The U.S. national futsal team qualified for its fourth FIFA Futsal World Championship on Friday, routing host Costa Rica, 4-0, in a CONCACAF semifinal in Heredia.Greg Howes scored two goals, and Brett Phillips made 20 saves as the heavily favored Ticos outshot the Americans, 41-12, and took 17 corner kicks but were unable to find the net.Cuba also qualified for the Nov. 21-Dec. 5 finals in Chinese Taipei, beating Mexico, 5-4, in the other semifinal before 2,741 at the Palacio de los Deportes.The Americans and Cubans, who tied, 1-1, in Wednesday's Group B finale, will meet in Saturday's CONCACAF championship.''[The …

Neil McGuire has resigned as Mississippi State's women's soccer head coach to take the open assistant coach position at Texas, and Bulldogs assistant Neil MacDonald has taken charge of the program.Former James Madison assistant coach Carrie Proost, a longtime W-League star who played in the WUSA last year as a replacement player, has been hired as head coach at Tennessee Tech.MacDonald, who joined Mississippi State as volunteer assistant before the 2003 spring season, was promoted Friday to succeed McGuire, who begins his new job on Monday.McGuire, a Scotsman, joins Chris Petrucelli's staff at Texas following four seasons in Starkville in …

Saturday's MLS All-Star Game at RFK Stadium will be using the traditional East vs. West format. Last season, the game was contested between league-wide All-Stars against guest team Chivas of Guadalajara. (MLS won, 3-1, at the Home Depot Center).Saturday's game will air live on ABC at 2 pm ET/11 am ET.EAST ALL-STAR ROSTER Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) Damani Ralph (Chicago Fire) Henry Ring (Chicago Fire) Chris Armas (Chicago Fire) Amado Guevara (MetroStars) Eddie Pope (MetroStars) Eddie Gaven (MetroStars) Jim Curtin (Chicago Fire) Jaime Moreno (D.C. United) Jon Busch (Columbus Crew) Freddy Adu (D.C. United) Alecko Eskandarian …

Goalkeeper Hope Solo, who has posted seven shutouts in 13 appearances with Kopparbergs/Goteborg, was named one of three MVP finalists Thursday in the Swedish Damallsvenskan.Umea IK midfielder Malin Mostrom and Djurgarden/Alvsjo forward Kristin Bengtsson are the other finalists.K/Goteborg (6-5-3) is in fifth place primarily because of Solo, who joined the Swedish club following her rookie season last year with the WUSA's Philadelphia Charge. The former University of Washington All-American will be the U.S. Olympic team's alternate goalkeeper at next month's Athens Games.Umea (13-1-0), which has won the past two European titles, holds a one-point lead on defending Swedish champion Djurgarden/Alvsjo …

The U.S. under-21 women's national team dominated Sweden on Thursday, scoring its fourth successive 3-0 victory to claim its sixth straight Nordic Cup title and seventh in eight years.University of North Carolina All-American Lori Chalupny scored just before halftime, and Texas' Kelly Wilson and Rutgers' Carli Lloyd added second-half goals three minutes apart as the Yanks held Sweden without a shot in the title game of the ''unofficial world championship'' for U-21 women.The Americans outscored their opposition, 12-0, in their most dominant Nordic Cup performance as head coach Chris Petrucelli won the competition for the second time.''We talked about how …

Massachussetts product ROBBIE RUSSELL stayed on the bench for his new club ROSENBORG in its 2-1 win over Moldova's FC Sheriff Tiraspol in their first-leg encounter in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. ... In England, a strained thigh muscle will likely keep BLACKBURN keeper BRAD FRIEDEL out of action for the remainder of the preseason schedule and makes him questionable for the U.S. World Cup qualifier Aug. 18 at Jamaica. ... CLAUDIO REYNA notched a goal in MANCHESTER CITY's 4-0 friendly against lower division Hull on Wednesday.

Defending W-League champion Hampton Roads Piranhas were upset Wednesday night in their playoff opener, falling to the visiting Charlotte Lady Eagles, 2-0, in the Atlantic Division final at Virginia Wesleyan University.Charlotte (12-2-1) beat Hampton Roads (12-2-1) for the second time in four meetings this season to advance to Sunday's Central Conference championship against the Chicago Cobras (13-0-1) in Mooseheart, Ill. The winner of that clash will head to the W-League final four Aug. 7-8 in Ottawa.The Long Island Lady Riders (12-3-0) and Montreal Xtreme (12-3-0) also won playoff games on Wednesday to reach the Eastern Conference final four this weekend …

The U.S. national futsal team moved within one win, and one very difficult test, of qualifying for the FIFA Futsal World Championship, rallying for a 1-1 tie with Cuba at the CONCACAF championship in Heredia, Costa Rica.Andy Guastaferro converted a 30th-minute penalty kick for the Americans (1-0-2), who finished second to the Cubans (2-0-1) in Group B and will face Costa Rica (3-0-0) in the semifinals on Friday.Cuba will meet Mexico (2-1-0) in the other semifinal, with the winners advancing to the FIFA tournament Nov. 21-Dec. 5 in Chinese Taipei.Costa Rica dominated Group A play, outscoring foes, 23-2. It finished …

July 28 in ColumbusColumbus 2 Dallas 1. Goals: Buddle (Elliott) 38, Buddle (Elliott, Wingert) 43; Kreis (Gbandi, Johnson) 59.Columbus - Busch, Hejduk, Fraser, Oughton, Marshall, Elliott, Paule, Wingert (Denton, 69), Martino, Lagos (Maisonneuve, 62), Buddle (Cunningham, 75).Dallas - Cassar, Gibbs, Talley (Rhine, 85), Gbandi (Nunez, 75), Goodson, OBrien, Pareja, Davis (Quill, 64), Valakari, Kreis, Johnson.Yellow Cards: Dallas - Talley 16, Goodson 79, OBrien 86, Pareja 91+.Referee: Roni Canales.Att.: 13,069. July 28 in Kansas CityKansas City 1 Metrostars 2. Goals: Klein pen. 37; Glen (Wolyniec) 23, Guevara 66.Kansas City - Meola, Garcia, Thomas (Zotinca, 73), Conrad, Burciaga Jr., Klein, Zavagnin, Jewsbury …

GOALKEEPER Preston Burpo (Seattle) Six saves, assist in 2-0 win and 2-2 draw DEFENDERS Justin Thompson (Vancouver) Solid play in 4-0 win over Milwaukee Adam Braz (Montreal) Solid play in wins over Atlanta, Calgary Tony Williams (Richmond) Assist in 4-1 win over Rochester MIDFIELDERS Steve Shak (Virginia Beach) Gamewinner in 3-0 win over Rochester Jonathan Bolanos (Seattle) Two assists in win over Portland, draw against Milwaukee Marco Ferruzzi (Minnesota) Goal, assist in 3-0 win over Edmonton Steve Kindel (Vancouver) Gamewinner in 4-0 win over Milwaukee FORWARDS Dave Castellano (Minnesota) Two goals in 3-0 win over Edmonton Kevin Jeffrey (Richmond) …

STANDINGS Eastern Conference Team W-L-T PTS Metrostars 7-6-5 26 Columbus 5-5-6 21 DC United 5-7-6 21 Chicago 4-7-7 19 New England 4-8-6 18Western Conference Team W-L-T PTS Los Angeles 9-5-6 33 Kansas City 9-4-5 32 Dallas 6-6-5 23 Colorado 5-5-8 23 San Jose 5-6-6 21SCHEDULE (home team first, times ET) Wednesday, July 28 Columbus-Dallas 7:30 pm Kansas City-Metrostars 8:30 pm Colorado-Chicago 9:30 pmSaturday, July 31 2004 Sierra Mist All-Star Game 2 pm (ABC) LEADING SCORERS Player (team) goals-assists: points Brian Ching (San Jose) 10-3: 23 Amado Guevara (Metrostars) 8-7: 23 Carlos Ruiz (Los Angeles) 10-2: 22 Davy Arnaud (Kansas City) …

(Home team listed first)Wednesday, July 28, 7:30 pm ET/6:30 pm CT/4:30 pm PT COLUMBUS (5-5-6, 21 pts) vs. DALLAS (6-6-5, 23 pts) TV: Fox Sports Net Southwest, HDNet. Direct Kick: DirecTV û 794; Dish Net û 461; InDemand. Key Players Out: Columbus û none; Dallas û none. Referee: Roni Canales. Wednesday, July 28, 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CT/5:30 pm PT KANSAS CITY (9-4-5, 32 pts) vs. METROSTARS (7-6-5, 26 pts) TV: Fox Sports Net New York. Direct Kick: DirecTV û 795; Dish Net û 462; InDemand. Key Players Out: Kansas City û MD Preki (L fractured fibula/L dislocated ankle), FW …

Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year Tim Howard and fellow American Jonathan Spector were in Manchester United's lineup Wednesday night, but the Red Devils failed to win for the second time in ChampionsWorld action this week.Craig Beattie scored his fourth goal in the series and Scottish champion Celtic stunned Man United, 2-1, before 55,421 fans at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.Spector was at fault on Celtic's goal, fouling Stilian Petrov for a penalty kick after having misplayed the ball.Celtic, dominated by Chelsea and Liverpool in its first two ChampionsWorld games, was far crisper and better organized against Manchester United.The match …

Meghan Welcome's overtime goal Tuesday night lifted the Boston Renegades to a 1-0 victory over the Western Mass Lady Pioneers in the W-League's New England Division final at Bowditch Stadium in Framingham, Mass.The Renegades (11-4-0), W-League champions in 2001 and 2002, advance to this weekend's Eastern Conference final four at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, N.J. Boston will join the top-seeded New Jersey Wildcats (14-0-0) and the winners of Wednesday's finals in the Northeast Division and North Central Division.Welcome, a Franklin Pierce University senior and two-time NSCAA Division II All-American, tallied in the 104th minute from University of …

Natasha Kai scored two second-half goals and Sarah Huffman connected for the second successive game as the U.S. under-21 national team dominated Germany, 3-0, Tuesday at Dalvik, Iceland, to advance to its eighth successive Nordic Cup final.Kai, a University of Hawaii All-American who was the top goalscorer in NCAA Division I last fall, netted her second and third goals of the ''unofficial world championship'' for under-21 women as the United States claimed its third 3-0 victory in as many Group B matches.The Americans, winners of the past five and six of the past seven Nordic Cups, will meet Sweden in …