U.S.-Honduras in LA?

Next up for the U.S. could be a game against Honduras in Los Angeles.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has yet to announce the game, indicating it has not been finalized. La Prensa reported Monday that Honduras would be meeting the U.S. in Los Angeles Jan. 24.

The La Prensa site also has a story quoting David Suazo's brother, former Honduras national team member Nicolas Suazo, as saying the Catrachos would not be able to defeat Spain "even with 22 players."

[The Nicolas Suazo story originally appeared in Nacion, an interview conducted while Suazo was in Costa Rica for a benefit game. Others involved included Carlos Valderrama and former New England Revolution and San Jose defender Mauricio Wright, who is now coaching Brujas].

Yes, THAT Joaozinho

LEXINGTON, Mass. -- Biggest upset of the weekend? We have to nominate a local game – Canton United-Stoneham Spartans 1-1 (4-2 penalty kicks) for the Over-50 first division championship in the Over The Hill League Sunday morning. (Full disclosure: this blogging person plays for Canton United).

Canton took the lead midway through first half (Jerry Casteneda breakaway), then we held on and continued to counterattack. Luckily, Joaozinho’s free kick hit the crossbar.

I found out later that it was THE Joaozinho who was playing. The free kick was about 22 yards out, straight on; it was eerily similar to the free kick he hit for Cruzeiro to defeat River Plate, the clinching goal in the 1976 Copa Libertadores final in Santiago, Chile.

You can look it up on YouTube and probably other places, as well.

If I had known that was Joaozinho at the time, I would have told our goalkeeper, Jack McGee, to go to his right. Jack retired after the game (hip surgery), a great way to go out; and Brian Hunt replaced him after halftime and – yes – saved a Joaozinho penalty.

I told my teammates I would write about them only if we won this game. I figured it was a longshot. Stoneham went a couple of years with unbeaten records in the Over 40 division, and that was before Joaozinho moved to Boston. This season it had an 11-0 record (43-8 goal differential) going into the final. I also did not want to jinx anything. We knew Stoneham had Mateus, a local legend who used to play for Cruzeiro, and a team loaded with technical players. But we must be decent. And we were playing without our two best strikers, Liam O’Brien and Kieran Whelan. I was on the subs bench and didn’t get in, either. But I figured out we would not have qualified for the playoffs without my contribution; I had a plus-10 goals record for the regular season (we were plus-12 goal differential in 10 games). But my performances often were reminders I made the right choice to focus on writing about, rather than playing, the game.

Anyway, good team, good teammates. Plus, great post-game eats, thanks to Jeff Erickson and cooking by Bill Robertson’s girlfriend. If we had continued the feast at Midwest Grill, we might have met up with Revolution executive Craig Tornberg and Joaozinho himself. That's how I found out about who our opponents were -- Craig called to joke that the Brazilians were crying in their beer over the result; he also said the Revolution are working on a bringing in Cruzeiro for an amistoso. Stay tuned on that.

Champions League trio

The Los Angeles Galaxy's 2-1 win over the New England Revolution Saturday night featured a highlight goal by Landon Donovan, a left-foot volley off a botched clearance. The second Galaxy goal was converted by Jovan Kirovski, and the fact Kirovski was the first U.S. player on the roster of Champions League team in Europe, it reminded me there was a unique combination of players on the Gillette Stadium field.

Besides Kirovski (Borussia Dortmund '97), the Galaxy's David Beckham (Manchester Utd. '99) and the Revolution's Edgaras Jankauskas (Porto '04) were Champions League winners. Having three players with that pedigree was probably a record for an MLS game, and that was without Revolution coach Steve Nicol (Liverpool '84), who was suspended for the contest.

Other Champions League winners to play in the MLS have been Refik Sabanadzovic (Red Star Belgrade '91), Hristo Stoitchkov (Barcelona '92), and Robert Donadoni (Milan '94), according to the league.

Ibra goes home

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's American adventure ended Thursday as he departed Inter's training camp to return to Sweden, according to a source.

Ibrahimovic spent two days in Boston, going for an examination of his left wrist (diagnosed as a strain) at Massachusetts General Hospital Wednesday. Ibrahimovic did not attend Inter's workouts at Harvard University Wednesday or Thursday.

Why Ibrahimovic was allowed to perform in Inter's opening two matches in the World Football Challenge, placing at risk his move to Barcelona, has not been explained. Ibrahimovic sustained the wrist injury during Inter's 2-0 loss to Chelsea at the Rose Bowl Wednesday. 

Donovan deal would set MLS record

AS Livorno plans to offer 10 million euros for the Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan, according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport, which would break the MLS transfer record. Striker Jozy Altidore went from the New York Red Bulls to Villareal for $10 million last year.

Donovan would finish the season with the Galaxy, then join Livorno during the December transfer session.

Livorno also hopes to add Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark and expects an announcement by Saturday.

Panama had a case

It seemed Panama coach Gary Stempel and the Canalero players were protesting too much after falling, 2-1, to the U.S. in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup Saturday.

But they might have been justified in disputing Mexican referee Benito Archundia's awarding of a penalty kick to the U.S. late during extra time in the match in Philadelphia.

Defender Roman Torres did foul U.S. striker Kenny Cooper in the penalty area, but the foul itself was a high boot (dangerous play) which should result in an indirect free kick, no matter where it occurs on the field. If Torres was charged with serious foul play, or if he had been the last man and prevented a goal-scoring opportunity with a deliberate foul, he should have been red-carded; instead, Archundia cautioned Torres, indicating the foul was neither.

Another Subotic going to Germany?

Nurdin Hrustic is following a path similar to the one Neven Subotic took to Germany and, possibly, the Bosnian national team.

Hrustic, who attended Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Fla., left Jacksonville University after one season to sign a contract with VfL Bochum in Germany. Like Subotic, a former U.S. U20 player who is now with Borussia Dortmund, Hrustic is a central defender born in Bosnia.

The Hrustic family joined a strong Bosnian immigrant community in Jacksonville in the 1990s. Hurdin and twin brother Nedim made major impacts at the club and high school level, then enrolled at Jacksonville University. Nurdin, listed at 6 feet 3 inches, 175 pounds, was injured and sat out a redshirt season. Nedim is scheduled to return to college for his sophomore season.