D.C. Seems to Be OK for Stewart

Barring an unlikely trade between now and Friday’s Major League Soccer draft, it appears that U.S. national team veteran Earnie Stewart will join D.C. United once he signs with MLS.

Stewart, 33, was given a free transfer by his Dutch club, NAC Breda, so that he could end his playing career in the United States, and the midfielder was trying to decide between Washington and Dallas.

Ray Hudson, D.C. United’s coach, not only has the top pick in Friday’s draft but also is owed two player allocations by the league and has indicated he will use one of them to acquire Stewart.

“I’ve received confirmation that D.C. United is interested in Stewart and that Earnie is comfortable with D.C.,” Andy Swift, the Burn’s general manager, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram, all but acknowledging that Dallas is out of the running.

Stewart, who has played professionally in the Netherlands since 1989, has scored 15 goals in 84 games for the U.S. over the last 12 years and played in the last three World Cups.

Gascoigne to China

Having been rejected by clubs on three continents, former England national team midfielder Paul Gascoigne on Tuesday set off for a fourth continent, flying from London to China in an effort to salvage his career.

Since being released by Burnley last spring, Gascoigne, 35, has been searching for a team. He has failed to secure positions with D.C. United, as well as with clubs in England, Scotland and New Zealand.

“I can’t say what team I’m going to see,” Gascoigne said of his China venture. “I’m just going to try things out and see how it goes.”

Romario Stays

World Cup winner Romario of Brazil, who said last week that his next contract would be his last, has agreed to stay with Fluminense of the Brazilian league for one more season.

The forward, who turns 37 this month, scored 15 goals for Fluminense to help the club reach the semifinals of the Brazilian championship last season and had been linked to a return to his former club, Flamengo.

Rush Rescue

Liverpool, a serious challenger to win the English Premier League title before its current streak of 11 games without a victory, called on one of its former players for help.

The Anfield club signed former Welsh national team striker Ian Rush, 41, as an assistant coach charged with changing the fortunes of such high-profile forwards as Michael Owen and Emile Heskey. Liverpool has scored seven goals in its last 11 league games.

During his career with the club, Rush scored 346 goals in 660 games.

German Only, Please

In one of the season’s more peculiar coaching decisions, Huub Stevens, the Dutch coach of Hertha Berlin in the German Bundesliga, has ordered all his players to communicate only in German, despite the fact that several do not speak the language.

Hertha Berlin features 16 non-Germans on its roster, including players from Brazil, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium, Croatia and Iceland. Still, Stevens’ rule stands.

“From now on, German is the official language,” he told the Bild newspaper. “All my players are going to have to communicate with each other in German. I don’t want a group to talk to each other in Portuguese any more and another group using Dutch.”

He’s a Keeper

Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was named the best goalkeeper of 2002 in a poll conducted by the International Federation of Football Historians and Statisticians.

Kahn, 33, won for the third time, beating out Iker Casillas (Spain and Real Madrid) and Rustu Recber (Turkey and Fenerbahce).