Winners:
American DaMarcus Beasley gave an impressive performance for PSV Eindhoven in its 1-0 Champions League win over AC Milan, which last year eliminated PSV at the semifinal stage. Peruvian striker Jeffersen Farfan scored the winner. "[DaMarcus] Beasley and Farfan troubled us with their lively play," said AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti. AC Milan's Dutch defender Jaap Stam was red-carded after his second bad foul on Beasley.
MLS has started dishing out its end-of-season awards, voted on by media and MLS players, coaches and general managers: Rookie of the Year (Michael Parkhurst/New England); Coach of the Year (Dominic Kinnear/San Jose); Defender of the Year (Jimmy Conrad/Kansas City); Referee of the Year (Brian Hall); Humanitarian of the Year (Brian Kamler/Salt Lake); Comeback Player of the Year (Chris Klein/Kansas City).
MLS's five Goal of the Year finalists were scored by Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey, Dwayne De Rosario, Jason Kreis and Carlos Ruiz.
Losers:
Two weeks after beating Real Betis, 4-0, in England, CHELSEA fell, 1-0, to the Spanish club in Champions League play. Chelsea is now in second place of Group G, one point ahead of Real Betis and three behind Liverpool, which downed Anderlecht, 3-0. Chelsea is winless in its last six Champions League road games, dating back to last season.
HUGO SANCHEZ is out as UNAM Pumas coach by "mutual agreement" with the club he guided to back-to-back league titles in 2004 but whose playoff hopes this season faded with several embarrassing losses. Sanchez had been aggressively lobbying for the Mexico job while harshly criticizing Coach Ricardo La Volpe. During poor Mexico performances, fans have often chanted "Hugo, Hugo." But during Pumas' home loss to Club America last weekend, Pumas fans chanted, "La Volpe, La Volpe."