Soccer: U.S. and Mexico to play Sweden in January

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The U.S. national soccer team will play Sweden on Jan. 24, most likely at the Home Depot Center in Carson and possibly as part of a doubleheader featuring Mexico and another Scandinavian team.

Sweden will also play Mexico -- on Jan. 28 in Oakland -- as Coach Lars Lagerback prepares his team for the resumption of World Cup qualifying in March.

Neither U.S. Soccer nor Soccer United Marketing have officially announced the matches, but Sweden’s two games are listed on its federation website as well as on the FIFA calendar for 2009.

The game in Oakland will see Mexico Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson pitted against the country of his birth for the first time since taking charge of ‘El Tri’ in June.

The U.S. defeated Sweden, 2-0, in Carson last Jan. 19 on goals by Eddie Robinson and Landon Donovan, although the Swedes were fielding essentially a second-string team and the U.S. also used a lot of fringe players.

If U.S. Coach Bob Bradley follows precedent, he will call the American squad together in Carson for a two-week January camp leading up to the Sweden game.

In addition to 10 World Cup qualifying matches in 2009, five at home and five on the road, the U.S. will also be taking part in the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa (June 14-28) and in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.

Bradley is expected to field his strongest team in the Confederations Cup and a second-string side in the Gold Cup.

The Confederations Cup, more or less a trial run for the following year’s World Cup, also features world champion Italy, European champion Spain, South American champion Brazil, Asian champion Iraq, African champion Egypt, Oceania champion New Zealand and host nation South Africa.

-- Grahame L. Jones