We will be taking our annual Holiday break starting Dec. 22 and will not be posting any more news until Jan. 4. Happy holidays from all of us at Soccer America.

Clint Nurnberg Springfield, Mo. Please put the Project-40 squad's recently successful tour of England into perspective for us. That they won all five matches suggests that Project-40 is accomplishing its objectives of developing young American players quickly into quality professionals. But I wonder if the English hosts opted not to put forward their best "feet" by fielding their lower quality players. Could you give us a critical review of the whole thing? Paul Kennedy: Sure, five wins in five games is impressive, but the fact of the matter is that the U.S. team Lothar Osiander led should win all these …

FIFA has announced the list of international referees and referee assistants that will be eligible to officiate FIFA-sanctioned matches in 1999. The American contingent, which represents a total of approximately 100,000 registered officials in the United States, included 14 referees and 11 referee assistants. Here is a look at the U.S. representatives in the FIFA list: Referees -- Rich Grady (Ill.), Brian Hall (Calif.), Sandra Hunt (Wash.), Michael Kennedy (Ill.), Nancy Lay (Fla.), Ali Saheli (Md.), Kari Seitz (Calif.), Kevin Stott (Calif.), Kevin Terry (Texas), Ricardo Valenzuela (Va.), Timothy Weyland (Calif.). Futsal Referees -- Brian Hall (Calif.), John Konstantinidis (Calif.), …

The U.S. men's U-23 national team will gather from Jan. 4-17 at the ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., for the first of what will be several training camps in 1999. The U-23 national team comprises the core of players that will compete for the U.S. during the CONCACAF qualifying phase for the right to participate in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Under the direction of head coach Clive Charles, 28 players have been called into the 13-day camp, which will serve as a preliminary training camp prior to the team's international match versus Germany on Feb. 6 at …

Mexico made women's soccer history Dec. 19, defeating Argentina, 3-2, at Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires to earn the final berth in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Mexico's Cinderella story has seen them rise from double-digit losses in qualifying for the 1991 and 1995 Women's World Cups, to a narrow 1-0 loss to Canada in this year's CONCACAF qualifying tournament, to becoming the first Spanish-speaking country in Women's World Cup history. Mexico had won the first leg, 3-1, in Toluca, Mexico on Dec. 11, and needed only a draw or a loss by less than two goals to …

Here is the draw and schedule for the 1999 Copa America, to be held June 29-July 8 in Paraguay: Group A -- Paraguay, Peru, Japan, Bolivia. Group B -- Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela. Group C -- Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador. Schedule GROUP A June 29 -- Peru vs. Japan, Paraguay vs. Bolivia. July 2 -- Peru vs. Bolivia, Paraguay vs. Japan. July 5 -- Japan vs. Bolivia, Paraguay vs. Peru. GROUP B June 30 -- Chile vs. Mexico, Brazil vs. Venezuela. July 3 -- Brazil vs. Mexico, Chile vs. Venezuela. July 6 -- Mexico vs. Venezuela, Brazil vs. Chile. GROUP …

U.S. Pro-40 earned its fifth consecutive win on Dec. 19 with a 2-1 victory against the reserves from Sheffield United at the Manchester United Training Grounds. The victory marked a five-game international winning streak for the young Americans as they shut down all five of their English Premier and First Division reserve team opponents, outscoring them 10-2. U.S. Pro-40 midfielder Steve Jolley (Los Angeles Galaxy) and defender Scott Vermillion (Kansas City Wizards) scored the club's final goals of the English tour. Jolley, who finished the tour as the team's leading goal scorer with four goals (three of which were gamewinners), …

Midfielder Julie Foudy scored her first career hat trick as the U.S. women's national team defeated Ukraine, 5-0, in sub-freezing temperatures at Bulldog Stadium on the campus of Fresno State University Dec. 20. The match was the last of 1998 for the U.S. women before they head into residency training camp in Orlando, Fla., beginning on Jan. 4. The USA will engage in five months of intense preparation for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup next summer. The game began with the thermometer at 36 degrees as snow dusted Fresno for the first time in 37 years. The Americans shook …

The U.S. Boys' U-17 national team hammered their South Korean counterparts, 5-1, Dec. 17 in Christchurch, New Zealand to win the 1998 Christchurch Cup international youth tournament. The six-team, round robin tournament featured the U-17 national teams from the USA, South Korea, South Africa, Tahiti, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand. U.S. forward Landon Donovan (Redlands, Calif.) was once again the engine behind the U.S. scoring machine. Donovan pounded in three goals and added one assist against the South Koreans, bringing his five-game, tournament-leading totals to 11 goals and 5 assists. At the defensive end of the field, the United …

One Indiana player in the 1998 final was alive when Jerry Yeagley coached the Hoosiers in their first NCAA final four. Defender Andrew Parrish was 8 months old when Indiana lost to San Francisco 1-0 in the 1976 championship game. When Yeagley's Hoosiers won their first title, his current players were still in kindergarten. The championship that Yeagley picked up this year is his fourth in 26 seasons at Indiana's helm He arrived in Bloomington 36 years ago and had to toil for 10 years before soccer went from club to varsity status. After that followed 12 final-four appearances. I've …

Brian Quinn has agreed to a new one-year contract to continue as coach of the San Jose Clash. "As far as I'm concerned, Brian is still one of the best young coaches in America," said Clash GM Peter Bridgwater. "We're lucky to have him." Quinn, who at 38 remains the youngest coach in MLS, has a record of 26-32-3 in one-plus seasons with the Clash, including a 20-29 record in MLS games and a 6-3-3 mark in other matches. "My goal remains the same as it was when I came to San Jose - to win an MLS championship - …

U.S. national team head coach Bruce Arena has announced the 26 players who have been invited to the first training camp of 1999, which will run from January 9-19 at a site to be determined in Florida. At the conclusion of the nine-day camp, an 18-player U.S. squad will travel to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to play the Bolivian national team on January 24. Heading the list of camp invitees are 14 players who have previous experience playing for Arena, including seven current D.C. United players and seven players from Arena's 1995-96 U.S. U-23 national team. D.C. United is the most …

Playing with a roster consisting mostly of young players mixed with a few veterans, the U.S. women's national team used a long range goal by former Portland all-America Justi Baumgardt to come from behind and defeat Ukraine, 2-1, in a close-door match at North Field on the campus of UCLA. The USA has been training in Los Angeles in preparation for the nationally televised match against Ukraine Dec. 20, at Fresno State University's Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. (PT). The match will be the final game of the year for the U.S. women, who will begin residency camp …

European Champions Cup QUARTERFINALS Real Madrid (Spain) vs. Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) Manchester Utd. (England) vs. Inter Milan (Italy) Juventus (Italy) vs. Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece) Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Kaiserslautern (Germany) (Matches to be played over two legs March 3 and 17; first team hosts first leg.) European Cup Winners Cup QUARTERFINALS Chelsea (England) vs. Valerenga (Norway) Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia) vs. Maccabi Haifa (Israel) Varteks Varazdin (Croatia) vs. Mallorca (Spain) Lazio (Italy) vs. Panionios Athens (Greece) (Matches to be played over two legs March 4 and 18; first team hosts first leg.) UEFA Cup QUARTERFINALS Olympique Marseille (France) vs. Celta Vigo …

Dallas Burn midfielders Leonel Alvarez and Jason Kreis have both undergone successful surgeries this week. Alvarez flew to Boston for surgery for a chronic groin injury that plagued him for much of the 1998 season. The doctor performed a bilateral release of the adductor tendon. He now will have approximately six weeks of relative inactivity after which time he may undergo an aggressive rehab. Alvarez is expected to be back to full fitness by opening day. Kreis underwent minor arthroscopic knee surgery to debride the meniscus in his right knee. He should be released for full training in 2-4 weeks.