By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor, Soccer AmericaAn attempt to acquire Colorado Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni has, at least for now, been quashed by MLS.Italian Serie B club Brescia has inquired about taking Mastroeni on loan for the upcoming season, but Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo says the terms, as he understands them, are unacceptable.''The deal, as it is now, makes no sense for anybody,'' said Clavijo Saturday prior to the Rapids' 4-1 loss to Dallas. ''Not for Pablo, not for the league, not for Colorado. We would never stand in a player's way if he had the opportunity to go somewhere, …

July 29 in Frisco, TexasFC Dallas 4 Colorado 1. Goals: Rhine (Thompson, Nunez) 8, Nunez 71, Nunez 74, Cooper 93+; Beckerman 34.FC Dallas - Sala, Rhine, Goodson, Moor (Yi 28), Gbandi, Nunez, Mulrooney, Valakari, Alvarez (Oduro, 64), Cooper, Thompson (Saragosa, 74).Colorado - Cannon, Gargan, Karanka, Petke, Denton, Cooke, Beckerman, Noel (Ben Dayan, 64), Wasson (Mathis, 77), Peterson (Kirovski, 60), Hernandez.Referee: Alex Prus.Att.: 18,329.July 29 in Kansas CityKansas City 1 New England 1.Goals: Wolff 12; Ralston (Dempsey, Noonan) 95+.Kansas City - Oshoniyi, Zotinca, Conrad, Garcia, Burciaga Jr. (Thomas, 81), Arnaud, Victorine, Zavagnin, van den Bergh (Raad, 68), Wolff (Sealy, 65), Johnson.New …

Natasha Kai, 23, scored her fifth goal for the USA since debuting for the national team earlier this year to help the USA down Canada, 2-0, in a friendly on Sunday.Kai, a Hawaii product, now has five goals in eight games. She finished a rebound off her own shot for her strike late in the second half. Abby Wambach's penalty kick had given the USA a halftime lead. The U.S. women improved their overall 2006 record to 9-0-3. ''Nobody could say that this was an artistic game today,'' said U.S. coach Greg Ryan. ''It was just a scrap and a …

Arsenal FC won its third straight national title when it captured the under-17 boys group at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships on Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa. Eclipse SelectÆs bid for a third straight title ended when it was eliminated in a shootout on Friday in the under-18 girls group. So Cal United (U-15 boys) and the Dallas Texans Red (U-18 boys) also repeated as national champions. Under-14 Girls Elmer Ehlers Cup ISC Strikers (CA-S) vs. Hershey Attack (E-PA), 1:0 The Strikers and Hershey met in round robin play where the Strikers defeated Hershey (1:0). In todayÆs final …

Amy Vermeulen scored a hat to lead the Ottawa Fury to a fourth straight W-League semifinal appearance as it upset the defending champion New Jersey Wildcats 3-2 Sunday to join the host Vancouver Whitecaps, the Central Conference champion Charlotte Lady Eagles and the Seattle Sounders Saints, who won the Western Conference tournament in the W-League final four. In the PDL, the tradition of tops seeds falling continued with No. 7 seed Laredo being the only one in the top eight advancing to the PDL semifinals next weekend. Michigan drubbed No. 3 Boulder and No. 4 Chicago by a …

By Mike WoitallaExecutive Editor, Soccer AmericaThe Germans promised they would deliver a party and exceeded all expectations.The two 30-year-old German men bought replica jerseys of Spain and France.They cut the shirts down the middle and sewed two different halves together.That gave them each a shirt representing both teams.''We couldn't decide who to root for,'' said one of them as they walked to the second-round game in Hanover's AWD-Arena.In Nuremberg, a group of elementary school children carried American flags, and a few of them had the stars-and-stripes on their T-shirts. Asked what part of the USA they're from, they announced that …

By Ridge MahoneySenior Editor, Soccer America MagazineU.S. Soccer is in the midst of a critical self-examination following the national team's first-round ouster at the World Cup. It has much more to ponder than simply what happened during three games in June.The forlorn faces strewn through the plazas and streets of Nuremberg the night of June 22 starkly revealed the confirmed fears of many U.S. fans: We're not good enough.Landon Donovan had declared the U.S. good enough to compete, even against tough European teams like the Czech Republic and Italy and African debutant Ghana, whose prowess at youth levels had finally …

By Paul KennedyManaging Editor, Soccer AmericaThere's two ways to look at the impact of the dreary U.S. showing at the World Cup on Major League Soccer.One view is that MLS is strong enough to withstand a big hit because of its huge investment in stadiums and its long-term contracts with commercial partners - an infusion of upward of $1 billion.The other view is that the U.S. failure at the 2006 World Cup is a bigger debacle for MLS than the 32nd-out-of-32 finish at the 1998 World Cup.Granted, the 2006 World Cup didn't produce quite the ''whine fest'' that took place …

By Mike Woitalla, in BerlinExecutive Editor, Soccer America MagazineIn the shadow of scandal and amid jeers, Italy lifted the World Cup title.THEY'RE LIKE GOOD HURDLERS goes one assessment of the Italian national team, jumping only as high as necessary to clear the bar.The Italians try to advance through tournaments playing not to lose, hoping to squeak through by a goal, on a counterattack or late penalty kick.That's their modus operandi, supposedly, and who's to argue when one listens to midfielder Simone Perrotta, who said that defense is in the Italians' blood.''No one cares about playing pretty,'' he announced. ''I would …

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor, Soccer America ''No-Brainer.'' That's how former U.S. international John Harkes describes his decision to leave the D.C. United Director of Youth Development post to take an assistant coaching position with Red Bull New York.The specifics of his role under Head Coach Bruce Arena have yet to be finalized, yet he's looking forward to working with former D.C. United teammate Richie Williams, who has served as interim head coach following the dismissal of Mo Johnston, and probably ex-U.S. defender Jeff Agoos as well.Harkes, Williams and Agoos all played under Arena at D.C. United and the University …

The powerhouse Dallas Texans Red recovered from their opening game loss to beat the Classic FC Bandolero, 5-2, in the Under-18 boys group at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The Texans, who are playing without star Jonathan Villanueva, who joined the U.S. U-18s in Northern Ireland after a two-week tryout at Dutch club Ajax, got a hat trick from North Carolina-bound Billy Dworsky. The Chicago Magic lead the U-18 boys group with a pair of wins.Under-19 BoysArsenal FC (CA-S) 3 Javanon (KY) 2. Goals: Agwu 19, Konoske 43, Guerrero 86; Walcott 75, Yeagle 81.Weston FC …

Aly Wagner will become the 18th women to play 100 or more times for her national team if she plays against Canada on Sunday in Cary, N.C. (live on ESPN2, 1 pm. ET). The USA has won seven of its last eight games against Canada and is 29-3-3 over against the Canadians. U.S. Women's roster for Canada game: GOALKEEPERS: Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.). DEFENDERS: Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Tina Frimpong (Vancouver, Wash.), Amy LePeilbet (Crystal Lake, Ill.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.). MIDFIELDERS: Carli …

When Vasco da Gama forward Valdir Papel came toward the bench his own coach, Renato Portaluppi, shoved him down the sideline. Papel had been ejected in the 17th minute of the Copa Brasil final after receiving his second yellow card for his second brutal tackle from behind.''It's unacceptable that you give a player a chance like that and he gets sent off for doing the same thing twice,'' said the furious Renato. Flamengo won, 1-0, on a 28th minute goal by Juan to win the two-leg series, 3-0, on aggregate for Flamengo's first national title since 1992.

Brazil's Sao Paulo, which had lost twice to Chivas Guadalajara in the group stage, downed the Mexican club, 1-0, in the first leg of their Libertadores Cup semifinal in Mexico.Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni scored the game's only goal on a penalty kick. It was Ceni's 63rd career goal, tying Paraguayan Jose Luis Chilavert's record for most goals by a keeper.

The exodus of Mexican World Cup stars to Europe continued when striker Francisco Fonseca joined Portugal's Benfica.The Cruz Azul player, nicknamed ''Kikin,'' is the fourth member of Mexico's World Cup squad to move to Europe in the last month. Defender Ricardo Osorio and captain Pavel Pardo joined Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, and defender Carlos Salcido moved to Dutch champion PSV.Aaron Galindo, who missed the World Cup because of a one-year ban for a doping offense, signed with Spanish Second Division club Hercules.