Landon Donovan suffered a strained hamstring that could sideline him for at least a week while warming up for Los Angeles' friendly against Cruz Azul on Wednesday. The Mexican club won, 4-1, in front of 7,980 fans at UC Santa Barbara's Harder Stadium.

In an MLS season in danger of being the lowest scoring in the league's 11-year history, Chivas USA is providing the relief for soccer fans who also had to suffer through a goal-deprived World Cup.For the second week in a row, Chivas USA played a midweek road-game that ended in a 3-3 tie. Last week, Chivas led 3-2 at Colorado before giving up a stoppage-time goal.On Wednesday, against Real Salt Lake, Claudio Suarez poked in the late equalizer after superb setup work from Jesse Marsch and Ante Razov, four minutes into stoppage time. The game also featured a volleyed goal …

July 26 in DenverColorado 1 Houston 0.Goal: Hernandez (Martins) 35.Colorado - Cannon, Gargan, Mastroeni (Wingert, 76; Freeman, 95+), Karanka, Cooke, Beckerman, Mathis, Wasson, Denton, Hernandez, Martins (Peterson, 85).Houston - Onstad, Waibel (Holden, 80), Cochrane, Robinson, Gray (Goldthwaite, 80), Mullan, Clark, De Rosario, Davis, Ching, Moreno.Yellow Cards: Colorado - Martins 12, Mastroeni 56; Houston - De Rosario 38, Davis 74, Goldthwaite 93+.Referee: Terry Vaughn.Att.: 4,220.July 26 in Salt Lake CityReal Salt Lake 3 Chivas USA 3.Goals: Cunningham 33, Talley (Cunningham) 55, Williams (Kreis, Cunningham) 74; Razov (Palencia) 2, Bornstein (Razov, Marsch) 59, Suarez (Marsch, Razov) 94+.Real Salt Lake - Garlick, Novak, …

The U-18 Eclipse Select girls and the U-17 Arsenal FC boys, both seeking their third straight national titles, were held to ties on the opening day of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The Dallas Texans Red North tied Eclipse Select, 3-3. The Eclipse Select's four girls finalists were 2-0-2 on Day 1. The Texans lead all clubs with six entrants in the national finals, but they went 0-2-4 on Day 1. In the U-18 boys division, the Chicago Magic upset the Dallas Texans Red, the 2006 Dallas Cup Super Group champions, 3-1. U.S. U-18 player …

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor, Soccer AmericaStriker Jean-Philippe Peguero, held out of last week's MLS action due to an impending move to Danish club Broendby, was in Copenhagen Tuesday to undergo a medical exam and finalize personal terms. The league has agreed to an undisclosed transfer fee. Peguero, 24, has two option years left on his MLS contract. His salary for the 2006 season is listed at $70,000 and he reportedly will earn about $200,000 per season with Broendby, which is tied for first place with a 2-0 record in the Danish season that began last week. Broendby finished second …

After British jockey Paul O'Neill was caught by TV replays head-butting his horse, City Affair, London's Evening Standard's headline read: ''Angry jockey does a 'Zidane' to his horse.'' The Horseracing Regulatory Authority is investigating the incident as the sporting world speculates on what the pony could have said to provoke O'Neill's attack.

California club Slammers FC became the first team in the history of U.S. Club SoccerÆs National Cup to win back-to-back titles when it won the 2006 U-16 Super Group title with a shootout victory over the Chicago Magic in the final. Two other California clubs -- San Juan SC Spirits (U-17 Super Group) and Capital Athletic Boca Juniors (U-15 Super Group) û won their second National Cup championships.2006 National Cup V Super Group Girls FinalsU15Capital Athletic Boca Juniors (CA) 5 NFC Tabagators Green (NV) 1?Goalscorers - Capital Athletic Boca Juniors: Brynne Konkel (4), Kelsey Costan. NFC Tabagators Green - Stacey …

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor, Soccer AmericaHow long will it take Bruce Arena to make New York Red Bull into a semblance of a competitive MLS team?In the short term, he'll have to rely on his tactical knowledge and motivational methods, since the team is tight up against the salary cap, it has no allocations, and the rumors of a ''secret meeting'' by which the MLS Board of Governors ''approved'' a mega-player acquisition for Red Bull New York appear to be nothing more than rumors.The return of Youri Djorkaeff can help, assuming Arena can sort out the wants and needs …

U.S. under-20 MenÆs National Team head coach Thomas Rongen released the 18-player roster he will take to Northern Ireland for the 2006 Milk Cup. Rongen included seven pro players, five of which ply their trade in MLS -- Josmer Altidore (N.Y. Red Bulls), Carlos Borja (Chivas USA), Rodrigo Lopez (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas) and Blake Wagner (FC Dallas) -- and two who play in Europe -- Johann Smith (Bolton Wanderers) and Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg). The USA faces Wales on July 31 and Denmark on Aug. 2 and finishes the tournament with a placement match on Aug. 4.U.S. U-20 …

PDLCENTRAL CONFERENCE @ Des Moines, IA Friday, July 28 Michigan v Boulder -- 7:00 Chicago v Des Moines -- 9:30 Saturday, July 29 Conference Championship -- 8:30 EASTERN CONFERENCE @ Virginia Beach, VA Friday, July 28 Williamsburg v Cape Cod -- 5:30 Westchester v Virginia Beach -- 8:00 Saturday, July 29 Conference Championship -- 5:00 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE @ Greensboro, NC Friday, July 28 Augusta v Laredo -- 5:30 Bradenton v Carolina -- 8:00 Saturday, July 29 Conference Championship -- 7:30 WESTERN CONFERENCE @ Provo, UT Friday, July …

USL First Division Friday, July 21 Rochester 1 (Menyongar pen. 23) Toronto 1 (Jeffrey 70). Minnesota 2 (Schmidt 74, Knox 76) Montreal 1 (Di Ioia 53). Portland 1 (Alcaraz-Cuellar 85) Seattle 2 (Besagno 76, Weaver 77). Saturday, July 22 Atlanta 1 (Ukah 16) Puerto Rico 1 (Marcina 76). Charleston 2 (Glinton 14, 50) Miami 0. Seattle 3 (Weaver 10, Levesque 25, Galindo 59) Portland 1 (Kreamalmeyer pen. 17). USL Second Division Wednesday, July 19 New Hampshire 3 (Fernandes 3, 34, Charles 89) Western Mass 1 (Deren 49). Thursday, July 20 Pittsburgh 1 (Mellor 71) Charlotte …

Germany ended the USA's run of seven straight Nordic Cup titles when it beat the Americans', 2-0, in the championship game of the under-21 women's competition.ôOverall on the day, (Germany) deserved to win,ö said U.S. coach Jillian Ellis. ôWe had good possession and pressured them a lot in the second half, but we couldnÆt finish. We were pushing for a tying goal, and it was unlucky to give up that last one.öBoth Germany goals came off U.S. miscues. The first came in the 32nd minute when defender Rachel Buehler slipped while trying to clear a ball from her six-yard box …

July 22 in Columbus, Ohio Columbus 1 Los Angeles 1. Goals: Gaven (Thomas, Coiner) 9; Vagenas (Gardner) 14. Columbus -- Gaudette, Hendrickson, Gonzalez, Kotschau, Leitch, Thomas (Szetela, 82), Bisaku (Moss, 28), Vasquez, Burch, Coiner (Kamara, 70), Gaven. Los Angeles -- Hartman, Benditson (Veris, 85), Ihemelu, Roberts, Sturgis, Kirk, Nagamura (Martino, 66), Vagenas, Gardner (Jones, 58), Gomez, Donovan. Referee: Richard Heron. Att.: 16,942. July 22 in East Rutherford, NJ New York 1 Kansas City 0. Goal: Magee (Stammler, Wynne) 25 New York -- Conway, Wynne, Mendes, Parke, Dunivant, Stammler, Guevara, O'Rourke, Henderson …

Defender Cat Whitehill scored twice and forwards Heather OÆReilly, Abby Wambach and Natasha Kai also scored goals as the USA beat Ireland, 5-0, Sunday in San Diego. The game drew only 3,574 fans -- the smallest crowd ever to watch the U.S. women play in California.ôWe scored five quality goals today,ö said U.S. head coach Greg Ryan, who moved to 16-0-4 at the helm of the United States. ôI am real happy with that and we created a lot of other chances as well. As you could see, we had a lot of young players on the field. Kristine Lilly …

UCLAÆs Danesha Adams scored a hat trick to lead the U.S. under-21 womenÆs national team to a 4-0 victory over host Norway and advance to the championship game of the Nordic Cup for the ninth consecutive year.The USA will face Germany in the title game on July 22 at Viking Stadium in Stavanger.Noelle Keselica scored the fourth goal for the USA, which needed to win by four or more goals to edge Iceland for the Group B title.''We were just all over them. We never took our foot off the gas,'' said U.S. head coach Jillian Ellis. ''Danesha was just …