Winners

D.C. UNITED and New England served up one the of the most exciting games in MLS history, playing to a 3-3 tie in front of an electrified RFK Stadium crowd of 21,201 before D.C. won the penalty-kick tiebreaker, 4-3, to advance to the MLS Cup for a record fifth time.

Golazos by ALECKO ESKANDARIAN, JAIME MORENO and CHRISTIAN GOMEZ gave D.C. United the lead three times in its semifinal with over New England. Eskandarian took the ball 15 yards inside the Revs' half and dribbled to the edge of the penalty area before driving a left-footed shot into the inside netting of the right post. Moreno had keeper Matt Reis and the New England defense looking for a cross when he curled a right-footed shot into the left side of the net. Gomez just reached a fine cross by Earnie Stewart and headed it over Reis into the far corner of the goal.

DAVY ARNAUD, a second-year player out of Division II West Texas A&M, scored both goals as KANSAS CITY WIZARDS downed Los Angeles, 2-0, to advance to the MLS Cup, which they had reached once before, winning the 2000 title. Arnaud, who had gone scoreless for more than two months after notching nine, nutmegged keeper Kevin Hartman after a fine buildup involving Josh Wolff and shot home from a sharp angle after a pass from Alex Zotinca.

JOHN O'BRIEN, the long-injured American defender, saw his first Dutch league action in eight months and earned a 7 out of 10 rating by Voetbal International in Ajax Amsterdam's 3-1 win over Willem II. But he had to leave the field with 12 minutes left because of a hamstring injury.

Losers

For the second year in a row, the LOS ANGELES GALAXY failed to advance to the MLS Cup in its own Home Depot Center. Last season, they fell to San Jose in the quarterfinals despite a 4-0 aggregate lead. This season they fell at Kansas City, 2-0, in the semifinals.

The U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM's 21-game unbeaten streak came to an end Saturday with a 3-1 friendly defeat to Denmark in front of 14,812 fans in Philadelphia. The American's last loss was 3-1 defeat to Sweden March 18.

HANNOVER's five-game winning streak came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich, dropping it from fourth to sixth place. American Steve Cherundolo played the entire 90 minutes for Hannover, his 11th start of the season. Clint Mathis has not seen action for Hannover since September.

MANCHESTER UNITED's 0-0 tie with Manchester City marked its fifth game without a goal in 12 Premier League outings while ALAN SMITH received the 10th red card of his career. Coach Alex Ferguson blamed referee Graham Poll for not awarding Man U two penalty kicks, claiming it was retribution for the penalty kick his team controversially won in a win over Arsenal two weeks ago. Americans Tim Howard and Jonathan Spector did not see action for Man U, nor did injured Claudio Reyna play for Man City.