Nikki Serlenga's first career hat trick powered the U.S. women to its second straight rout, 8-0 over Costa Rica, in the first Women's Gold Cup. The match at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky., featured five different starters from the June 23 thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago. The USA victory, combined with Brazil's 11-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago, means that the winner of the match between the two 1999 Women's World Cup semifinal opponents on Tuesday at Foxboro Stadium (8 p.m. ET -- ESPN) will win Group A and earn a berth in the semifinals against the second-place …

Watching the premier of MLS Extra Time, a weekly highlight show on ESPN2, the reflex is to critique. We soccer fans are fickle, always appalled by any variance from the way we think the game should be covered. In this case, we should quell those impulses. The show left room for improvement in its debut, but to focus on Roy Wegerle's sedated delivery or Rob Stone's astounding words-per-minute count would be to miss the point. What's important about Extra Time is that it could not have come soon enough. It is an hour-long show every Monday night through …

Cindy Parlow's fourth hat trick of the year powered the world champion U.S. women to an 11-0 rout of Trinidad & Tobago in the inaugural Women's Gold Cup. The match, played in Hershey, Pa., also featured two goals each by Mia Hamm, Sara Whalen and Lorrie Fair. Women's Gold Cup June 23 in Hershey, Pa. United States 11, Trinidad & Tobago 0. Goals: Parlow 4, 52, 73, Fair 22, 23, Milbrett 34, Hamm, 48, 68, MacMillan 62, Whalen 80, 90. USA -- Mullinix, Pearce, Fawcett, Sobrero, Chastain, Lilly, Fair (Serlenga, 46), Foudy (MacMillan, 46), Parlow, Milbrett (Whalen, 57), Hamm. T&T …

Bruce Arena nearly sent Earnie Stewart home because of a mouth injury. Yet Stewart set up the equalizer against Ireland, then started against Mexico. SOCCER AMERICA: Tell us about your injury. EARNIE STEWART: Against South Africa, I took an elbow in the mouth, so I had to go to the dentist and have oral surgery ... I severed a nerve above one of my teeth. The oral surgeon had to make an incision in my cheek and drain the fluid out. SA: Is it causing you pain to talk right now? ES: No, but I couldnÆt …

Tony Sanneh, the new U.S. right back, returns to Hertha Berlin, where he's had mixed results since joining the club in February 1999. SOCCER AMERICA: How often have you played right back? TONY SANNEH: One or two games at D.C. United when we needed help. One or two games at Hertha Berlin when they needed help. Sometimes if the opponent has a fast player, I go back late in the game. In my life, I probably played four games there from the beginning. SA: You're going back to Berlin? TS: I'm staying there one more year. …

U.S. coach April Heinrichs and U.S. midfielder Julie Foudy spoke on a June 22 conference call previewing the inaugural tournament Heinrichs' thoughts on her job as national team coach so far I haven't felt nervous on the bench, I haven't felt pressure. These girls play so hard that as a coach you don't have to get on them. You get a sense that with this team you are always in it, and it takes the pressure off as a coach. Heinrichs on young U.S. goalkeepers Siri Mullinix and Jenni Branam Every day our two young goalkeepers step in the goal, …

Coping with an avalanche of injuries has been Coach Myernick's biggest challenge The vast number of new faces on the Rapids' preseason roster suggested that adjusting to personnel turnover would be Colorado's greatest challenge for the 2000 season. Instead, an onslaught of injuries - plus absences due to national team duty - presented Coach Glenn Myernick an even greater test. "We're going into our 15th game of the season," Myernick said before a 1-0 win over Los Angeles, "and we have yet to have 16 of our own players available for selection in any one of our …

Here is the United StatesÆ schedule for the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying. (The USA is in Group E. The top two teams in the three four-team groups will advance to the final round of qualifying, which will also be a home-and-away round robin.) Sat., July 15 Guatemala vs. USA in Guatemala City, Guat. Kickoff: 4 p.m. (CT). TV: TBA Sun, July 23 Costa Rica vs. USA in San Jose, Costa Rica Kickoff: 11 a.m. (CT). TV: ESPN2 (1:30 p.m. ET delay). Wed., Aug. 16 USA vs.Barbados in Foxboro, Mass. Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2 (11:30 p.m. ET …

Soccer America Magazine's MLS Team of the Week from games played June 17 GOALKEEPER Matt Jordan (1) Dallas DEFENDERS Danny Califf (1) Los Angeles Jorge Rodriguez (2) Dallas Richard Mulrooney (2) Sam Jose MIDFIELDERS Simon Elliott (1) Los Angeles Peter Nowak (2) Chicago Ian Russell (1) San Jose Bill Walsh (1) MetroStars FORWARDS Ariel Graziani (2) Dallas Adolfo Valencia (4) MetroStars Josh Wolff (2) Chicago ò In parentheses is the number of times a player has been named to the Team of the Week.

The world champion U.S. women will play Italy in a July 7 friendly in Central Islip, N.Y. The 7 p.m. ET game will be part of a doubleheader with the A-League match between Long Island Rough Riders and Montreal Impact, who play at 9:15 p.m. Midfielder Sara Whalen, a member of the 1999 Women's World Cup championship team and a native of Greenlawn, N.Y., and forward Christie Welsh, who hails from Massapequa, N.Y., will get the chance to play in front of a home crowd. Whalen was an All-State selection as a senior at Harborfields High School, captaining the team …

Reyna speaks softly at the hub and lets others make noise East Rutherford, N.J. - The question underlying the entire U.S. Cup - Is this team ready for qualifying? - broke down primarily into discussions of the United States' strengths and weaknesses on the field. But because of the off-field dissension that detonated the United States' chances at France '98, the team's intangibles also deserve examination. Chief among those intangibles is leadership, since from that comes a team's attitude, connection and ability to cope with adversity. Eight different players have worn the captain's armband in the 23 …

The following are quotes from MLSÆs June 20 conference call featuring Los Angeles forward Luis Hernandez and Kansas City goalkeeper Tony Meola. Luis Hernandez's Opening Comments "I have adapted well. This is a new stage in my career. Everything is going well in the city. I am getting to know my teammates, they are getting to know me. Things are going well. I feel like I am making progress. ôThere are a lot of differences in soccer here. In Mexico, we live with the passion of soccer, we all know soccer. There are a lot of tactical differences. By and …

For the incumbent U.S. players, U.S. Cup 2000 was a fine prelude to World Cup qualifying. For Coach Bruce Arena, it was a mixed bag of encouraging results and disruptive variables. For U.S. Soccer, it was a disappointing year in the tournament's otherwise estimable history. The United States' victory in the event was overshadowed by the absence of Mexico's true national team, but two wins, a tie and a plus-seven goal differential can only reinforce confidence. Arena insisted the South African team that the United States destroyed, 4-0, was a good team, but it was hardly polished. The …

Tony Sanneh enters Bruce Arena's defense puzzle The last time Bruce Arena found a new position for Tony Sanneh, it worked gloriously. It was 1996, MLS's first year, and Arena's D.C. United had lost five games and won one. It called up Sanneh from the Milwaukee Rampage in the A-League, where he had scored 18 goals and finished second in scoring in 1995. "I came to D.C. United as a forward," Sanneh said. "But we had 10 forwards, so I played right midfield for three years." Sanneh scored in D.C. United's MLS Cup victories in 1996 …

Goalkeeper Jenni Branam has replaced Briana Scurry for the second straight tournament, the inaugural Women's Gold Cup, because Scurry continues to suffer from shin splints. The 19-year-old Branam also replaced Scurry, the World Cup '99 starter, at the recent Pacific Cup in Australia.