Winners:
MEXICO won its first soccer world championship when it downed Brazil, 3-0, on Sunday in the final of the U-17 World Championship. The Mexicans had reached the final by beating the Netherlands, 4-0, in the semifinals. The USA had exited the tournament with a 2-0 loss to the Dutch in the quarterfinals.
The SEATTLE SOUNDERS joined the Rochester Raging Rhinos as three-time USL First Division champions with a 4-3 penalty-kick tiebreaker victory over the Richmond Kickers Saturday night after their game at Qwest Field ended in a 1-1 tie. A crowd of 8,011 watched Seattle rally from a 1-0 deficit to tie the game on Cuban Maykel Galindo's goal in the 73rd minute. Seattle goalkeeper Preston Burpo was named the Championship Most Valuable Player.
Defending champion D.C. UNITED clinched an MLS playoff spot with a 4-1 win over the MetroStars and joins New England as the first two playoff qualifiers from the Eastern Conference. CHICAGO notched a crucial 1-0 win over East rival Kansas City to boost its playoff quest. The Wizards are now in fourth place, three points ahead of fifth-place MetroStars, who have a game in hand.
In Germany, Borussia M'gladbach, with American Kasey Keller in goal, notched its third straight win with a 1-0 victory over Mainz and moved into sixth place. In England, U.S. keeper Brad Friedel celebrated a 2-0 win with Blackburn over West Bromwich Albion and that moved Blackburn up to 11th place. Sixth-place Manchester City downed Everton, 2-0, but American midfielder Claudio Reyna sat out with a neck strain.
In the second tier of English soccer, second-place Reading, with two American starters, keeper Marcus Hahnemann and midfielder Bobby Convey, downed leader Sheffield United, 2-1, to pull within three points of first place.
Losers:
The Eastern Conference may be stronger overall than the Western Conference, where half the teams have losing records, but the best of the West, the San Jose Earthquakes, downed East leader NEW ENGLAND, 2-0. Rev midfielder Daniel Hernandez was red-carded in the 61sth minute. Brian Ching and Dewayne DeRosario scored for the Quakes, who have MLS's best record with 60 points from 30 games, five points better than the Revs.
Brazilian referee EDILSON PEREIRA DE CARVALHO admitted to fixing Brazilian league games in exchange for bribes from an illegal gambling ring. A Brazilian sporting tribunal has ruled to annul the results of all 11 games he officiated this year. Carvalho is known for his pre-game ritual in which he kisses his cards and prays.
American defender Carlos Bocanegra played the full 90 and Brian McBride played 72 minutes as FULHAM fell, 3-2, to Manchester United. Fulham, which has just one win this season, is third from the bottom in the English Premier League.