Chastain to Assist in Draw
If the United States gets a bad qualifying draw for the 2006 World Cup, Coach Bruce Arena might be able to blame Brandi Chastain.
The two-time women’s world champion and Olympic gold-medal winner is one of 10 sports and entertainment figures selected to take part in the 90-minute ceremony when the World Cup preliminary draw is held Dec. 5 in the Festhalle at Frankfurt, Germany.
Chastain and Jorge Campos, former Galaxy and Mexican national team goalkeeper, will conduct the CONCACAF draw, which will determine the qualifying groups for the North and Central American and Caribbean region.
Michael Schumacher, six-time Formula One driving champion from Germany, and English entertainer Sting will draw for Europe. Former international players Bum Kun-Cha of South Korea and Yasuhiko Okudera of Japan will do the honors for Asia.
Africa’s draw will be made by former Ghanaian star Abedi Pele and singer-songwriter Youssou N’Dour of Senegal, who composed the official France ’98 World Cup song. Former internationals Wynton Rufer of New Zealand and Manfred Schafer of Australia will draw for Oceania.
Qualifying play in a league format is underway in South America, so no draw is necessary there, but Pele will attend the Frankfurt event as guest of honor.
MLS Update
Defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni, 27, of the Colorado Rapids, signed a multiyear contract Tuesday that will keep the U.S. 2002 World Cup player with the Rapids through the 2007 season.
Goalkeeper Paul Grafer, 29, of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, announced his retirement after a six-year MLS career, two with Colorado and four with the MetroStars.
The Galaxy, coming off the first losing season in its eight-year history, unveiled new reserved and general admission seating areas in the Home Depot Center. Ticket prices will be $10 and $7 lower, respectively, on a per-game basis, than the same seats cost this season. Season tickets in 2004 will range from $240 to $640 and single-game tickets will range from $12 to $45.
Champions League
Arsenal, which was upset at home by Inter Milan, 3-0, in an earlier round of the European Champions League, returned the favor by thrashing Inter Milan in Italy, 5-1. Two goals by Thierry Henry and one each by Fredrik Ljungberg, Edu and Robert Pires kept alive the north London club’s hopes of advancing. Three of the Gunners’ goals were scored in the final five minutes. Christian Vieri scored for Inter Milan.
AS Monaco secured its place in the final 16 when it tied PSV Eindhoven, 1-1, at home. Real Madrid and Juventus are the only other teams to have clinched spots in the knockout phase.
Celtic stretched its unbeaten run at home to 69 games by tying German champion Bayern Munich, 0-0; Deportivo la Coruna beat AEK Athens, 3-0, in Spain; Anderlecht defeated Lyon, 1-0, in Belgium; Real Sociedad earned a 2-2 tie at Greek champion Olympiakos, and Lokomotiv Moscow stayed in contention by winning, 3-2, at home against Dynamo Kiev.
Hungary’s Moment
Hungary celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of its greatest sporting achievements -- the 6-3 victory over England at Wembley in 1953 that was England’s first loss to a team from Europe.
The “Magic Magyars” were inspired by such legends as Nandor Hidegkuti, Ferenc Puskas, Jozsef Bozsik and Sandor Kocsis.
“We had to make a lot of sacrifices to accomplish what we did,” Jeno Buzanszky, 78, a defender on the 1953 team, told Associated Press. “But those who don’t have memories of youth will have a dreary old age.”
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Times wires services contributed to this report.
