Preki Wins His Second Scoring Title

Major League Soccer’s oldest player, Kansas City Wizard midfielder Preki, who turned 40 in June, Monday was named the league’s scoring champion for the second time.

The Yugoslavia-born Preki, a former U.S. national team player, scored 12 goals and assisted on a league-high 17 others during the regular season that ended Sunday. That was enough to earn him 41 points, matching his winning total in 1997 and allowing him to edge Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz for the scoring title. Ruiz had 15 goals and five assists for 35 points.

“I just try to play my game and the game takes care of things from there,” said Preki, who has been in the league since its inception. “As long as we keep winning, that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Chicago Fire and former UCLA forward Ante Razov and New England Revolution forward Taylor Twellman tied for third.

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Chivas USA

Jorge Vergara, the Mexican businessman who owns Chivas de Guadalajara and is close to finalizing the purchase of an expansion team in MLS, said that a team with a heavily Mexican character would greatly help the league.

He also said San Diego probably was where Chivas USA would be playing.

“We are looking for the strongest base of Mexican support and the possibility of a new stadium,” he told Associated Press in Mexico City. “San Diego offers both.

“We are convinced that a Mexican team is what the MLS needs. A team as popular as Chivas could really dominate [and] become the team with the most support in the league.”

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Hamm and Mitts

U.S. women’s national team Coach April Heinrichs recalled Mia Hamm from her one-game “vacation” and also plucked defender Heather Mitts out of the television studio when she named her roster for the team’s final match of 2003.

The U.S. (16-4-2 this year) plays Mexico at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Sunday in a game that will be shown live at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.

Hamm was rested after the Women’s World Cup and did not play in the Americans’ 2-2 tie with Italy in Kansas City, Mo., last week.

Mitts, a former University of Florida player who served as a studio analyst during the Women’s World Cup, will replace two unavailable defenders: Catherine Reddick, who is with the University of North Carolina team preparing for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and Kate Sobrero, who is getting married Friday in Boston.

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Bartlett Retires

Shaun Bartlett, the former Colorado Rapid player who has scored 27 goals in 66 international matches for South Africa, announced his retirement from the South African national team.

Bartlett, who turns 31 Friday, is trying to secure a new contract with Charlton in the English league and Charlton Coach Alan Curbishley made it clear that Bartlett had to put club before country.

“We were in a ridiculous situation where he’d go missing for six weeks over Christmas [to play for South Africa in African Nations Cup qualifying],” Churbishley said. “We said to Shaun it wasn’t on. We pay his wages so [we] asked what his priority was.”

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Quick Passes

The U.S., under Coach Jay Hoffman, has qualified for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, after finishing sixth in the Paralympic World Championship in Buenos Aires.... Seongnam Ilhwa won its third consecutive Korean league championship under Coach Cha Kyung-Bok.... Bordeaux of the French league fired Elie Baup as coach and replaced him with Michel Pavon, the former midfielder who captained Bordeaux to its 1999 league championship.... Lockeren of the Belgian league fired Paul Put as coach and replaced him with former Belgian national team standout Franky Van der Elst.

Times wire services contributed to this report.