WINNERS & LOSERS: Dallas rolls on with Ruiz; Chivas USA drops Rongen

• by Soccer America , May 31, 2005

Winners:

DALLAS, which missed the playoffs the past two seasons, downed defending champ D.C. United, 2-0, upping its record to 6-1-3, which has it in first-place of the Western Conference. CARLOS RUIZ scored both Dallas goals, including a bicycle kick from 12 yards after receiving a nicely chipped pass from Roberto Mina.

CHRIS ARMAS celebrated his 200th MLS game with a goal and an assist in CHICAGO's 3-0 win over Real Salt Lake, which had been undefeated in its previous four home games. A crowd of 17,861 attended the game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

CLUB AMERICA thumped UAG, 6-3, in the second leg of the Mexican Clausura final in front of 100,000 Azteca Stadium fans to win the series, 7-4, on aggregate. It marks Club America's 14th Mexican title.

Losers:

The USA fell, 2-1, to England, which was missing more than a dozen regulars. Clint Dempsey struck for the USA in the second half after Kieran Richardson, an England debutant, scored twice in the first half.


Chivas USA, after a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles on Saturday dropped its record to 1-8-1, relieved THOMAS RONGEN of his head coach position and named him sporting director. Replacing Rongen is fellow Dutchman Hans Westerhoff, who previously coached Chivas Guadalajara, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax and Willem II.

EDDIE LEWIS and PRESTON NORTH END will return to the second-tier of English soccer, having lost, 1-0, to West Ham in the final of the promotion playoffs for the Premier League. Lewis was rated a 7 (out of 10) by The Sun for his 90-minute performance.

American defender OGUCHI ONYEWU played the full 90 minutes of both legs in STANDARD LIEGE's 4-3 aggregate loss to Racing Genk in a playoff for the Belgian League's UEFA Cup spot.

Arsenal has released American DANNY KARBASSIYOON, a 21-year-old Virginia product who joined the English power in 2003. In the 2004-05 season, Karbassiyoon made two League Cup appearances for Arsenal, scoring once, and five league appearances while on loan to second-tier Ipswich. Arsenal also released American defender FRANKIE SIMEK, 20, who made no appearances for Arsenal last season but, on loan, played five games for second-tier Queens Park Rangers and eight for third-tier Bournemouth.