MLS fined Los Angeles forward Luis Hernandez $2,500 for his actions following the Galaxy's 2-0 loss at Kansas City on June 24. Wizards players Matt McKeon and Chris Klein accused the Mexican international of spitting on them after the match.

A festive fan atmosphere makes good soccer games great and can even manage to make bad games bearable. But getting fans to liven up a stadium - not to mention inspire the players, as they do in many parts of the world - hasn't often come easy in the United States. The 1994 World Cup almost got off to a poor start when security officials threatened to forbid Swiss fans from bringing their cow bells, which provide a pleasant background beat. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and Scott LeTellier, the COO of USA '94, announced that the bells …

The Dallas Burn waived Mike Burke. The midfielder was acquired on June 15 and played in two games for the team for a total of 41 minutes. Graziani returns from national team duty Burn forward Ariel Graziani will return for the home match against Los Angeles on July 1. Graziani missed the 1-0 loss at Colorado on June 28 to play in Ecuador's 2-1 win over Peru on June 29.

Bruce Arena hardly used the Internet when he was D.C. UnitedÆs coach. Less than two years after becoming U.S. coach, he cannot imagine doing his job without the Web. With United, Arena logged onto MLS's network and was able to get just about all the information he needed from there and e-mail. His computer was slow, so he did not look at Web pages much. But now he has a well-equipped home office in Fairfax, Va. "I probably have something fast," Arena said. "I have a computer that's loaded, it's the top of the line. I don't …

D.C. United waived reserve midfielder Mike Slivinski. Slivinski appeared in two matches this season for United, coming on as a substitute both times; on April 22 in a 3-2 loss to the MetroStars and on May 13 in a 3-1 loss to New England. Slivinski was scoreless in 32 minutes of action. After finishing his college career with 16 goals and 16 assists at the University of Virginia in 1996, Slivinski was signed as a discovery player by United in February 1998. He appeared in 23 matches in all MLS competitions with United, registering one assist in 356 minutes of …

Soccer America Magazine's MLS Team of the Week from games played June 21-24/Week 14. GOALKEEPER Tony Meola (4) Kansas City Wizards DEFENDERS Nick Garcia (3) Kansas City Wizards Steve Jolley (1) MetroStars Jeff Agoos (1) D.C. United MIDFIELDERS Dario Brose (3) San Jose Earthquakes Chris Klein (1) Kansas City Wizards Wilmar Perez (3) Columbus Crew Carlos Valderrama (9) Tampa Bay Mutiny FORWARDS Mamadou Diallo (6) Tampa Bay Mutiny Diego Serna (2) Miami Fusion Dante Washington (2) Dallas Burn * In parentheses is the number of times a player has been named to the Team of the Week this season.

Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Adin Brown is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Friday, June 30. Brown will undergo the procedure to "clean up" the right meniscus, and is expected to be out approximately 14-21 days, according to Rapids trainer Jay Mellette. Brown, also expected to be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. Olympic team at the 2000 Games in Sydney, is expected to miss four league games, beginning this Saturday in D.C. (1:00 p.m. MT, TV: ESPN). David Kramer will assume the starting position, and the Rapids will use A-League call-ups to fill the reserve goalkeeper …

U.S. coach April Heinrichs picked just two Women's World Cup '99 veterans for the U.S. women's national team's friendly with Italy on July 7 in Islip, N.Y. Sara Whalen and Christie Pearce, who are from the New York-New Jersey area, lead an 18-player roster for the match at EAB Park. U.S. under-21 coach Jillian Ellis will serve as assistant coach to Heinrichs. The roster features 13 players from the USA's Olympic residency camp, including budding stars Aleisha Cramer (18 years old today), Christie Welsh (19), Nandi Pryce (18), Susan Bush (19), Aly Wagner (19) and Alyssa Ramsey (17), who despite …

After arthroscopic surgery on both knees during the offseason, Tampa Bay's Caleb Porter retired to pursue a future in coaching at his alma mater, Indiana University. "It was a tough decision but, I've been struggling with injuries and I feel it is time to pursue a career in coaching," said Porter, who ends a two-year MLS career. "This opportunity will help me get my foot in the door and was too good to pass up." "This is a sad day," said Mutiny coach Tim Hankinson. " I brought Caleb here [to Tampa] knowing he would make an impact on the …

As much as anywhere on the Internet, soccer chat rooms, message boards and fan sites demonstrate why the World Wide Web is sometimes referred to as the misinformation highway. But despite all the speculating, pontificating and quibbling that goes on in the newest medium, MLS clubs are paying attention. No further proof of the impact of fan sites needs to be found than the gesture made recently by Chicago general manager Peter Wilt. He paid to fly Chris Bergin, a message board regular, from his home in England to the United States to see the Fire play against D.C. …

Miami won the rights to U.S. youth national team midfielder Kyle Beckerman in a weighted lottery conducted today by MLS. Beckerman, a Project-40 player, was the only player available in the June 29 draft. The draft held true to form as the Fusion held the highest probability for selection. The MetroStars, New England Revolution and Columbus Crew were ineligible for the draft, as each had been previously assigned a player via the lottery. Additionally, D.C. United elected not to participate in today's proceedings. The weighted order of the draft was as follows. 1. Miami Fusion -- selected Kyle Beckerman (U.S. …

Issues addressed at the June 27 MLS conference call include: EtcheverryÆs complaints, accusations against Hernandez, Beckerman goes P-40, all-star game coaches and MLS minimum wage. The participants are: MLS executive vice president Ivan Gazidis, D.C. United defender Eddie Pope and Colorado Rapids GM Dan Counce. Ivan Gazidis' Opening Comments "A few points I wanted to touch one. First, about the New England and San Jose allocation situations. I'm afraid that there is nothing new to report on those fronts. We've been working on a couple different options for each team. ôI'm hopeful that in San Jose's case in particular that …

Paul Caligiuri retraces his steps from Southern California youth soccer to a career that included an NCAA title, two World Cup appearances and six seasons in Germany. SOCCER AMERICA: Let's start at the beginning ... PAUL CALIGIURI: I started in the early '70s. Soccer was new in the area I grew up in ù the Diamond Bar-Walnut area of Southern California. It wasn't popular like Little League or Pop Warner. We joined through word-of-mouth from a kid down the street. SA: When did your youth career take off? PC: After three years in AYSO, I was …

The United States won Group A of the Women's Gold Cup on a coin flip after tying Brazil, 0-0, in Foxboro, Mass., on June 27. Brazil captain Sissi called tails, and the coin came up heads. U.S. midfielder Kristine Lilly missed a late penalty kick that would have given the world champions the group title outright. Both the USA and Brazil advance to the Gold Cup semifinals. As the top team in Group A, the USA will play the second-best team in Group B, while Brazil plays Group B's top team. China currently leads Group B with six points from …

Coaches cite weather as only one of the reasons for the Golden State's bevy of talent California leads the nation when it comes to producing fruits, vegetables, dairy products, wine, movies and semiconductors. Add soccer players to the list. Of the MLS's 189 American players, 49 hail from the Golden State. New York is a distant second with 16 players. Californians also abound on U.S. national teams. Of the 18 players in Coach Clive Charles' U-23 squad that last April qualified for the Olympics, 11 grew up in California. Nine of them developed their skills in …