Soccer Teams

England can win the World Cup in South Africa next year, Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said Wednesday. Of course, so can Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and possibly a dark horse or two, but confidence is riding particularly high on England's national soccer team. "You have to go into a competition believing that you can go all the way," Beckham said before the Galaxy's morning training session. "I believe that we've got a chance -- if we play like we've been playing and have that togetherness that we've shown all the way through the qualifiers.

Mexico's string of soccer failures in the United States -- the Tricolor has not beaten the U.S. on American soil in nine years -- obviously is beginning to gnaw on some nerves south of the border. That, at least, is one way of looking at the roster that Mexico Coach Hugo Sanchez announced Thursday for Wednesday's match against the U.S. national team at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

LONDON -- A mere 15 months ago, NHL owners George Gillett (Montreal Canadiens) and Tom Hicks (Dallas Stars, plus Texas Rangers) bought the Liverpool soccer club for a widely reported $435 million and won hosannas for their greet-the-people friendliness. They shook fans' hands at Liverpool's Anfield stadium and proclaimed its stunning din "like nothing I've ever heard or felt," in Gillett's words. Since then the new owners have left skid marks in four directions. Georgey got peeved at Tommy.

Spain wants Coach Luis Aragones to stay, but Aragones wants to leave. Italy wants Coach Roberto Donadoni to leave, but Donadoni wants to stay. Austria doesn't care what Coach Josef Hickersberger does, so Hickersberger has quit. Coaches were all the news Monday, the first non-playing day in more than two weeks at soccer's European Championship. The tournament resumes with the semifinals Wednesday and Thursday.

Olympic gold medalists Shannon Boxx, Aly Wagner and Stephanie Cox on Tuesday were allocated to the Los Angeles team that will begin play next spring in the new women's professional soccer league. The as-yet-unnamed team, operated by Galaxy owner AEG, will play at the Home Depot Center beginning in April. In a ceremony at the Sports Museum of America in New York on Tuesday, 21 members of the U.S.

Coaches Bob Bradley and Sven-Goran Eriksson are treading two very different paths, but both are headed in the same direction -- to soccer's 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Bradley's U.S. national team plays Cuba today at RFK Stadium in Washington (4 p.m., ESPN Classic). With a win, the Americans will secure a place in the final round of qualifying in 2009, when six teams will vie for three spots at the World Cup, with a fourth going to a playoff.

Tina Ellertson scored her first international goal to give the United States a 1-0 victory over China in a women's soccer exhibition Saturday night at the Home Depot Center. Goalkeeper Hope Solo made four saves for her 13th shutout of the year and the 41st of her international career. Kristine Lilly, who has played in more international soccer games than any man or woman, made her first appearance since October.

David Vanole, the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. soccer team at the 1988 Summer Olympics who later helped the United States qualify for the World Cup for the first time in four decades, has died. He was 43. Vanole, who had long battled a weight problem, collapsed Monday while on a family skiing trip in Utah and died later that day in Salt Lake City. A cause of death was not announced.

The newcomers came through and earned the United States a 3-1 victory over Denmark at the Home Depot Center Saturday in Bob Bradley's first game as interim coach of the national soccer team. Four U.S. players made their debuts -- Jonathan Bornstein, Kenny Cooper, Bryan Namoff and Kyle Beckerman -- with Bornstein and Cooper, both 22, each getting a goal. The most impressive performances of the day for the U.S.

The very idea of Americans buying English Premier League soccer clubs, once unheard of, if not unthinkable, has become fashionable enough to seem almost mundane. George Gillett and Tom Hicks' purchase Tuesday of the venerable Liverpool team for $340 million makes it three American purchases in three years, what with Manchester United in 2005, Aston Villa in 2006 and now Liverpool.