United States 2010 World Cup Daily Update: Camps Opens, Onyewu To Play For Free, Bubba On Board

The United States has officially opened their World Cup training camp on the campus of Princeton University in New Jersey, but instead of reports about who was playing, the first day’s leads focused on which players where unable to go.

Starting goalkeeper Tim Howard was out with a thigh strain, and a number of members of his defense - Jay DeMerit (abdominal strain), Carlos Bocanegra (abdominal strain), and Chad Marshall (hamstring) - were also sidelined.

According to coach Bob Bradley, none of the injuries are serious:

Asked if he were seriously concerned about the injuries, Bradley said: “At this time, no. Obviously we’ll assess as we go through this week whether some of the issues are already on their way to being better and guys are back in training or whether it then becomes more of a concern.”

Also absent was Oguchi Onyewu, who was in route from Italy to join the team.

Oguchi Onyewu played only one competitive match for Milan in 2009-10, and in a admirable gesture that may be the defender’s way of resetting his three-year deal with the club, Onyewu has requested a one year extension to his contract - a year where he will receive no salary.

Milan’s web site explained:

USA international Oguchi Onyewu, who is coming off a season of rehabilitation following a long injury which has forced him to stay off the pitch for the whole season, but is now ready to face the World Cup with his national team, made a very significant gesture from a human and professional point of view today. Assisted by his lawyer, Jean Louis Dupont, Onyewu asked for, and received, a one-year contract extension from Milan, from 30 June 2012 to 30 June 2013. During this extra year, Oguchi Onyewu, by his choice, much appreciated by the Rossoneri club, has asked not to receive any kind of salary. This is an exemplary gesture which deserves sincere congratulations.

Those were not Bradley’s exact words, but in describing what he told forward Charlie Davies in February, the U.S. coach told his injured attacker not to put himself in a position where the World Cup defined failure:

“[I] also said,” Bradley said, “‘If you can find a way to work and put everything into it and maybe not have so much to say, I think it would work for you. Because you don’t want to put yourself in a position that you’re making all this progress and yet somehow it seems like a failure because the timing just doesn’t coincide with the World Cup. What’s most important is that you can still get yourself back to the level that you were playing before the accident.’”

Also providing more detail as to what went into the decision to leave Davies off the provisional squad, Bradley talked about watching training videos, though he was still coy about what he inferred:

“We knew exactly what it looked like in training,” said Bradley. “[U.S. national team trainer] Ivan Pierra was there at one point. I saw video of it at training. So we put it all together and we recognized that Charlie has put, up until now, and will need to continue to put, a tremendous amount of work into his rehab, and we’re all there supporting him.”

Jozy Altidore was so concerned with getting the message across to David Beckham, he missed his opportunity to hang with Kobe Bryant.

As Martin Rogers tells us, the U.S.‘s 20-year-old striker was recently at a Laker game and saw the injured midfielder. Altidore took the opportunity to talk some trash with the England international, forgetting that he was supposed to be in the Laker locker room meeting Bryant:

“I saw Becks there and I had to go over and tell him what is going to happen in South Africa,” Altidore said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Sports. “I made sure he knows how it’s going to be without him playing – USA 3, England 0.

“I was having fun with Becks and talking a bit of trash, and I forgot I was supposed to go to the locker room and meet Kobe.”

Explaining his good-natured jab at Beckham, Altitore explained it was less about arrogance, more about belief:

“When you look at American sports like basketball and football the one thing you notice is the confidence,” Altidore said. “Guys like Kobe have that total belief in themselves that they are going to make the shot, win the game, get the job done, no questions asked.

“That is the kind of mentality that we want to have. It is not arrogance; it is about trusting yourself and your abilities.”

Whenever you see the adjective “honorary,” you have to question what the described title actually means, but for the U.S. 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid committees, it can’t hurt to have former President Bill Clinton appointed honorary chairman. Can it?

It seems curious, in the wake of England’s 2018 bid being thrown into turmoil by the machinations of a mistress, the the U.S. bid committee would this appointment. Whether you are forgiving of Clinton’s transgressions or continue to be critical, the timing of this could have been better.