Star Break he played well, creating chances for the Galaxy from his right midfield position and displaying the full-on effort he's known for. Since the All-Star Game, however, Beckham has struggled. He has failed to connect with Landon Donovan and the Galaxy's other scoring threats. He has failed to produce any magic with his renowned free kicks.

And, most surprising of all, his work-rate has declined. Maybe Beckham is gassed from all the travel for MLS games and England games and Olympics visits. Maybe he's just throwing up his hands at the Galaxy's poor personnel decisions and an MLS salary cap that forces him to play alongside some skill-poor teammates making less than $20,000 a year. Maybe it's a combination of all those things.

Yet the most surreal aspect of Beckham's American adventure is this: While Beckham's team has been an undeniable fiasco on the soccer field, there's no arguing that Beckham has been wildly successful as an American celebrity. (Just open the pages of People magazine or turn on Entertainment Tonight and you'll get the idea.)

Rightly or wrongly, the vast majority of the Americans who have embraced David Beckham The Celebrity don't know (and don't care) that David Beckham The Soccer Player is on the worst team in the MLS standings. They don't know (and don't care) that the Galaxy has won only one of its past 15 games, or that it's going to miss the easy-to-make MLS playoffs for the third straight year, or that it hasn't scored on a set-piece (supposedly Beckham's forte) in 23 games.

Is this ignorance, in a perverse way, good for Beckham? Hell yes, considering what's happened to the Galaxy. In fact, if Beckham's advisers anticipated this, it's a stroke of genius on their part. Beckham has a great life here. He loves living with his family in Beverly Hills, he's still making a gazillion dollars and he no longer has to earn his popularity every week on the playing field as he did in Europe.

Beckham can argue that simply by being here he has raised the profiles of the Galaxy and MLS to an entirely new level. And he can point to evidence such as the recent Teen Choice Awards, in which he was chosen the "Choice Male Athlete" of 2008, beating out Tiger Woods, Eli Manning, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Has 2008 been good for the Galaxy? Not so much -- public embarrassment is never fun -- although from a bottom-line perspective L.A. is doing just fine in the Beckham era. Tim Leiweke, the CEO of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Galaxy, told me that he recently turned down a $125 million offer for the team. (He refused to specify who had made the offer.)

But Leiweke also said this: "The success of David Beckham will depend on what happens not just off the pitch but on the pitch. If we don't win this will not be a success story. I think we're in the middle of this book, maybe not quite to the middle yet, and this has not been a success. And we acknowledge that. We need to win. For David to be happy and David to have an impact and the Galaxy ultimately to be the kind of team we'd like them to be, we need to win."

Message from the owner: We need to win.

In other words, Leiweke is clearly dissatisfied with the Galaxy's performance, the main reason he forced out coach Ruud Gullit and fired team president Alexi Lalas in August and replaced them with Bruce Arena.

Beckham is now finishing Year Two of a five-year contract. But the relationship between Leiweke and Beckham (and his advisers) will be something to watch closely in the off-season. Could Beckham wake up one day and decide he wants to go back to Europe? Could he ask to go on loan to a team in Europe this winter to help his cause with the England national team?

The fact is that if I were Beckham I would be furious with the Galaxy for failing to build a better team around me in advance of my arrival. Anyone in his position who's human would be. Yet Beckham won't go there yet, at least not publicly. After Saturday's night's loss in Columbus I asked Beckham straight up:

"With Toronto winning tonight the Galaxy has the lowest point total in the league now. Do you wish the Galaxy had done a better job, done more to build a better team around you and Landon over the last couple years?"

Beckham's reply focused less on answering the question than on disputing the premise of the Galaxy being a two-star team: "No, because at the end of the day this team is not just about me and Landon, and the organization is not just about me and Landon. We're in a position at the moment where we're just not getting maybe a little bit of luck. We look at each other in the dressing room, and we want to play for each other. That's the big thing. You want to be sort of proud of the team and proud of the teammates and look at the teammates and think that everyone's giving 110 percent in each game. Sometimes that's happened this year, and sometimes it hasn't.

"So the other questions higher up, it has nothing to do with me. Like I said, it's nothing to do with organizing and preparing the team just around two players."

And that was pretty much the end of any legitimate questions in Beckham's short press conference. On the night the Galaxy's season effectively ended, not a single member of the media from Los Angeles was in the room. The L.A. Times stopped sending a reporter on the road with the Galaxy a long time ago. The Orange County Register doesn't even cover home games anymore.

That's mainly the reflection of a dying newspaper industry and, perhaps, a busy season for L.A. sports with the Dodgers and Angels in the playoffs and college football season in full swing. But it's also a reflection of where the Beckham-era Galaxy remains in the L.A. sports landscape.

In the absence of any L.A. media in the Columbus press conference, it was left to the woman next to me to ask Beckham if he could compare (for the millionth time) soccer in the U.S. to soccer in England.

She was smiling, and (no lie) she was wearing a blue Los Angeles Galaxy Beckham jersey. And, like most Americans, she clearly didn't care that the Galaxy are now the worst team in Major League Soccer. Welcome to Bizarro World.

What's your sense of Beckham's American adventure? Chime in below with your thoughts.

HAVANA, Cuba -- Five thoughts after the U.S.’s 1-0 win over Cuba in Saturday’s Concacaf semifinal-round World Cup qualifier (many thanks to the Cuban federation for the excellent wifi in the stands, better than any Caribbean or Central American venue I can remember):

• The U.S. is doing just enough to win ... and not much more. The U.S. now has a perfect six points from this round’s two games of World Cup qualifying, but the 1-0 wins against Guatemala and Cuba were hardly inspiring from a style-points perspective. If U.S. coach Bob Bradley is going to continue leaving young attacking options like Kenny Cooper, Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu off his rosters, the players who do get picked need to show they can be offensive threats. Continuing to use two holding midfielders (Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu, in this case) seems overly conservative, especially against a lineup of amateurs on a bottom-feeding Cuba side. Edu, in particular, had a poor game against Cuba, causing several give-aways with misguided passes, some of them coming without any defensive pressure on him.

• Frankie Hejduk is U.S. Soccer’s all-time Energizer Bunny. Who would have believed the 34-year-old Hejduk would still be a major contributor in World Cup qualifying in the year 2008? I started wondering if he was past it in 2002 (when he proved me wrong with a sensational World Cup) but it’s clear that Hejduk’s experience and speed can still come in handy. Forced into a starting right-back role due to Steve Cherundolo’s expulsion against Guatemala, Hejduk sped up and down the flank all night. It was Hejduk who drew a yellow card on Cuba’s Luis Villegas, and it was Hejduk who raced back 50 yards to snuff out a dangerous run midway through the first half by Roberto Linares. Whatever Hejduk is doing to stay fit is working in his fourth World Cup qualifying campaign. For all I know he’ll still be in the mix in 2012.

• The atmosphere at Concacaf World Cup qualifiers is awesome. It’s a shame that U.S. fans weren’t allowed to come here legally and enjoy a shared sports experience with the Cuban fans. But it’s a great scene like this at all of the U.S.’s road qualifiers in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The scene here featured the following: huge amplifiers blasting Cuban music into the crowd before the game; Cubans passing around a battle of Johnny Walker Black; down-and-dirty salsa dancing in the stands; a torrential downpour dripping through the corrugated-steel roof over the fans; a rickety stadium where the lights went out 30 minutes before kickoff, forcing the teams to warm up in the dark; flag-waving supporters galore; and enough gorgeous (and scantily-clad) men and women to make a New York dance-club look lame by comparison. Oh, and there was a soccer game too. Small wonder that a growing number of 20- and 30-something Americans are doing guerrilla tourism following the U.S. national team abroad.

• The most interesting guy I met all day was Manuel Díaz Rodríguez. Read more here.

• Through-balls: Cuban midfield Alain Cervantes provided a spark coming off the bench in the second half and dribbling rings around the Americans on a couple occasions. Why on earth didn’t he start the game? ... U.S. centerbacks Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu may not ever get high marks for their passing, but they haven’t allowed any goals in two road World Cup qualifiers, which is at least worth something ... I haven’t seen many teammates get as visibly frustrated with each other as the Cubans, who were waving their arms frantically at each other following the misplayed header by Carlos Francisco that led to Clint Dempsey’s goal ... Francisco had a rough night: not only did he make the mistake in his own box, but he had a gift-wrapped chance to score on Cuba’s first corner kick and shot wide.

Gotta write a magazine story for tomorrow morning, so my apologies for not having any postgame quotes online ... 

HAVANA, Cuba -- Meet Manuel Díaz Rodríguez.

He’s a Cuban who has lived his entire life here, and yet he showed up wearing an American flag, a U.S. flag bandana and a knockoff U.S. national team jersey at today’s World Cup qualifier between the U.S. and Cuba at Estadio Pedro Marrero.

“I love American sports,” he told me in Spanish. “In the Olympics I was very happy with the eight gold medals of Michael Phelps. It was a shame that Tyson Gay wasn’t selected from the American trials [in the 200 meters] and was injured in China. And in basketball I wanted the U.S. to win in the final.”

Díaz Rodríguez says that his love of American sports even got him put in jail last year.

“I like freedom, and I am not afraid of fighting for it. A year ago I was in jail for 32 days. You are going to laugh when I tell you why. It was for having a satellite antenna in my house. I had it, but I have no interest in politics for anything. I just love sports.”

“With my antenna I can see all the American sports. All of them. You can see Tiger Woods in golf, you can see the NBA, you can see major league baseball. I love tennis. Just now I know that Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic and advanced to the final [of the U.S. Open].”

Díaz Rodríguez said that “after a lot of work” he located a guy in his neighborhood who owned a U.S. flag, and he convinced him to lend it to him for today’s game. “The problem is that I love freedom and they give us very little in this country,” he said. “I dressed this way today, and when I left [for the stadium] many friends told me, ‘You are crazy! You are going to have problems at the stadium!’ But no. I came here and I am having fun.”

Who did he want to win the game between Cuba and the United States? “I want the U.S. to win so they [the Cuban federation] worry a little more and do not hesitate to do more with Cuban soccer. Cuban athletes in general are very good, but what happens in soccer is disgraceful. In this country we don’t have a single field that has the same condition [as this stadium does].”

When I asked Díaz Rodríguez if he was O.K. with me publishing his name and his photograph, he said it was no problem. And was he worried about the police? “I don’t have any fear,” he said. “I like freedom. After I was in jail they fined me 800 pesos and said that every year they want 30,000 pesos more.”

“And I am not going to pay. I don’t know what will happen, but I am not going to pay.”



 

HAVANA, Cuba -- Gameday in Havana. It’s sunny and hot (86 degrees), but the gametime (8 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic and Galavisión) means it should cool off a bit by kickoff.

A few thoughts heading into the game:

• The most intriguing player on the field tonight will be 22-year-old Cuban striker Roberto Linares (see photo here). Linares, whom I spoke with before a training session earlier this week, scored Cuba’s goal in its 1-1 tie with the U.S. in the first game of the Olympic qualifying tournament last March in Tampa, and he stayed with the Cuban team after seven of his teammates defected to the United States following that game.

Cuba’s German coach, Reinhold Fanz, has said that Linares is a better player at this age than German international Gerald Asamoah, whom Fanz once coached at Hannover 96. And Linares certainly came through in Cuba’s triumph in the first round of World Cup qualifying against Antigua and Barbuda, scoring three goals to help send Cuba through on an 8-3 aggregate.

When I sat down with Linares this week he was friendly but guarded. It would have been great to have a completely open conversation about all sorts of topics: How much temptation did he have to join his defecting teammates last March? Would he like to leave Cuba someday and join a professional club overseas where he could realize his full potential and make a lot more money? Is he entertaining any idea of leaving the Cuban team when it visits Washington D.C. to play the U.S. in October?

But as you’d expect, an open conversation about those topic was impossible. Still, Linares had some interesting things to say:

On his memories of the 1-1 tie against the U.S. in Tampa last March: “It was a good game for us and for them as well. We fought hard and had a beautiful experience in the United States. Despite what happened with our athletes [defecting] I think the team fought and did as well as possible.”

On how many times he has seen the U.S. senior team play on television: “I have seen them in World Cups. I’ve seen them in this phase of World Cup qualifying and on video in the Gold Cup. They’re good players, and they have a high level. [Landon] Donovan and [Clint] Dempsey are very good. I think we’ll have to work very hard to beat them.”

On whether it’s possible to have success as a Cuban player in international games if you can’t join a club overseas in a better league: “No, on that topic I am not going to speak with you.”

On what he thought of the seven Cuban teammates who defected to the U.S. in the middle of the Olympic qualifying tournament: “I thought it showed a bad attitude because they abandoned the team. In that moment we had tied the U.S. and we were in a very good moment. After that it was very difficult. The team had fewer players, and we couldn’t make substitutions. It wasn’t the same.”

On what he wants to achieve in his soccer career in the future: “I want to be a great player.” Pause. “And live here in Cuba. Yes.”

After we spoke I wished Linares the best of luck. He smiled, shook my hand and let me take his picture. He said he was looking forward to the start of the Cuban amateur league season on Sept. 17 with Villa Clara (Maykel Galindo’s old team), and he hoped to do well in World Cup qualifying.

• Here's a photo by SI's Simon Bruty of the billboard I wrote about yesterday featuring a picture of the U.S. president, George W. Bush, next to Der Fuhrer. 

• The U.S. isn’t thrilled with the field conditions. “The grass is a little long, but we’re told maybe it gets cut tomorrow,” coach Bob Bradley said after training at Estadio Pedro Marrero on Friday. “The field is a little harder right now than the field was in Guatemala. So whether or not they get a little bit of water on it I don’t know. But the field underneath is quite hard.”

How does a field like this impact the game? “It just means that at times bounces are tricky and footing’s tricky,” Bradley said. “From the Trinidad-Cuba game there were a number of players that lost their footing, and you see more guys slipping and then getting up and recovering, so we hope to handle those things well.”

• Frankie Hejduk is bummed about the lack of surfing. “I haven’t seen any waves,” joked Hejduk, a hardcore surfer dude, when asked if he wanted to get out on the water here. “I was asking about the beach, but under my breath. Bob [Bradley] didn’t really want to hear about it.” Someone pointed out that there’s not much of a beach in Havana; it’s more like rocks and a seawall. “I’ve been in plenty of those before,” Hejduk replied. “I was kind of hoping there’d be some leftover waves from the hurricane, but it’s pretty flat.”

• The Cuban state media is starting to warm up to this game--a little bit. After days of almost no coverage for the U.S.-Cuba game, the state newspaper Granma had it as one of the lead stories in today’s sports section. One interesting thing: there was none of the hyperbolic anti-U.S. government propaganda that you see in the news section of the paper. In fact, the U.S.-Cuba article was pretty much a straight news story, although it did say that for Cuba beating the U.S. would be “una misión heroica” (a heroic mission).

Everyone here is still curious over whether the 17,000-seat stadium will be filled. Only 4,000 spectators attended Cuba’s qualifier here last month, but several Cubans (including the restroom attendant at El Aljibe, our awesome restaurant last night) swore that the joint would be packed.

• This trip has been a blast. We’ve been doing plenty of work here in Havana, but it’s impossible not to have a good time on the side. Last night we had five guys together for dinner and couldn’t fit all of us into a normal taxi, so we hopped into a 1953 pink Chevrolet convertible taxi and rode to El Aljibe in style. With the stars overhead and thousands of Cubans hanging out on the oceanside Malecón, our driver drag-raced with a 1950’s-era Buick full of Cuban men and women who were waving friendly hellos at us. Few things will ever make you feel more alive.

Check back here before the game for updates from the stadium...