Stalteri curses scheduling ARENA RELIES ON CLAUDIO REYNA “We want to defend the cup”, says US Coach Bruce Arena about the Gold Cup that starts on Saturday. The Americans want to make forget about the Confederations Cup disappointment three weeks ago. With goalie Kasey Keller (33), striker Brian McBride (31) and playmaker Claudio Reyna (29), Arena called up three lately missing veterans. Ten players of the current roster took part in 2002 when Costa Rica was defeated in the final. The former Wolfsburg-player Claudio Reyna had his comeback last week at the 2-0 against Paraguay after a torn ACL. Next to cup defender and further nine CONCACAF teams, a U23 selection from Brazil (including Dortmund’s Ewerthon) and Colombia are invited as guests to the Gold Cup, the pendant to the European Championships. The games will be played in the USA and Mexico. For the Mexican coach this tournament could be crucial. Due to bad results since taking over in October, the Argentinean Ricardo Lavolpe, who is criticising lacking support of the association, is facing the situation realistic: “The Mexican soccer is like a ticking bomb.” As often with continental championships, the scheduling of the Gold Cup is debated. Paul Stalteri curses: “The gentlemen of the confederation have no clue”. The Canadian has to fly today and stop the pre-season at Werder Bremen. Also GM Klaus Allofs curses about the colliding schedule and the German Coach of Canada, Holger Osieck. At the end they found a compromise: Stalteri has to stay until the end of the quarter final and returns on July 17.
Oh, give me a break. Is there ANY time when the German teams aren't in session? Here's a plan: They should COMPLETELY suspend the European leagues to make way for the Gold Cup. Or, I know, how about an international standardized schedule? If the Euroclods could ever get their s*** together to agree to that, they wouldn't have these problems, but that probably involves more neurons to figure out that the whole of the European management establishment could muster if you put them all together. Hell, a few days of training and friendlies vs the continental championship? Give me a freaking break. whiners. I just had to get that out. G.
Re: Re: Gold Cup Report from kicker Something obviously skipped your mind. Werder Bremen is in the Intertoto Cup. With a UEFA cup spot up for grabs, Weder wants anything to get into Europe. Your beef should be with UEFA.
Re: Re: Gold Cup Report from kicker Well, the season finished in late May and the players had a month off at that time; and the players have two weeks off starting at the weekend before Christmas... And as the text says, it is also Stalteri himself, who does not really want to play there now, it's not just the club that is complaining.
Werder Bremen has been very positive in the past in allowing Paul Stalteri to play with Canada and still developing him as a player. He is only 25 and has 42 caps already. In 2000, he played something like 20 games for Canada, including Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying + Olympic qualifying games.
Re: Re: Re: Gold Cup Report from kicker Indeed it seems to have. I'd forgotten there was such a thing as the intertoto cup. Talk about silly cups! A mickey mouse tournament for a joke for the also-rans! Yikes. The notion that this should take priority in anyone's mind over a continental championship is kind of sad, but having said that I can see why the UEFA cup might be more important for a club, even if it is truly meaningless from a sporting standpoint. Money always talks and I'm sure the club stands to make more from it. Once again, a beef with UEFA. It's hard to see much merit to Europe's complaints (UEFA + clubs), when so much of the fixture congestion is due to this silly tournaments like this and the Worthington Cup. It'd be nice if for once FIFA took the side of sport over money, but I imagine they won't in this case. G.