April 24 in Caracas Venezuela 0 Uruguay 2 (Otero 54, Poyet 71). Half: 0-0. Att.: 12,000. Venezuela -- Angelucci, Filosa, W. Gonzales, Tortolero, L. Gonzales, Vallenilla, Valiente (Macintosh, 74), Hernandez, Castellin, Diaz (Rivas, 55), Guerra. Uruguay -- Arbiza, Olivera, Herrera, Moas, Montero, Saralegui, Gutierrez, Bengoechea (Abeijon, 90), Poyet, Otero (Cedres, 87), Fonseca. Referee: Alberto Tejada (Peru). April 24 in Buenos Aires Argentina 3 (Ortega 8, 18, Batistuta 49) Bolivia 1 (Baldivieso 42). Half: 2-1. Att.: 60,000. Argentina -- Passet, Zanetti, Ayala, Sensini, Chamot, Simeone, Almeyda, Ortega, Morales, Caniggia (Balbo, 72), Batistuta (Lopez, 87). …

I would hate to be in Tony DiCicco's shoes. The U.S. women's national team coach has some difficult choices to make in paring the U.S. squad down to 16 players for the Olympics. That's quite a drop from the 20-player roster that competed in the 1995 World Championship. Six members of the team that finished third in Sweden last summer aren't in camp and are out of contention: Linda Hamilton retired, Sarah Rafanelli works at Nike, Jen Lalor's in school, Amanda Cromwell (the new UMBC coach) blew out her knee, Debbie Keller has missed camp because of a …

Mexico beat the United States 2-1 tonight in the final game of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in Saltillo, Mexico. The United States finished last in the three-team championship group, but it still will qualify for the 1997 World Youth Championship if, as expected, FIFA, at its May 31 executive commttee meeting, expands the field to 24 teams. Canada, the third team in the group, won the tournament by virtue of its better goal difference over Mexico (plus-2 vs. plus-1). The two teams played to a 2-2 tie and both beat the United States. Mexico led the United …

Mexico led the United States 2-0 at halftime of the final game of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in Saltillo, Mexico. Canada, the third team in the group, already assured itself of a berth in the 1997 World Youth Championship.

First Round PickClubPlayerHt.Wt.Pos.DOB 3. (1)Seattle (1)Branko Segota5'10"177M6/8/61 4. (2)PortlandTerry Woodberry6'0"175D7/29/69 5. (3)SeattleBen Erickson5'11"165F3/27/72 6. (4)WashingtonTarik Walker6'2"200F7/3/71 8. (5)AnaheimSteve Kuntz6'5"195M-- 9. (6)Indianapolis (2)Steve Keller5'11"180M5/5/72 10. (7)SacramentoMichael Collins5'10"160M11/17/61 11. (8)Indianapolis (2)Mile Milovac6'2"188GK5/21/65 12. (9)IndianapolisAlejandro Moreno5'10"155M-- (1) From Pittsburgh (2) From Monterrey for Samuel Jeronimo Second Round PickClubPlayerHt.Wt.Pos.DOB 1. (10)DetroitDavid Moxom6'2"180D5/15/72 2. (11)Portland (3)Dragoslav Kostic5'6"145F-- 3. (12)Seattl (4)Bruce Broughton5'9"150M3/7/70 4. (13)PortlandDavid Hoggan5'10"175F8/10/61 6. (14)WashingtonBobby Johnston5'10"170D5/31/72 …

Group 1 April 24 in Athens Greece 2 (Batista 56, Nikolaides 66) Slovenia 0. Half: 0-0. Att.: 10,000. Greece -- Atmatsidis, Apostolakis, Kasapis, Ouzounidis, Kalitzakis, Costantinidis (Alexandris, 46), Zagorakis, Vrizas, Batista, Tsartas (Franzeskos, 82), Donis (Nikolaides, 61). Slovenia -- Boskovic, Galic, Englaro, Milanic, Jermanis, Ceh, Novak, Zidan (Gajser, 36), Udovic (Gliha, 70), Gregor, Florjancic. Group 6 April 24 in Belgrade Yugoslavia 3 (Savicevic 3, 30, Milosevic 38) Faroe Islands 1 (Petersen 54). Half: 3-0. Att.: n/a. Yugoslavia -- Kocic, Curcic (Mirkovic, 75), Djorovic, Jokanovic, Brnovic, Mihajlovic (Pantic, 40), Jugovic, Savicevic, Mijatovic, Stojkovic, …

"Need" isn't among the 12 criteria used by the U.S. Soccer Foundation to evaluate grant applications. "USSF involvement" is, so it's no surprise that of the first $2.4 million of World Cup profits the Foundation shelled out, 47 percent went directly to the USSF and most of the remaining 53 percent went to USSF-affiliated organizations. Of course, all of the 22 recipients need the money. But in the decision-making -- by a board of USSF officials who will dole out $2 to $5 million annually forever -- they should weigh one organization's need against another. Do, for example, …

April 24 in Mexico City Club America 0, Necaxa 2 (L. Hernandez 44, Pelaez 47). Half: 0-1. Club America -- Chavez, Villa, Salgado, Rossi, Gutierrez, Lara, Bwalya (Lozano, 77), Garcia, Blanco, Omam Biyik, Zaguinho. Necaxa -- Navarro, Higareda (Herrera, 82), Wolf, Vilches, Becerril, Esquivel, Ambriz, Garcia Aspe, L. Hernandez (Alvarado, 81), Pelaez, Zarate (Barrera, 69). Necaxa will host the second leg on Saturday. April 24 in Veracruz Veracruz 0 Celaya 1 (Mercado 50). Half: 0-0. Veracruz -- Rios, Ramirez, Pena (M. Hernandez, 59), Aguiar, Diaz (Becerra, 70), Apud, J. Gonzalez, Gaytan, Chavez (Malibran, …

STANDINGS EASTERN WLSOWPGFGAStreak Tampa Bay200653Won 2 Columbus110352Lost 1 New England110333Won 1 MetroStars020013Lost 2 DC United030017Lost 3 WESTERN WLSOWPGFGAStreak Los Angeles200642Won 2 Dallas111443Lost 1 Kansas City111455Won 1 Colorado110334Won 1 San Jose120332Lost 2 LEADING SCORERS NameTeamGPGAP 1John KerrDAL3215 -Brian McBrideCLB2215 3Vitalis TakawiraKC3204 -Rob UkropNE2204 -Marcelo BalboaCOL1204 6Ben IrohaSJ3113 -Steve PittmanTB2113 -Martin VasquezTB2113 …

RankingTeamPointsPrevious Ranking 1Brazil68.841 2Germany61.983 3Russia61.165 4Italy59.322 5France59.307 6Spain58.914 7Sweden55.9712 8Argentina55.038 9Colombia54.7219 10Czech Republic54.3713 11Netherlands54.266 12Mexico54.1810 13Denmark53.909 14USA53.5314 15Ghana52.6216 --Zambia52.6215 17Norway52.1817 18Romania51.1111 19South Africa50.5923 20Portugal50.4220 21Ivory Coast49.9924 22Tunisia49.8925 23England49.2527 24Bulgaria49.1417 25Egypt48.5622 26Switzerland48.3221 27Scotland48.0029 28Croatia47.8443 29Japan47.6630 30Turkey46.0731 31Morocco45.8126 …

Features Crew Cuts Down United Judging by the Columbus opener, Ohio has embraced MLS. By Craig Merz Big-Time Soccer Arrives Los Angeles Galaxy fans overwhelm Pasadena. By Ridge Mahoney Gray United Shelves Uniform Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson blamed his team's away uniform for a 3-1 loss at Southampton, while Newcastle stayed in the hunt with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. By Graham Griffiths Changing Of The Guard? U.S. women's coach Tony DiCicco faces some tough decisions when he cuts his Olympic roster down to 16. By Dean Caparaz A …

Arkansas-Little Rock is the fourth NCAA Division I school in the last two years to drop men's soccer. UALR dropped men's soccer and men's swimming in a move "to strengthen our overall athletic department," according to director of athletics Rick Mello. Men's soccer coach Scott Westbrook will remain as coach of the existing women's soccer program. Other programs to drop men's soccer since 1994 are North Texas, Eastern Michigan and Illinois State.

April 23 in Saltillo U.S. 0 Canada 2 (De Rosario 81, Jordan 83). Half: 0-0. Championship Round TeamWTLGFGAP Canada110424 Mexico010221 U.S.001020 Canada has clinched a spot at Malaysia '97. The winner of the U.S.-Mexico game April 25 will also automatically qualify. The loser will qualify if FIFA votes to expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams at a meeting May 31. Also on April 23 Costa Rica 2 Jamaica 1 Qualification Round TeamWTLGFGAP Costa Rica200426 Jamaica001120 …

Greg Ryan, the former Wisconsin women's coach, has been named SMU's new head women's coach. Ryan, an SMU alumnus, coached at Wisconsin for nine years, compiling a 111-32-7 won-lost-tied record and leading the Badgers to two final four appearances. He replaces Alan Kirkup, who took the vacant position at Maryland after leading the Mustangs to the final four last fall.

U.S. national team keeper Brad Friedel and his club Galatasaray won the Turkish Cup over crosstown rival Fenerbahce on a dramatic overtime goal by Welshman Dean Saunders. With the victory, Galatasaray qualifies for the 1996-97 European Cup Winners Cup. April 24 in Istanbul Fenerbahce 1 (Kocaman 35) Galatasaray 1 (Saunders 116). Half: 1-0. Att.: 30,000. (Galatasaray wins 2-1 on aggregate. Score after 90 minutes: 1-1.)