World Cup Soccer Tournament

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.

Conor Casey scored two second-half goals Saturday night and Landon Donovan added a third as the United States rallied to defeat Honduras, 3-2, to earn a place in soccer's 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Casey can pack his bag right now. The 28-year-old from Dover, N.H., almost certainly will be going along. At the World Cup, Casey can rub shoulders with players from the likes of defending world champion Italy and former champion Germany, not to mention Chile, Denmark, the Ivory Coast and Serbia.

World Cup holder Italy crashed out of soccer's European Championship on Sunday, losing to Spain, 4-2 on penalty kicks, after the teams had played to a 0-0 tie after 120 minutes of regulation and overtime. Spain dominated the quarterfinal match in Vienna but was unable to capitalize on the scoring chances it created. That, plus the goalkeeping of Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and a bit of bad luck, kept the Spaniards off the scoreboard for two hours.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- The United States men's soccer team advanced to the regional semifinals of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Barbados on Sunday. Eddie Lewis scored in the 21st minute off a through ball from Freddy Adu, who started his first World Cup qualifier. Lewis took the pass and put the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Alvin Rouse for his 10th goal in 80 international appearances.

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.

TIANJIN, China -- Defending champion Germany set a shutout record in defeating Norway, 3-0, Wednesday and claimed a spot in the final of the Women's World Cup. Germany will play the winner of today's United States-Brazil semifinal game, with the final set for Sunday in Shanghai. An own goal by Trine Ronning just before halftime set Germany on its way, and it dominated the second half, with goals by Kerstin Stegemann and Martina Mueller.

These days, hope powers the spring in Freddy Adu's step. That's how it is when you're 16, you've already won a Major League Soccer championship, you're involved in your first full U.S. national team camp and when you hope -- oh, how you hope -- to make the World Cup roster. Adu was beaming his trademark smile the other morning at the Home Depot Center. The sun was shining and all was well with his world. "I've been waiting for this for a long time," he said. "I finally got that shot."

The mathematics are simple: There are only 23 places on the U.S. World Cup roster for Germany '06 and every player worth his cleats wants one of them. So how is Coach Bruce Arena going to select who goes and who stays? "As a rule of thumb, I would expect half our roster to be out of Europe and half out of Major League Soccer," Arena said at the Home Depot Center, where he has 28 players -- all but one from MLS -- taking part in a six-week camp. Half and half?

The hangover of winning a championship can sometimes linger longer than a team would like. But for five Galaxy players who helped the team to the MLS Cup, Major League Soccer's top prize, in November, the new year has brought into focus the work that is ahead. Much of it though, at least for the time being, has little to do with the Galaxy and everything to do with the United States men's national team.

Somewhere in Prague this morning, Czech soccer fans are smiling. In less than six months, the Czech Republic will play the United States at the World Cup in Germany. Six months, then, is how long the U.S. has to get it right. On Sunday evening at the University of San Diego, the Americans most assuredly did not get it right. In fact, they were booed off the field after a 0-0 tie with Canada in their opening game of 2006. It might have been a harsh judgment but it was also accurate.