Winners:
The COLORADO RAPIDS clinched the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 3-1 win over Chivas USA in which Jean Philippe Peguero, Jovan Kirovski and Dedi Ben Dayan scored for the Rapids. With its 1-0 win over the MetroStars on a James Riley goal, NEW ENGLAND became the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a playoff spot.
With American BRAD FRIEDEL in goal, Blackburn downed Manchester United, 2-1, for its first win at Old Trafford in 43 years. Friedel received a 7 out of 10 rating from The Sun while Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was the recipient of a torrent of abuse from his own fans as Man U slipped to fifth place with a 3-1-2 (win-loss-tie) record. CHELSEA remains the Premier League's undefeated leader but conceded its first goal of the season in its 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
HAMBURG SV ended Bayern Munich's record Bundesliga winning streak at 15 games with a 2-0 victory on Saturday. The feat earned HSV's fans a gift of 10,000 liters (2,643 gallons) of beer from the Bitburger brewery and 15,000 (3,964 gallons) from the Holsten Brewery. HSV now has a 17-game unbeaten streak (13 wins) and, with five wins and two ties this season, sits one point behind first-place Bayern.
Also in Germany, goalkeeper KASEY KELLER helped Borussia M'Gladbach win its first away game in one and a half years with a 2-0 victory over Arminia Bielefeld. Gladbach moved into seventh place. Energie Cottbus, with GREGG BERHALTER in defense, moved into first place of the Second Division with a 1-0 win over Erzgebirge Aue.
Roger Levesque scored in the 90th minute to give the visiting SEATTLE SOUNDERS a 2-1 victory over the defending champion Montreal Impact before 10,124 fans in Montreal and a 4-3 victory on aggregate in the USL Division I semifinals. The Sounders, last year's runners-up, advance to the final at home Oct. 1 against the RICHMOND KICKERS. The Kickers beat Rochester, 4-2, on aggregate in the other semifinal series. Matthew Delicate had three of the four Richmond goals.
Losers:
The KANSAS CITY WIZARDS' playoff hopes took a hit when they lost, 2-1, to Los Angeles on Sunday and extended their winless streak to five games. The Wizards are in fourth-place (the last playoff slot) in the East, but have played one game more than both Chicago, two points ahead in third place, and the MetroStars, three points behind in fifth place. Kansas City hosts Chicago this weekend.
American defender OGUCHI ONYEWU was red-carded in 21st minute of Standard Liege's 2-2 tie with Germinal Beershot but his team remains in first place of the Belgian Juliper League. Onyewu received the straight red card for a flying foul on Josemar Gil.
HANNOVER slipped to 13th in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 loss to Schalke 04 in which American defender Steve Cherundolo's foul gave Schalke a penalty kick it did not convert. It marked Hannover's third straight loss and Cherundolo received one of Kicker Magazine's lowest ratings.
Dutch club ADO DEN HAAG is again without the services of American John O'Brien, who suffered a groin injury in practice after playing 66 minutes in a 2-2 midweek tie with his old club, Ajax Amsterdam. ADO fell, 1-0, to Willem II without O'Brien on Saturday.