Category: Story

[AMERICANS ABROAD] With three Americans in the starting lineup, one more on the bench and a fifth not suited up, Fulham completed one of the most improbable comebacks in English league history when it won at Portsmouth, 1-0, on Sunday to avoid relegation. The win gave the Cottagers nine out of nine points in their final three games to escape almost-certain relegation. Instead, Reading and Birmingham City, both big winners on Sunday, joined last-place Derby in being dropped to the League Championship.

The Seattle Sounders drew 10,184 fans at Qwest Field for their 0-0 tie with Northwest rival Portland in their 2008 home opener. The Timbers remained in first place in the USL-1, two points ahead of Minnesota, which beat Montreal, 1-0, before only 745 fans in rainy St. Paul. For all the USL-1 results and goal scorers …

[OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN] The U.S. women’s national team gained revenge for its only blemish of the year with a resounding 6-0 win over Canada before 9,322 fans Saturday in Washington, D.C.

The top six teams in the Eastern Conference have better records than the Western Conference co-leaders, Colorado and FC Dallas. For the up-to-date MLS standings and leading scorers, all the weekend summaries and this week’s schedule …

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFYING] The USL-1’s Puerto Rico Islanders took a 1-0 lead in their CONCACAF Champions League qualifying series with Trinidad & Tobago’s San Juan Jabloteh thanks to their victory Friday night in Bayamon on Haitian international Fabrice Noel‘s goal.

[CHAMPIONS] On the final day of the English Premier League season, Manchester United broke the deadlock at the top when it won, 2-0, at Wigan and Chelsea could only tie Bolton Wanderers, 1-1, at home. United’s goalscoring heroes were Cristiano Ronaldo with his 31st goal of the EPL season and Ryan Giggs, who won his 10th EPL title with United.

[NAMES & NUMBERS] There were three East-West confrontations over the MLS weekend, and all resulted in — you guessed it — wins for the visiting Eastern Conference teams. The Western Conference is so bad that FC Dallas, which dropped to .500 with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake, is the only team that doesn’t have a losing record. It took seven weeks, but MLS stars Juan Pablo Angel, Taylor Twellman, Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario finally got their first goals of the season. For all the MLS weekend action …

[EUROPEAN RACES] The race for Italy’s Scudetto took a dramatic turn Sunday when Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi missed a penalty kick that would have given the Nerazzurri their third straight Serie A title. Instead, Inter, which was held to a 2-2 tie by Siena, goes into the final day of the season with a one-point lead over Roma. In France, the race for the Ligue 1 championship will also be decided this weekend. Lyon and Bordeaux remained 1-2 in Ligue 1 with one game to play.

[MLS] With the start of World Cup 2010 qualifying only weeks away, the USA suffered a blow when Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein was sidelined with a sprain of the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee that will be him out of action for 6-8 weeks.

Francois Sterchele, the leading scorer in the 2006-07 Belgian First Division, was killed Thursday morning after he lost control of his Porsche and hit a tree near the city of Antwerp.

The English Premier League race goes down to the final day of the season on Sunday with UEFA Champions League finalists Manchester United and Chelsea still tied for the English Premier League. United travels to Wigan, while Chelsea hosts Bolton Wanderers with United holding the advantage on the tiebreaker. Italy’s Scudetto could be decided on Sunday when leader Inter Milan and second-place Roma, three points back, host Siena and Atalanta, respectively. For all the weekend international action on television …

[LIBERTADORES CUP] Mexico’s Club America pulled off one of the most improbable upsets in the history of the Libertadores Cup when it overturned a 4-2 deficit from the first leg of its second-round series with Brazilian club Flamengo thanks to a 3-0 at the famed Maracana Stadium on Wednesday night.

[SPAIN] Less than 24 hours after a humiliating 4-1 loss to Spanish champion Real Madrid, Barcelona announced that Coach Frank Rijkaard would be replaced next season by former captain Pep Guardiola.