Akers Faces Another Hurdle in Her Quest to Reach Sydney

For Michelle Akers, the road to Sydney passes through pain. Not that she would have expected anything less.

The two-time world champion and defending Olympic gold medalist has undergone at least 10 knee surgeries during her 15-year career with the U.S. women’s national team.

She continues to fight Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), a battle she has endured for almost a decade.

One of the many photographs in her excellent new autobiography, “The Game and the Glory,” shows her with a left-eye “shiner” that any NHL player would be proud to sport. She got that when she broke her cheekbone last spring.

And now this.

Only a couple of weeks before Coach April Heinrichs gathers 30 players in Chula Vista to begin preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, Akers is heading to the hospital.

She will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday in Orlando, Fla., to repair damage caused when she dislocated her right shoulder in a collision with a goalkeeper during training last Sunday.

Akers, 34, is expected to be sidelined three months.

“This is definitely a bummer,” she said, “but I’m confident that the recovery will go quickly. I’m shooting to return to the team as soon as possible and be fit and ready for the Olympics.”

No one is to blame for the latest mishap, but two earlier incidents contributed to it. Akers separated the same shoulder while playing against Russia in Rochester, N.Y., in September 1998, then re-injured it in strange fashion during last summer’s Women’s World Cup.

She was high-fiving fans after a victory over North Korea at Foxboro Stadium in June when one of them grabbed her hand, pulled her off her feet and popped her shoulder out of joint.

Those are the breaks, as Akers well knows.

SCURRY MILESTONE

Heinrichs, who along with Akers and Carin Jennings-Gabarra formed “the triple-edged sword” forward line that helped the United States win the first Women’s World Cup in China in 1991, will keep a roster spot open for her former teammate.

Meanwhile, among the 30 players Heinrichs will bring into residency camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista on April 17 are three relative newcomers from Southern California: midfielders Nikki Serlenga, 21, of San Diego, and Veronica Zepeda, 17, of Riverside, and goalkeeper Jen Branham, 19, of Placentia.

The U.S. team is scheduled to play 20 or more matches before the Olympics, starting with a game against Iceland on Saturday at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

If she plays against Iceland, Briana Scurry will become the first goalkeeper to play 100 games for the national team. Ten U.S. field players have achieved the milestone.

NEXT STOP, MOSCOW

Coach Bruce Arena almost could field an all-European-based starting lineup when the U.S. plays Russia on April 26 in Moscow.

Of the 16 players Arena has selected for the game, 10 play for European clubs. The full roster, with teams in parentheses:

Goalkeepers: Brad Friedel (Liverpool, England), Kasey Keller (Rayo Vallecano, Spain).

Defenders: Gregg Berhalter (Cambuur, Netherlands), Chad Deering (Dallas Burn), Robin Fraser (Galaxy), Eddie Pope (D.C. United), David Regis (Metz, France).

Midfielders: Chris Armas (Chicago Fire), Frankie Hejduk (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Cobi Jones (Galaxy), Eddie Lewis (Fulham, England), Claudio Reyna (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Tony Sanneh (Hertha Berlin, Germany).

Forwards: Brian McBride (Columbus Crew), Joe-Max Moore (Everton, England), Ernie Stewart (NAC Breda, Netherlands).

SOCCER DOT-COM

The Internet continues to swallow up everything in sight, and soccer is not immune. In the last week, for example, it was announced in London that a Web site will be introduced in May that will allow clubs worldwide to deal directly with each other.

InterClubNet.com will feature a database of 18,000 professional players worldwide and will enable club officials and coaches to see which are available for trade and to discuss other business in privacy, with instant translation available in several languages.

Manchester United and nine other Premier League clubs in England, AC Milan and Inter Milan in Italy, and all 20 clubs in the Brazilian league already have joined the system, according to a Reuters report.

“For years the top decision makers in football have had problems dealing directly with one another, but by signing on to this system, they will be able to do that,” InterClubNet.com managing director Nick Roach told the wire service. “We think it will significantly change the way clubs do business with each other over transfers and in every other way, in the future.”

The Web site is not available to the public.

“This opens up a whole new world,” said David Richardson, chairman of England’s Premier League.

Closer to home, Jack Warner, the Trinidadian president of CONCACAF since 1990 and a FIFA vice president since 1996, joined the board of directors of Internetsoccer.com. as a “special advisor.”

GOOOOOAAAL! FOR NBC

Andres Cantor, who created a following for himself during the last two World Cups with his drawn-out goal calls and fast-paced broadcasts on Spanish-language Univision, has been hired by NBC to call soccer at the Sydney Olympics in September.