Soccer Capsules: Jones could join U.S. national team later this year

NEW YORK - Midfielder Jermaine Jones could join the U.S. national team later this year, possibly with defender Edgar Castillo.

The 27-year-old Jones, who has appeared in the European Champions League for Schalke of the Bundesliga, has played three times for Germany's national team in exhibitions. He holds dual citizenship and has petitioned FIFA for a switch of nationality.

"We've had pretty regular communications with Jermaine's representatives and his advisers," U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said Thursday. "I think that paperwork for that has probably now been submitted to FIFA. And the earliest he would be eligible to move would be the 2nd of August, which would be 60 days after the rule change came into effect."

Jones, the son of a U.S. soldier, was Eintracht Frankfurt's captain before signing a four-year contract with Schalke in April 2007.

He made his German national team debut against Austria on Feb. 6 last year as an 82nd minute reserve, played the second half against Belarus on May 27 and was among the final roster cuts by coach Joachim Loew for last year's European Championship. He played the first half against England in November but has not appeared for Germany since.

Jones agreed in March to a three-year contract extension with Schalke through the 2013-14 season. Last month he told the governing body of German soccer he wanted to switch national teams.

"I certainly have had a lot of opportunities to see him play," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "I would just like to wait until everything is taken care of on the paperwork side and we have the chance to bring him in before getting too much into detail. But, you know, he's been an important player at Schalke. He's played in a lot of big games and that type of experience can always be very, very helpful."

Plans aren't as far along with Castillo, a 22-year-old from New Mexico with Mexico's Tigres UANL. He made his debut for Mexico's national team against Colombia on Aug. 22, 2007, and has played in four matches for El Tri.

"We've had some discussions with Edgar's representatives in the last few days," Gulati said. "Everything is open. I don't think Bob is ready to say that he's coming into the team or not coming into the team, but from our perspective we've had some preliminary discussions with Edgar."

Two players who could have helped the U.S. chose other countries in the past year. Villarreal forward Giuseppe Rossi, who was born in New Jersey, made his debut for Italy in October and scored twice against the Americans at the Confederations Cup. Defender Neven Subotic, who grew up partly in Salt Lake City and Bradenton, Fla., made his debut for Serbia in March.

Gulati and Bradley spoke four days after the U.S. lost to Brazil 3-2 at Johannesburg in the final of the Confederations Cup, the first FIFA final for a U.S. men's team, and two days before the Americans' CONCACAF Gold Cup opener against Grenada in Seattle.

The U.S., seeking its third straight title in the regional championship, initially included just two regular starters on its Gold Cup roster - forward Brian Ching and defender Steve Cherundolo - was allowed to expand its roster from 23 to 30 because of the short turnaround.

Added Thursday were forwards Jozy Altidore and Conor Casey; backup goalkeeper Brad Guzan; midfielder Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber and Sacha Kljestan; and defender Jonathan Bornstein.

Landon Donovan was bypassed because his time with the national team has kept him away from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The U.S. is ranked 12th in the world heading into the Gold Cup, its highest level since FIFA revised its system three years ago.

"Certainly all of us have heard from people, friends, fans, in the United States over these past days," Bradley said. "And it's a tremendous feeling to think that so many people tuned in and were excited about the Confederations Cup. And the responsibility in that regard continues to always be there, and the Gold Cup is a chance to follow up the success of the Confederations Cup with hopefully defending our title."

After opening the Confederations Cup with terrible performances against world champion Italy (3-1 loss) and South American champion Brazil (3-0 defeat), the United States beat African champion Egypt 3-0, then upset European champion Spain 2-0. It took a two-goal halftime lead against Brazil in the final before allowing three second-half goals.

"Do I consider it a miracle? No. Just a great performance and players playing at the level that, you know, we'd all love to see them playing at every game," Gulati said. "No one plays at their top level every game, not Spain, not Brazil and not the U.S. So it was a great performance in that respect, but not a miracle."

The revised U.S. Golf Cup roster (x-will not be at all matches):

Goalkeepers: Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), x-Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Troy Perkins (IK Start, Norway), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern, Germany)

Defenders: x-Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Jay Heaps (New England), x-Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Chad Marshall (Columbus), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaellands, Denmark), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany)

Midfielders: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado), x-Ricardo Clark (Houston), Sam Cronin (Toronto), Brad Evans (Seattle), x-Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Houston), Logan Pause (Chicago), Robbie Rogers (Columbus)

Forwards: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), x-Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, Spain), x-Conor Casey (Colorado), Brian Ching (Houston), Kenny Cooper (Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF, Sweden), Santino Quaranta (D.C.)

Donovan: Beckham has become a bad teammate 

NEW YORK - David Beckham has become a bad teammate on the Los Angeles Galaxy, according to Landon Donovan.

"All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us," Donovan was quoted as saying in an excerpt of Grant Wahl's "The Beckham Experiment," scheduled for publication July 14. "As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways - on the field, off the field.

"Does the fact that he earns that much money come into it? Yeah. If someone's paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you're suspended or not. Show up and train hard. Show up and play hard."

Beckham joined the Galaxy in July 2007 from Real Madrid and has a $6.5 million average annual income from the team, twice the $2.94 million Cuauhtemoc Blanco earns from the Chicago Fire. Donovan was fifth at $900,000 at the start of the season.

Beckham was loaned to AC Milan last winter and the 34-year-old midfielder is to rejoin Los Angeles for its July 16 match at the New York Red Bulls.

Donovan was angry that when Beckham was suspended for a game at Houston last year, he didn't attend the match.

"I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good teammate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care," Donovan said. "But with (Beckham) I'd say no, he wasn't committed."

An excerpt of the book was published in this week's Sports Illustrated. It portrays Beckham as stingy, saying he wouldn't pick up meal checks for teammates who earn as little as $12,900 annually. It states Terry Byrne, Beckham's best friend and personal manager, pressed for the Galaxy to strip Donovan of the captain's armband and give it to Beckham. Donovan went along with the move.

It says that at a dinner at Morton's steak house in Arlington, Va., Beckham initially wasn't served wine because he didn't have ID, and needed the intervention of the maitre d'.

Byrne, according to the excerpt, was hired as a Galaxy consultant and conducted the search that led to the hiring of Ruud Gullit to replace Frank Yallop as coach - even though general manager Alexi Lalas advised against hiring the 1987 European player of the year.

"My sense is that David's clearly frustrated, that he's unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it's a joke," Donovan said last August.

Ronaldo keeps winning titles in Brazil

SAO PAULO - Four months into his remarkable return to soccer, Ronaldo is getting used to winning titles again.

The veteran striker helped Corinthians clinch the Brazilian Cup on Wednesday, lifting his second trophy in a row since recovering from the third serious knee injury of his career.

Ronaldo already won the traditional Sao Paulo state title with Corinthians in May, and Wednesday's win caps off the striker's successful comeback to competitive soccer.

"I have to be thankful. My return to football has really been fantastic," Ronaldo said. "I couldn't imagine things would happen like this."

Although he is yet to reach the form that made him a three-time world player of the year, Ronaldo has been key for Corinthians since debuting with the popular Brazilian club in March.

He has scored 11 goals, including decisive ones in the final of the Sao Paulo state championship and in the first leg of the Brazilian Cup final two weeks ago in Sao Paulo, when Corinthians won 2-0. Ronaldo didn't score Wednesday in the 2-2 draw in Porto Alegre, but set up the team's second goal.

"It was a great final," Ronaldo said. "This group showed a lot of strength, it deserved this title."

The victory adds another trophy to Ronaldo's long list of triumphs, which include the 1994 and 2002 World Cups with Brazil. He also was successful at club level in Europe, winning trophies with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

Wednesday's victory also gave Corinthians a berth in next year's Copa Libertadores, Latin America's most important club competition and the team's main objective for next year. It could end up helping persuade Ronaldo to extend his contract with the club past the end of 2009.

"Lets see how it goes, but the tendency is to stay, I think we are headed that way," Ronaldo said.

Corinthians president Andre Sanches said it's likely the 32-year-old star will remain at the club for 2010.

"Everything is going as planned," Sanches said. "So automatically, we are halfway through to adding another year to his contract. Ronaldo is happy to be playing with Corinthians and we are happy to have him here."

Ronaldo signed with Corinthians in December 2008 despite doubts he would never recover from the knee injury he sustained with AC Milan in February of that year.

Ronaldo and Corinthians will return their focus to the Brazilian league, in which the team is sixth in the 20-team standings with 11 points from eight matches. Corinthians is trying to win its fifth Brazilian league title.

-- Tales Azzoni

UEFA: Link salaries, transfer fees to club income

LONDON - Clubs competing in the Champions League will need to ensure players' salaries and transfer fees are proportionate to their income under new plans from European soccer's governing body.

UEFA said Thursday it wanted the rule, which would also cover the new Europa League, to be finalized in September.

UEFA president Michel Platini aims to curb excessive spending by clubs and help maintain their long-term sustainability. Platini has singled out Ronaldo's record $131 million move from Manchester United to Madrid.

"The only club which did not have debts this season was Barcelona, while all others lived beyond their means," Platini said. "Especially shocking to soccer were actions by Real Madrid. In the future, we will see to it that clubs have enough funds to finance the players. UEFA will be more active in this process."

Platini wants the details to be agreed in August at a meeting of the Professional Football Strategy Council, which features representatives of four European leagues and the players' union.

The Frenchman hopes the regulations that come out of the meeting will be rubber-stamped by UEFA's executive committee in September, leading to their phased introduction over two or three years.

Spending has come into sharp focus in recent weeks with Madrid buying three of the game's most sought-after players - player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazil playmaker Kaka and France striker Karim Benzema.

The executive committee in Vilnius, Lithuania, also agreed to give referees the power to halt or abandon matches in European competitions because of racist chanting.

"Our policy on racism is one of zero tolerance," Platini said. "It was necessary to give the pitch people the means to do something, and we have determined the parameters and lines of conduct, whereby in important cases of racist behavior in a stadium, a referee must stop the match."

The committee confirmed an experiment with an additional assistant referee behind each goal would be added for this season's Europa League group stage.

-- Rob Harris

FIFA won't take action against Iran for wristbands

ZURICH - FIFA won't punish Iran's national soccer team for the green wristbands some players wore in solidarity with anti-government protesters during a World Cup qualifier last month.

Soccer's governing body last week said it was reviewing reports from the June 17 game against South Korea to decide whether any rules on player dress were breached.

Former Romanian soccer player says he was informer

BUCHAREST, Romania - A former captain of Romania's national soccer team said he was an informer for the country's secret police during the regime of the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

The admission by Gheorghe "Gica" Popescu came three days after he denied the allegations, calling a newspaper report that he was an informant a "big lie."

In an interview with the newspaper Evenimentul Zilei on Thursday, the 41-year-old Popescu said he wrote four notes informing on teammates and other colleagues while playing at Universitatea Craiova.

The defender was part of a Romanian team that qualified for three consecutive World Cups starting in 1990 and for two European Championships. He also helped Barcelona win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1997.

When the allegations surfaced Monday, Popescu said he signed a document in 1985 promising only to "defend the national interests." In Thursday's telephone interview he defended his actions.

"Even if I wrote notes, I wrote good things," he said. "I praised people."

During Ceausescu's rule, the Securitate relied on an army of 700,000 informants in a country of 22 million. The security services kept tabs on Romania's athletes, and some players in international competitions reportedly were asked to share details of conversations with foreigners.

Romanian soccer star Gheorghe Hagi, who is related to Popescu through marriage, came to his defense Thursday, saying sports had brought glory to Romania during the communist era.

"We were the ambassadors for Romania. They should look elsewhere" for Securitate agents, he said.

Hagi denied being an informant, instead accusing Steaua soccer club owner Gigi Becali of working for the Securitate.

"If it is proved I was an informer, I will hang myself," Becali said in a televised interview. Becali is a member of the European Parliament for the far right Greater Romania Party.

The newspaper Adevarul reported Monday that Popescu had been an informant from 1986 until the regime was toppled three years later.

Popescu's 18-year playing career also included stints with Tottenham, Galatasaray and PSV Eindhoven. He played for Romania 115 times, scoring 16 goals.

-- Alison Mutler