The U.S. women's national team will embark on its only international tour during its preparation for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup when it travels to Portugal for the 6th Algarve Cup, held in the Algarve region on the southern tip of the country. The eight-team international tournament runs from March 14-20 and features six countries that will be participating in the Women's World Cup this summer: Australia, China, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the USA. Non-qualifiers Finland and Portugal round out the field in the most competitive international women's soccer event outside of the Women's World Cup and the Olympics. …

The U.S. boys' U-17 national team arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Sunday, Feb. 21 after a short flight from the Miami International Airport following a fond farewell at halftime from the fans in attendance at the USA-Chile match in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The Honduras U-17 team was also aboard the same flight as the two teams made their way to Jamaica to begin their quest for a CONCACAF berth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship to be hosted by New Zealand in November. Both teams were greeted by the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) as they departed the plane. …

Chicago Fire Results: 2/7 -- Clemson 4-0. 2/10 -- Coastal Carolina 4-0. 2/13 -- D.C. United 2-1. Schedule: 2/25 -- Jaguares (Mex.). 2/27 -- Atlas (Mex.). 3/1 -- U.D.G. (Mex.). 3/3 -- Tecos (Mex.). 3/6 -- Colorado Rapids at site TBA. Colorado Rapids Results: 2/14 -- San Jose Clash 1-0. 2/17 -- San Jose Clash 1-0. 2/20 -- Orange County Zodiac 2-0. 2/22 -- San Diego Flash 0-0. Schedule: 2/24 -- Tijuana Chivas (Mex.). 2/27 -- Kansas City Wizards in Las Vegas, Nev. 3/6 -- Chicago Fire at site TBA. Columbus Crew Results: 2/12 -- UCF 2-2. 2/13 -- U.S. …

With less than four weeks remaining before the start of the 1999 MLS season, the Miami Fusion has added depth to its roster by signing a pair of discovery players: Mohenjo "Pepe" Smith and Andreas Maier. Each MLS team is allowed to designate two discovery players per year. A player qualifies as a discovery player if he is not currently under contract to MLS and is generally not on the league's active scouting, projected player or draft lists. The Jamaican-born Smith, a graduate of Ft. Lauderdale's Boyd Anderson High School, caught Fusion coach Ivo Wortmann's eye during an invitation-only tryout …

Major League Soccer Commissioner Douglas G. Logan has issued the following statement: Discussions are taking place with respect to former Deputy Commissioner Sunil Gulati's continued relationship with Major League Soccer. These discussions are of a private nature. All responsibilities relating to player personnel have been reassigned by the Commissioner to Mr. Ivan Gazidis, Executive Vice President, Player Relations and Operations.

After a fond farewell at halftime from fans in attendance at the USA-Chile match in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on Feb. 21, the U.S. U-17 national team departed for Montego Bay, Jamaica and 1999 CONCACAF qualfying. The U-17s, who downed the Tampa Bay Mutiny of MLS in their final tuneup match on Feb. 19, currently owns a nine-game international unbeaten streak. Here is a look at the three opponents in the USA's qualifying group. The group winner will advance to The 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship in New Zealand, while the runner-up will meet El Salvador in a playoff for another …

The U.S. girls' U-18 national team picked up an historic win on Feb. 20 at the Walt Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., defeating the USYSA Under-19 Select Team, 2-1, in the championship game of the inaugural U.S. Youth Soccer Cup. The first-of-its-kind, eight-team tournament featured the U-18 teams from Germany, Japan, China and Sweden as well as the USA's U-16 and U-18 national teams and USYSA Select Teams in the U-17 and U-19 age brackets. The U-18s came from behind to win on two second-half goals, the first of which was a 30-yard blast from 16-year …

U.S. midfielders Ben Olsen and Eddie Lewis each scored their first international goal to give the U.S. national team a 2-1 victory over Chile before a boisterous crowd of 14,896 at Lockhart Stadium. The win extends the USA's unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2) since Bruce Arena took over as head coach. The victory was a fitting end to the brilliant international career of U.S. defender Thomas Dooley, 37, who retires from the red-white-and-blue with 81 career caps and 7 goals. Dooley, who played the full 90 minutes at sweeper for the Americans, was honored before the match for his …

Landon Donovan scored a pair of goals as the U.S. U-17 national team downed the Tampa Bay Mutiny of MLS 2-0 on Feb. 19 in their final tuneup match before CONCACAF qualifying. Donovan opened the scoring in the 29th minute, and added his second in the 50th. Kyle Beckerman set up both U.S. goals. Tampa Bay concluded the match with ten players after new Costa Rican allocation Alejandro Sequiera was ejected in the 77th minute for a second yellow card. The U-17s will depart Feb. 21 for Montego Bay, Jamaica and the 1999 CONCACAF qualifying tournament. The U-17s will open …

Honduran-born forward Saul Martinez has been allocated to the Miami Fusion, Fusion chief operating officer Betty D'Anjolell announced Feb. 19. Martinez, 23, played the last two seasons for the Long Island Rough Riders of the USL's A-League, recording 13 goals and three assists. He started his professional career in 1995 with Melgar of the Honduran Second Division, where he played for one season. Because he holds a green card Martinez will not count against the Fusion's foreign-player limit. "Saul is a forward with good speed and mobility," said Fusion head coach Ivo Wortmann. "He's young and has potential. Now, he …

Sean Anguiano Idaho Falls, Idaho Why did Dallas give up the rights to Dema Kovalenko to take Lazo Alavanja? Dosen't Dallas need someone to score? The Burn have Kreis, so is he expected to go or is Alavanja going to play wide? Scott French: Dallas never really had Kovalenko, despite appearances. It was planned from the start that Kovalenko would join Chicago, with its Eastern European communities, but after last year's Ben Olsen fiasco (the league gave the rookie of the year to the reigning champions), MLS couldn't just award a player of Kovalenko's capabilities to the Fire. It was …

USA vs. Chile (International Friendly) Feb. 21 (3:30 pm ET) at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Television: ESPN live) HISTORY Chile's best World Cup performance came as host in 1962, when it finished third. The nadir came in 1989, when goalkeeper Roberto Rojas faked getting hit by a flare in the Maracana Stadium, in hopes that Chile would win a forfeit over Brazil and entrance to Italy '90. Instead, FIFA banned Rojas for life and Chile through the 1994 World Cup. On their return, Chileans closely followed qualification for France '98, hoping that success could erase the embarrassment of …

As Major League Soccer enters its fourth season, ABC Sports and its sister networks, ESPN and espn2, along with Univision, will broadcast a comprehensive 63-game television schedule for the 1999 MLS season. "Major League Soccer is once again ecstatic to have ABC, ESPN, espn2 and Univision bring the American sports fan a quality of professional outdoor soccer that can only be found in MLS," said league commissioner Doug Logan, noting that ESPN increased the number from 10 games to 15 for the 1999 campaign. "The 63 games aired allows for fans both in MLS markets and outside those cities to …

The following changes have been made to the 1999 MLS regular-season schedule: Matchup Old Date & Time (ET) New Date & Time (ET) Colorado at Los Angeles March 21 at 7:30 p.m. March 20 at 10:30 p.m. Colorado at San Jose March 27 at 10:30 p.m. March 27 at 10:00 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose April 3 at 10:30 p.m. April 3 at 10:00 p.m. San Jose at Kansas City April 10 at 4:30 p.m. April 10 at 3:30 p.m. Dallas at Miami April 15 at 7:30 p.m. April 15 at 8:00 p.m. Dallas at San …

If you didn't know the meeting was going to take place, you would have missed it. There was no notice. If you didn't know where the meeting was, you wouldn't have found it. The meeting room, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco's Nob Hill, was unmarked. And even if you did know it took place, you wouldn't have any idea what was discussed. U.S. Soccer's weekly "U.S. Soccer Wire," released 48 hours later, didn't even mention the presentation took place. The big push to launch Project 2010 -- the plan to jump-start the U.S. men's national team program -- …