GETTING PHYSICAL(S)

This afternoon was spent not on the field but in the examination room as a host of doctors from the Santa Monica Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Group put the players through their annual physical. U.S. Soccer team physician Dr. Bert Mandelbaum led a group that included two orthopaedists, two general practitioners, a dentist, a podiatrist and a chiropractor giving the players a good look under the hood. The Santa Monica Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Group was recently inaugurated as the first-ever accredited FIFA Medical Center of Excellence in the United States. The jury is still out on whether the guys would have preferred another fitness session instead.