Winners
COLUMBUS CREW. A Tony Sanneh goal gave the Crew a 1-0 win over D.C. United for its fourth straight win and its 14th straight game without a loss, putting it within one game of the Los Angeles Galaxy's league record 15-game winless streak, set in 1997-98.
ANDY HERRON, the Costa Rican striker, scored two goals in his first start for the Chicago Fire in its 2-0 over New England, which came back to earth a week after beating Colorado, 6-1. CHRIS ARMAS, back on the field after a Sept. 1 knee surgery, assisted on both Herron goals.
CLINT MATHIS. The American striker scored his first goal for Hannover in seven months to give his German First Division team a 1-0 win over Schalke 04. Mathis came off the bench in the 81st minute and 180 seconds later robbed Frank Rost of the ball, beat two Schalke players, passed to Thomas Christiansen, who returned a cross that Mathis hammered into the corner of the goal, giving 17th-place Hannover its first win of the season.
BRIAN WEST scored his team's lone goal for the second straight week as Fredrikstad downed Bodo/Glimt, 1-0, in the Norwegian First Division. It marked the Maryland product's sixth goal of the season
ROCHESTER CROWD. The opening game of the U.S. women's Fan Celebration Tour in Rochester, N.Y., drew 14,870 fans, the largest ever to watch a soccer game at Frontier Field. They watched hometown hero Abby Wambach score two goals and set up Mia Hamm for a third before Iceland rallied with three unanswered goals. Heather Mitts' goal in stoppage time gave the Americans a 4-3 win.
Losers
AMERICANS ABROAD. Of the 11 European-based U.S. players who played in World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador and Panama, nine had started their last league game before joining the USA for the qualifiers. Last weekend, three started: Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Gregg Vanney (Bastia) and Brian McBride, who earned his first Premier League start of the season for Fulham in Saturday's 1-0 win over Southampton. Tim Howard, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey are no longer starting in league play. Clint Mathis and Conor Casey are back to their regular roles of coming off the bench. Claudio Reyna and Carlos Bocanegra are hurt, while Kasey Keller remains on the Tottenham bench.
RUDI VOELLER, who stepped down as Germany coach after Euro 2004, has resigned again, this time from the Roma head-coaching job he took on less than a month ago. Under Voeller, Roma won once, tied once, and lost twice in Italian Serie A play. He quit Roma after it lost, 3-1, to Bologna, which had been reduced to nine players.
D.C. UNITED made life easy for Columbus in the Crew's 1-0 win. Defender Ryan Nelson foolishly earned himself a first-half ejection with yellow cards for dissent and a bad tackle while Coach Peter Nowak subbed his most effective midfielder, Christian Gomez, at halftime.
LINDSAY TARPLEY. Defending NCAA Division I women's national champion North Carolina probably lost 2003 Soccer America Player of the Year and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Tarpley for the rest of the season with a broken leg. She fractured her right fibula colliding with Virginia Tech goalie Mallory Soldner during the Tar Heels' 6-1 victory on Sunday.