Toluca, UNAM, America Roll On
With the new Mexican season barely two weeks old, only three of the league’s 20 teams--Toluca, UNAM and Club America--remain unbeaten and untied.
Jose Cardozo, the Paraguay national team striker who scored four goals in Toluca’s first two matches, added two over the weekend as Toluca routed Morelia, 4-1, to improve to 3-0-0.
Brazilian-born forward Zinha scored Toluca’s other goals.
UNAM, coached by former Mexico national team star Hugo Sanchez, also is 3-0-0 after the Pumas defeated Monterrey, 2-1, on the road.
Brazilian Emerson gave UNAM the lead, but Monterrey, coached by 1978 World Cup winner Daniel Passarella of Argentina, tied it on a goal by Argentine Walter Ervitti.
A mistake by goalkeeper Omar Ortiz allowed Rafael Marquez to score the winner seven minutes from the end.
Club America is 2-0-0 after the defending champions beat San Luis, 2-1, with Mexico national team striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco and former Chile national team standout Ivan Zamorano scoring for the winners.
Chivas of Guadalajara are 0-2-1 after being tied by the Jaguares de Chiapas, 1-1.
Ebner to the Rescue
Arizona State freshman Stephanie Ebner was called up to join the U.S. under-19 women’s national team for the rest of the FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championship in Canada after midfielder Amy Steadman suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee Saturday during the team’s 5-1 opening-game victory over England.
Ebner, from Taylorsville, Utah, was one of three alternates on Coach Tracey Leone’s roster.
U.S. Heads for Finland
The U.S. under-17 national team will play three games against Finland in Helsinki on Thursday, Saturday and Monday as Coach John Ellinger tries to acclimatize the players to the conditions they might face in next year’s FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Finland.
The 18-player American roster includes defender Brandon Owens of Murrieta, who plays for the La Jolla Nomads, and midfielder Guillermo Gonzalez of Paramount, who plays for the Irvine Strikers.
The Americans, who finished fourth in the 1999 world championship in New Zealand when such players as Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley were on the team, face a potentially difficult CONCACAF qualifying tournament in March in Guatemala.
The U.S. is the only country to take part in every under-17 world championship since the first in 1985.
Best Back in Hospital
Former European player of the year George Best, who underwent a 10-hour liver transplant July 30, has been readmitted to Cromwell Hospital in London for treatment of a surgery-related infection.
A hospital spokesman said Best, 56, had been readmitted over the weekend because of “a complication related to a local infection which is now under control and his condition is improving.”
Talebi Quits Syria
Jalal Talebi, the coach who led Iran to its 1998 World Cup victory over the U.S. in France, has quit as coach of Syria’s national team after less than a year, claiming that his four-year plan to improve the team was being undercut by demands from Syrian soccer federation leaders for immediate success.
Talebi, an Iranian whose family lives in California, said he would return to the U.S. and consider other coaching offers, including one from Bahrain.
Shevchenko Injured
AC Milan and Ukraine national team forward Andriy Shevchenko, one of the world’s most highly regarded strikers, will be sidelined for at least two months after knee-ligamentsurgery Monday in Belgium.
Shevchenko has scored 62 goals for Milan since joining the Italian team three seasons ago from Dynamo Kiev.
Italian TV Squabble
After four decades of covering Italian league games, RAI, Italy’s state television company, is threatening to pull the plug unless clubs reduce their asking price for a highlights package of Serie A and Serie B games.
“RAI is not prepared to bleed itself dry to save football clubs that are suffocating in debt,” Agostino Sacca, RAI’s director general, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Monday.
The Italian league is asking $87.4 million for the highlights package and live coverage of Italian Cup matches, but RAI does not want the Cup games and is offering only $45 million for the highlights.
