Brazil to play Mexico in Foxborough
The Brazilians are coming. The Brazil men's national team will meet Mexico at 8 p.m. Sept. 12 at Gillette Stadium, the Seleção's first-ever appearance in the Boston area. The game is expected to be officially announced today.
The matchup was finalized in recent days and symbolically commemorated as the presidents of Brazil (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) and Mexico (Felipe Calderón) met in Mexico City yesterday. Justino Compeán, president of the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol, presented Brazil's president with a Mexico national team shirt with the No. 10 and his name inscribed.
"After our team, the Brazil team is the favorite among Mexicans," Calderón said.
Mexico won the most recent matchup, 2-0, in the first round of Copa America in Venezuela. But Brazil rallied to win the tournament, topping Argentina, 3-0, in the final July 15.
Kaká (Milan) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona) declined callups for Copa America but Brazil coach Dunga is expected to announce today that they will be on the roster for a friendly against Algeria in Montpellier, France, Aug. 22. Other candidates for the team include Ronaldo (Milan).
Dunga, who captained Brazil when it won the 1994 World Cup in the US, replaced Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach after the '06 World Cup. Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Confederação de Futebol Brasileira, recently criticized the conduct of the World Cup team, noted that Ronaldo was overweight in Germany, and said he named Dunga as coach to restore discipline and order in the squad.
Mexico tied the US, 2-2, in a World Cup qualifier before 57,407 spectators at Foxboro Stadium April 20, 1997. The Mexican team, which will play host to the US at Estadio Azteca Sept. 9, is promoted in the US by Soccer United Marketing, which is affiliated with Major League Soccer.
As of two days ago, when Beckham wore a suit and tie on the sideline in Toronto, his ankle injury was about a week to 10 days away from allowing him to play. Beckham will likely miss the D.C. United-Galaxy game Thursday, meaning his first regular-season game could be against the Revolution.
Beckham will conduct press conferences in Washington, D.C., and Foxborough but his playing status will not be determined until game day.
"There is some anxiety about whether he will play, and I am sure some people will be disappointed if he doesn't," Revolution chief operating officer Brian Bilello said yesterday. "But it is sports, and the vast majority understand that when it is sports, certain things are out of your control.
"The comments in recent days from the Galaxy and the comments from David are that the Galaxy wants him to be on the field and he wants to be on the field. Everyone in the league wants him to be on the field."
Beckham sprained his left ankle in an Estonia-England match June 6, then aggravated the injury in his finale with Real Madrid June 17. After vacationing in Provence, Beckham has been rehabilitating his ankle while making the move to Beverly Hills. He might have aggravated the injury while making an ill-advised appearance in the final minutes of the Galaxy-Chelsea exhibition July 21.
Beckham has said he does not want to return to action too soon since he is "going to be here for five years." But the delay is raising questions, and England manager Steve McClaren plans to meet Beckham in Washington.
"I know David has been struggling with injury and has not played yet, but I intend to go over and have a chat with him to see how he is," McClaren said. "I definitely need to speak with his coach [Frank Yallop] and the director of football [Alexi Lalas] as well, but I also need to watch an MLS game in the flesh and have a look at the standard. A lot of people have been writing things about the standard of football over there. But I need to see it myself and make that judgment rather than other people."
"It's England, one of the power nations of soccer, and everyone was fired up for the game," John recalled. "Unfortunately for me, it didn't work out. But that's life, and the tournament is not about just one game."
England capitalized on T&T's vulnerability and scored its first goal off Beckham's cross from the right to Peter Crouch in the 83d minute of a 2-0 victory.
"If you get spread out, England will punish you," John said. "We did a good job against them for 80 minutes and we almost equalized after they scored. We did not sit back. We had no fear, we had nothing to lose. Every team thought they were going to hammer us and maybe there was a lack of respect."
John is anticipating another chance for a matchup with Beckham.
"It helps, marketingwise, for the league, but I don't know how much better it is going to make the Los Angeles Galaxy," John said. "They are bringing in big-name stars who are a little older."
Asked how he would defend against Beckham, John replied, "I'll play him like anybody else. I'm not supposed to challenge him? It's 11 v. 11 for everybody. He is going to get more attention and some guys are going to go in hard on him to prove a point. But he can handle it. He has played in England and it's the toughest league in the world."
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com. 