By FRANCO PANIZO
The 2010 Carolina Challenge Cup is set to kickoff, and for three MLS teams that means one last chance to tests their players before the (hopeful) start of the 2010 season.
Real Salt Lake, D.C. United and Toronto FC will all join host Charleston Battery for the seventh edition of the tournament, which is played in round robin format.
The tournament opens up at Blackhaud Stadium on Saturday with 2009 winner, Real Salt Lake, locking horns with D.C. United at 5pm, followed immediately by Toronto FC-Charleston Battery at 7:15.
Here are some more stories from Saturday:
Hiddink rejects Ivory Coast coaching job
Ivory Coast appeared to be the next team in line to be coached under Guus Hiddink, but the prolific manager has pulled out of the race to manage Les Elephants at the World Cup this summer.
Hiddink wrote in his newspaper column that temporarily managing Ivory Coast could negatively impact his duty with Russia and Turkey, his current and future employers. Hiddink also wrote about Turkey's upcoming friendlies in May against Ireland, Czech Republic and the United States, and stated he doesn't want to miss those games.
Nesta to undergo surgery
AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta has opted for surgery on his injured knee, and will go under the knife on Monday. Nesta's decision to have surgery likely ends his season with AC Milan, and could open the door for U.S. international Oguchi Onyewu, who has recovered from a knee injury of his own and is training with the club albeit separately.
Torres' Liverpool future depends on future signings
Liverpool forward Fernando Torres has revealed that he will think about his future with the club if it doesn't sign "important" players in the upcoming transfer window.
Liverpool is enduring a disappointing season, battling for a fourth-place finish in the Premier League instead of first, and Torres believes that in order to avoid a repeat showing next season, the club needs to make a splash in the transfer market. Torres said failure to do so could cause him to think about his future.
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Who do you see claiming the Carolina Challenge Cup? Surprised Hiddink turned down the Ivory Coast job? Think Onyewu will find minutes now that Nesta has opted for surgery? Where would you like to see Torres go if he were to leave Liverpool?
Share your thoughts below.
That’s right. It’s Black and Red!
Vamos United!
Win the Challenge Cup and the Coffee Pot Cup Boys! Yee Haaa!!!!
Excuses… Love em.
Regardless of what happens, the USMNT is going to change dramatically from the team you just saw play Holland. This change will might happen in time for the World Cup but definitely will after it.
With a some luck the World Cup team could get back Dempsey, Onyewu, Davies, Holden, Feilhaber and maybe Jones. If those guys are anywhere near playing well and if you add them to the player pool the US had against Holland, it makes for a significantly different and better team.
After the World Cup you will have those guys in addition to several younger players already developing overseas. This US team is mostly on the young side.
2010 is an in between year for the USMNT.
It would have been better for them if the World Cup had come in 2009, when Bradley had his Confed Cup side together, or in 2011 when his choices for talent should be much better.
Hiddink would be perfect for USA, as they aren’t going to win it all and he’d be the next step to help them make the leap where they could possibly sneak into a final. With what the guy did with South Korea, Australia, and Russia there is no reason to think he couldn’t offer the same results with USA. However yeah, like someone else said, he’s already with Turkey. And if somehow USA won it all I don’t think they’d make a coaching change, but USA needs to be thought how to play European style football, and Hiddink would be the perfect coach for that.
Um, United did bring in Najar,Khumalo,James, and Cristman in before the two goals. Not to mention United started the game with essentially two backups(McTavish and Morsink) due to injuries to Namoff and Simms. It wasn’t as black and white as people have made it out to be.
I’d like to see Rooney and Torres play together on any champions league level teams.
Dlewis, RSL dominated in the first half. They changed their whole lineup in the second half.
DC on the other hand, kept their starters in.
Don’t get to excited about it.
Uhhh… no. Keep dreaming Manc U fan
United has won 2 preseason games in a row, this is after a bad first half of the preseason so it’s great that there winning. It’s also good to see Moreno score 2.
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Torres should go to ManUtd. Imagine the pairing of ROONEY AND TORRES OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please Fernando, Please…..
If we win the whole thing I finally get to open that bottle of port I’ve been saving. Here’s to hoping I don’t have to pass it on to my son.
but if you win the whole thing, why would you want to tamper with that?!?!
bro, he’s already signed with Turkey.
Personally I’d love to see the USMNT hire Hiddink after the world cup, regardless of whether the US get eliminated in group play or even if they win the whole thing (or more likely, somewhere between the two extremes).
I think it is a mistake to keep the same national team coach for more than four years. It simply hinders the learning of the players because there is only so much you can learn from one coach, and then it is best to learn a whole bunch of different stuff from a different coach.
DC’s starters are doing really well against RSL’s reserves in the second half! Good for them.
RSL out played DC in the first half. 1-0 for RSL at half
Toronto will probably claim Torres as a discovery player.
The Challenge Cup games are on Toronto FC TV http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/console.jsp
Looks more like Gooch will get some playing time soon with Nesta out. Good news for him.
I sense the return of “it” in the very near future.
One man’s pain is another man’s gain. Seems to me that all these injured pieces are falling back into place, hopefully they can all get fit and in form, and still be somewhat rested in comparison to the other players who have undergone long seasons. If we have all our players the USA could make a run