Winners

Four days after the MLS All-Stars beat Chelsea, 1-0, D.C. United provided another impressive showing for MLS when it played Real Madrid to a 1-1 tie in front of 66,830 fans in Seattle. As the All-Stars, also under the direction of Coach Peter Nowak, did against the England champ, D.C. United played attacking soccer against the European guest. Alecko Eskandrian scored United’s goal with a 18-yard shot after a stylish combination of passes from Jaime Moreno, Christian Gomez, Josh Gros and Freddy Adu.

A crowd of 70,550, the largest for a soccer game in Texas history, witnessed a spectacular 4-4 tie between Mexico’s Club America, which jumped to a 4-1 lead, and Barcelona. Nelson Cuevas, who joined Club America from Pachuca after scoring one goal in 48 minutes of action for Paraguay at the 2006 World Cup, hit a hat trick. Ronaldinho sparkled for Barcelona in the second half, helping to set up a goal after a brilliant dribble, then scoring from the penalty spot after drawing the foul. The previous record for a soccer game attendance in Texas also came at Reliant Stadium — 69,582 for a USA-Mexico friendly in 2003.

In MLS action, Santino Quaranta, just arrived from D.C. United, scored with a pretty volley 10 minutes into his first appearance for the Los Angeles Galaxy, whose 1-0 win over Houston boosts the Galaxy’s playoff hopes.

Losers

Just days after the Colorado Rapids added two years to Coach Fernando Clavijo‘s contract, they fell, 4-1, to the West’s last-place team. Jeff Cunningham, whom Clavijo traded to Real Salt Lake, scored twice and assisted once against his former team, and leap-frogged over Chivas USA’s Ante Razov to the top of the scoring race with 13 goals. It was Colorado’s second straight 4-1 loss, having fallen to Dallas before the All-Star Break.

As Coach Steve Nicol keeps Jose Cancela, whose playoff heroics helped the Revs reach last year’s MLS final, on the bench, the New England Revolution remains at the .500 mark. Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Kansas City, the 6-11-4 club that remains winless in its last nine games, marked the Revs’ 10th tie.

Defending Libertadores Cup champ Sao Paulo fell, 2-1, at home to fellow Brazilian club Internacional in the first leg of the final. Rafael Sobis, 21, scored twice for Internacional before Edcarlos struck for the home team. The second leg takes place next Wednesday in the competition that does not use away goals as a tiebreaker.