Top goalkeepers remain elusive for England

If David Beckham could play in the nets, his chances of securing that elusive 100th cap for England would be much better.

Barely six weeks into his reign as England’s coach, Fabio Capello already is bemoaning the lack of quality goalkeepers in England and is likely to turn to Manchester City’s Joe Hart as he starts building a team that can qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

The problem, Capello told Italy’s Radio Anch’io, is that a majority of the starting goalkeepers in the Premier League are foreign, including Americans Tim Howard, Brad Friedel and Marcus Hahnemann.

“Only 38% of the players are English,” Capello said. “The pool is reduced … but I have spotted one in the under-21s who is very interesting.”

Veteran goalkeeper David James is 37 and has never ridden himself of the “Calamity James” nickname. Paul Robinson and Scott Carson have proven equally error-prone, leaving Capello with an eye on Hart, the first choice ‘keeper for England’s under-21 team.

Other than the headache of finding a reliable goalkeeper, Capello said he was enjoying soccer in England, especially the fans.

“Their culture is extraordinarily beautiful,” he said. “The stadiums are always full, they give their utmost but it is always in the correct way. The referees let the game run in contrast to Italy where the play is constantly broken up.”

Former Galaxy defender Chris Albright, traded to New England last month, played the whole first half as the Revolution routed Bermuda’s national team, 6-1, in Hamilton, Bermuda. The teams meet again on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Revolution on Monday acquired Honduran international midfielder Mauricio Castro, 26, from Olimpia of Honduras.

In other MLS preseason games, the Chicago Fire and Kansas City Wizards played to a 1-1 tie, Chivas USA was routed, 4-0 by Japan’s Olympic team over the weekend then rebounded to edge D.C. United, 1-0, on Monday as Arnaldo Salazar, a member of Chivas USA’s under-18 youth team, scored.

The Mexican league’s constant merry-go-round of coaches continued Sunday when Rene Isidor Garcia was fired as coach of Chiapas following a 4-1 loss to the UNAM Pumas.

Garcia, who coached Mexico to the bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Brazil last year, became the third league coach to lose his job this year, joining Veracruz’s Antonio Mohammed and UANL Tigres’ Americo Gallego.

Elsewhere, new reports in Mexico claimed that Club America has declined to participate in the SuperLiga tournament that launches this summer and that Pumas will take its place, alongside Chivas de Guadalajara, Pachuca and Atlante.

The four MLS representatives in the event are expected to be the league champion Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA, D.C. United and New England.

European Champions League play resumes Tuesday after the long winter break, with AS Roma at home to Real Madrid, Serie A leader Inter Milan playing at struggling Liverpool, Chelsea visiting Olympiakos in Greece, and FC Porto playing Schalke 04 in Germany.

On Wednesday, defending champion AC Milan will be in London for a game against Arsenal, Manchester United plays at Olympique Lyon in a clash between the reigning English and French champions, Barcelona will take on Celtic in Scotland, and Sevilla plays Fenerbahce in Turkey.

Just a week or so after Jack Warner, the president of CONCACAF, inexplicably threw his support to England in its bid to stage the 2018 World Cup – despite the fact that two teams in Warner’s own backyard, the U.S. and Mexico, would like to host the tournament – South Africa 2010 again appears on shaky ground.

Organizers of the next World Cup, only 27 months away, were at pains Monday to assure FIFA officials that everything is on track in South Africa despite strikes that have delayed stadium construction and nationwide power blackouts.

Irvin Khoza, the organizing committee chairman, admitted there was “a lot of despondency” caused by the country’s problems and urged South Africans to unite behind the “one project which gives hope to all of us.”

Khoza said the country owed it to former president Nelson Mandela to make the World Cup a success. “After we won the bid, [he] said, ‘Now I can see my grave,’” Khoza said. “You can’t be responsible for failing a man of that caliber.”

grahame.jones@latimes.com