Though it’s almost a year until their next meaningful game, it was a huge week for the U.S. Men’s national team. First off, they fired head coach Bob Bradley – who had passable success during his five-year tenure but was often criticized for his player selections and the team’s slow starts and grinding style – and replaced him with Jürgen Klinsmann, once a World Cup winner as a striker for Germany, now a Southern California free spirit who led Bayern Munich through yoga classes in his last job. His first test: The U.S. takes on archrival Mexico next Wednesday, Aug. 10, in Philadelphia (8pm, ESPN2 and Univision). Hard to tell what sort of lineups we’ll see – most of the first-team players are well into training for their fall seasons – but what might normally be a meaningless exhibition may gain some urgency with the new coach looking on (and given that Mexico has pretty much dominated the rivalry in recent meetings)… Also this week, the draw for World Cup 2014 qualifying was announced; the U.S. will start play next June in a third-round group with Jamaica, and likely Guatemala and Haiti as well; see the full draw online. Qualifying continues through October 2013.
Dallas clubs won three of the six national titles at the girls’ U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships last weekend: Sting‘s Under-14s and U-16s, as well as the U-19 Dallas Texans Red, lifted trophies. It was the Sting’s 11th national title – the most for any girls club in the country. No Texas boys teams made it to a title game.
WORLD CUP 2014 DRAW
CONCACAF (3.5 teams qualify)
Second Round (Sept. 2-Nov. 15, 2011)
Group A: El Salvador, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic
Group B: Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda
Group C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas
Group D: Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia
Group E: Grenada, Guatemala, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Belize
Group F: Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curaçao, U.S. Virgin Islands
Semifinal Groups (June 8-Oct. 16, 2012)
Top two in each semifinal group advance to the final “hexagonal” group.
Group A: USA, Jamaica, winner E, winner F
Group B: Mexico, Costa Rica, winner A, winner B
Group C: Honduras, Cuba, winner D, winner C
Final Group Stage: (Feb. 6–Oct. 15, 2013)
Top three teams qualify for the WC; fourth-place goes to a playoff against the Oceania winner.
EUROPE (13)
Winners advance; top eight runners-up go into a playoff.
First Round (Sept. 7, 2012-Oct. 15, 2013)
Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, Wales
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta
Group C: Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein
Group H: England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland
AFRICA (5)
Winners of each group advance to a third round of home-and-home knock-out ties.
Second Round (June 1, 2012-Sept. 10, 2013)
Group A: South Africa, Botswana, Central African Republic, Somalia or Ethiopia
Group B: Tunisia, Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea or Madagascar
Group C: Ivory Coast, Morocco, Gambia, Chad or Tanzania
Group D: Ghana, Zambia, Sudan, Lesotho or Burundi
Group E: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, São Tomé and Príncipe or Congo
Group F: Nigeria, Malawi, Seychelles or Kenya, Djibouti or Namibia
Group G: Egypt, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Comoros or Mozambique
Group H: Algeria, Mali, Benin, Eritrea or Rwanda
Group I: Cameroon, Libya, Guinea-Bissau or Togo, Swaziland or Congo DR
Group J: Senegal, Uganda, Angola, Mauritius or Liberia
ASIA (4.5)
Semifinal Groups: Top two in each group advance to final group stage.
Third Round (Sept. 2, 2011-Feb. 29, 2012)
Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore
Group B: Korea Republic, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon
Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Korea DPR
Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand
Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia
OCEANIA (0.5)
Group winners play home-and-home series; winner plays CONCACAF fourth place.
Second Round (June 1-12, 2012)
Group A: Vanuatu; New Caledonia; American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, or Tonga; Tahiti
Group B: Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea
SOUTH AMERICA (5.5)
Brazil qualifies automatically as host. The other nine teams play in a single league: top four qualify, fifth-place plays Asian fifth-place.
First Round (Oct. 7, 2011-Oct. 15, 2013)
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
This article appears in August 5 • 2011.