July 1 in Mexico City TV: Telemundo, live, noon ET (kickoff 1 pm ET); ESPN, tape, 4 pm ET. Referee: Young Joo Kim (KOR). STANDINGS: Mexico, 5th in the Hexagonal (1 win, 1 tie, 3 losses, 7 goals for, 8 goals against, 4 points); USA, 1st in the Hexagonal (4 wins, 1 tie, 0 losses, 7 goals for, 1 goal against, 13 points). PRESSURE: Never has the USA been in such a comfortable qualifying position when going down to play Mexico. And never has Mexico been so down and desperate before hosting the USA. But in fact the USA would …

BY MIKE WOITALLA in Mexico City Teams that venture into Mexico City encounter a slew of infamous obstacles. ThereÆs the 7,800 altitude, the huge fan support, heat and lung-burning air pollution. No doubt about the altitude, and ôair quality is expected to be unsatisfactoryö at game time tomorrow, according to the Metropolitan Commission for Prevention & Control of Air Pollution. But the USA arrived on Saturday to comfortable 70 degree weather and a cloudy sky. The big question is whether the fans will show up tomorrow. Only 30,000 attended MexicoÆs last home game -- the 2-1 loss to Costa Rica …

The U.S. under-19 national team took one step closer to the first-ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championships, defeating the future hosts, 1-0, on a second half goal from Mary Boland (Hudson, Ohio/Internationals) in the pre-game to the USA vs. Canada full national team clash. The U.S. U-19s will need to qualify for the historic youth tournament to be held in Canada in 2002, but showed the Canadian U-19 squad that it will not be hospitable guests, pinning the Canucks in their own half for most of the game while piling up a 12-2 advantage in shots. The U.S. forwards stretched …

Fielding a lineup of veteran players for the first time in 2001, the U.S. women's national team played to a hard-fought 2-2 tie with Canada at Varsity Stadium in Toronto as Shannon MacMillan and Tiffeny Milbrett, the top two scorers in the WUSA, tallied for the USA. U.S. captain Julie Foudy played in her 200th career match for the United States, joining Mia Hamm (217) and Kristine Lilly (226) as the only two players in the history of international soccer, men or woman, to reach that milestone. "Regardless of what cap it is, you always want to win," said Foudy. …

The following is a brief team-by-team injury overview entering Week 13 of the 2001 MLS Regular Season: EASTERN DIVISION D.C. UNITED - OUT: M Ben Olsen (ankle surgery-R & L); PROBABLE: D Mark Watson (stress fracture, foot-R), D Craig Ziadie (toe sprain-L), D Brian Kamler (partially torn hamstring-R) METROSTARS - IR: F Martin Klinger (strained hamstring-L), F Clint Mathis (torn ACL-R), D/M Steve Shak (partial tear of MCL, PCL, medial meniscus-R), F Rodrigo Faria (fascial tissue tear in lower leg-R); OUT: D Mark Semioli (strained hamstring-L), M Petter Villegas (sprained MCL-L); PROBABLE: D Orlando Perez (L foot inflammation & calf …

June 30 in Port of Spain (Queen's Park Oval) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO-JAMAICA TV: UNIVISION, live, 4 pm ET. Referee: Gustavo Mendez (Uruguay). Brazilian Rene Simoes makes his Hexagonal debut as Trinidad & Tobago head coach after replacing the fired Ian Porterfield. Simoes faces Jamaica, which he led to the 1998 World Cup finals. He served six years as Reggae Boyz head coach before leaving in February 2000. STANDINGS: Trinidad & Tobago, 6th in the Hexagonal (1 tie, 4 losses, 3 goals for, 11 goals against, 1 point); Jamaica, 4th in the Hexagonal (1 win, 2 ties, 2 losses, 3 goals …

July 1 in Tegucigalpa (National Stadium) HONDURAS-COSTA RICA TV: CCN (closed-circuit), live, 6 pm. Referee: Oscar Ruiz (Colombia). Costa Rica and Honduras are coming off back-to-back wins that put them in excellent shape to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals. STANDINGS: Honduras, 3rd in the Hexagonal (2 wins, 2 ties, 1 loss, 11 goals for; 8 goals against, 8 points); Costa Rica, 2nd in the Hexagonal (3 wins, 1 loss, 1 ties, 9 goals for, 5 goals against, 10 points). FIRST GAME: Costa Rica and Honduras played to a 2-2 tie in their first match. The Ticos had to …

Second Round RESULTS June 27 in Buenos Aires USA 0 Egypt 2 (Reyad pen. 76, El Yamany 85). Argentina 2 (Rodriguez 3, Dominguez 76) China 1 (Qu Bo 54). June 27 in Cordoba France 3 (Cisse pen. 34, 90, Mendy 42) Germany 2 (Auer 19, Thorsten 80). Brazil 4 (Adriano 27, 65, Kaka 52, Eduardo 73) Australia 0. June 28 in Salta Czech Republic 2 (Musil 20, Jun 71) Costa Rica 1 (Scott 28). June 28 in Mendoza Paraguay 2 (Benitez 19, Gonzalez 43) Ukraine 1 (Byelik 90). June 28 in Cordoba Netherlands 2 (Mustapha 51, Huntelaar 88) Angola 0. …

WUSA: Announced the Boston BreakersÆ D Kate Sobrero was fined an undisclosed amount for unsportsmanlike conduct following the June 22 game at New York. Announced the Washington FreedomÆs Head Coach Jim Gabarra was fined an undisclosed amount for violating league rules concerning player substitutions. Boston: Activated D Christine McCann from the reserve squad. McCann becomes a regular member of the active roster with a semi-guaranteed contract (all players have guaranteed contracts if they are on a team's roster on July 1), filling the spot made available when F Robin Confer (back) went on the cap relief list. Philadelphia: Activated D …

BY RIDGE MAHONEY That is how Rapids coach Tim Hankinson describes the result of the changes he has wrought in the past few months, particularly the trade yesterday that brings Carlos Valderrama, Scott Garlick and Ritchie Kotschau to Colorado from Tampa Bay. "We have 14 games to make the playoffs and we had to make changes now," said Hankinson of his 2-8-4 squad that sits last in the Western Division. "It wasn't working with the group we had. The mix wasn't right. Along with Raul [Diaz Arce] and John Spencer and Robin Fraser and moving [Marcelo Balboa] to midfield, we …

BY RIDGE MAHONEY The two worst teams in MLS have swung a deal in a drastic effort to improve their fortunes. Tampa Bay (3-10-1) and Colorado (2-8-4) have finally worked out a deal to reunite several players with former Mutiny head coach and current Rapids coach Tim Hankinson. Carlos Valderrama, Scott Garlick and Ritchie Kotschau are headed to the Rapids in exchange for Adin Brown, Scott Vermillion and a first-round draft pick next season. Vermillion is being sent on to D.C. United for Eric Denton. Denton will fill the left side of the Mutiny defense that Kotschau had occupied and …

Second Round RESULTS June 27 in Buenos Aires USA 0 Egypt 2 (Reyad pen. 76, El Yamany 85). Argentina 2 (Rodriguez 3, Dominguez 76) China 1 (Qu Bo 54). June 27 in Cordoba France 3 (Cisse pen. 34, 90, Mendy 42) Germany 2 (Auer 19, Thorsten 80). Brazil 4 (Adriano 27, 65, Kaka 52, Eduardo 73) Australia 0. Group A RESULTS June 17 in Buenos Aires Argentina 2 (Rodriguez 39, D'Alessandro 64) Finland 0. Egypt 0 Jamaica 0. June 20 in Buenos Aires Argentina 7 (Saviola 8, 16, pen. 44, Coloccini 20, Romagnoli 58, Rodriguez 69, 71) Egypt 1 (El …

Predictions Here are Soccer America Associate Editor Dean Caparaz's predictions for the June 30-July 1 games: Washington 0 Carolina 1 San Diego 0 New York 1 Philadelphia 1 Atlanta 2 Previews (all times ET) Sunday, June 30 - (5:00 pm) - Carolina (2-7-2, 8th place, 8 pts) at Washington (4-5-2, 5th place, 14 pts) (Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, CNN/SI regional). Season series: Washington leads 1-0-1; All-time regular-season series:: Washington leads 1-0-1 (Washington leads 4-3 on aggregate goals). Leading scorers: Carolina: F Danielle Fotopoulos (5 g, 2 a = 12 pts); Washington: F Pretinha (5 g, 1 a = 11 pts). Did …

Predictions Here are Soccer America Associate Editor Poul SwainÆs predictions for the games on June 30: Dallas 3 Los Angeles 2 D.C. United 2 Colorado 1 Miami 3 Columbus 2 New England 1 San Jose 2 Chicago 2 MetroStars 1 Kansas City 2 Tampa Bay 2 Previews (all times ET) Saturday, June 30 (4:00 p.m.) - Los Angeles Galaxy at Dallas Burn (ESPN) Season series: Series tied 0-0-1 (Series tied 0-0 in aggregate goals); All-time regular season series: Los Angeles leads series 8-11-2 (Los Angeles leads 42-30 in aggregate goals) Leading scorers: Los Angeles: F Cobi Jones (4g, 6a = …

RESULTS SECOND ROUND June 27 El Paso Patriots (A-League) 4 (Rowland 27, Macias 48, 52, Rodriguez 64) Chico Rooks (D3) 3 (Campos 53, Barragan 67, 77) Pittsburgh Riverhounds (A-League) 2 (Alfredo 54, Karn 90) Colorado Rapids (MLS) 0 Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 4 (Own goal 20, Santel 58, McKeon 60, Burns 90) Seattle Sounders (A-League) 0 Chicago Fire (MLS) 3 (Wynalda 37, 53, J.Beasley 73) San Diego Flash FC (A-League) 0 Milwaukee Rampage (A-League) 2 (Hayes 62, I.Soso 89) Utah Blitzz (D3) 0 Central Coast Roadrunners (PDL) 0 San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) 6 (DeRosario 52, Bower 57, 68, Agogo 70, …