Soccer / DAILY REPORT
The United States and Mexico won their semifinal matches Wednesday at the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica, to clinch their spots for the Athens Games.
The Americans got first-half goals from Aly Wagner, Abby Wambach and Kristine Lilly and were never threatened in a 4-0 victory over Costa Rica.
The U.S. will play Mexico, a 2-1 upset winner over 2003 Women’s World Cup semifinalist Canada, in Friday’s final to determine the regional champion of North and Central America and the Caribbean.
“In this tournament, I think one of the most important qualities that helped us advance was discipline,” U.S. Coach April Heinrichs said. “We didn’t react to referees or to late fouls and that was a huge factor in why we were able to advance. We kept our heads.”
In Mexico’s victory, Maribel Dominguez scored her tournament-high sixth and seventh goals to lead her country to its first Olympic berth, joining Mexico’s men’s team, which knocked the U.S. out of a spot last month.
“It means so much to us and to Mexican women,” said forward Iris Mora, who plays for UCLA. “We’ve been working for seven years and have never won anything.”
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Galaxy Wins in France
Carlos Ruiz scored on a header in the first half and the Galaxy put together the most complete effort of its training-camp tour of France in a 1-0 victory over OGC Nice of the French first division.
Ruiz scored after heading a cross from the right wing by Arturo Torres, who had taken a pass from Jovan Kirovski to start the play. Ruiz’s header hit the crossbar and deflected into the goal.
The Galaxy, which will fly home today and return to training Monday, posted a 2-1-0 record during the 11-day trip.
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U.S. Adds Sanneh
Tony Sanneh, who hasn’t appeared for the U.S. national team since the 2002 World Cup after playing every minute of every game on defense, has been added to the roster for the March 13 friendly against Haiti at Miami.
Sanneh has been sidelined because of a back injury suffered in December 2002 and has not played for his German club FC Nuremberg since.
U.S. Coach Bruce Arena also added Galaxy midfielder Chris Albright, who replaced Pablo Mastroeni after the Colorado Rapid player suffered a hamstring injury.
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UEFA Cup
Inter Milan, Barcelona, AS Roma and Liverpool were among the teams to advance to the fourth round of the UEFA Cup, but two-time champion Parma was eliminated.
Little-known Turkish club Genclerbirligi took advantage of a red card on Parma goalkeeper Sebastien Frey and scored a 3-0 victory at Ankara, Turkey, to win, 4-0, on aggregate.
Inter Milan tied French club Sochaux, 0-0, but advanced on away goals after an earlier 2-2 tie. Inter striker Christian Vieri earned a red card after pushing defender Maxence Flachez and will have to sit out the next round.
Barcelona advanced by beating Brondby of Denmark, 2-1, with goals from Luis Garcia and Philip Cocu.
In AS Roma’s 2-0 victory over Gaziantepspor of Turkey, the Italian club got goals from Brazilian midfielder Emerson and striker Antonio Cassano for a 2-1 aggregate win.
Liverpool beat Levski Sofia, 4-2, in Bulgaria for a 6-2 aggregate win.
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Quick Passes
Rene Simones, who coached Jamaica’s “Reggae Boyz” to the 1998 World Cup, has taken over as coach of Brazil’s women’s national team and will be in charge at the Athens Olympics.... The Qatar Soccer Federation and Brazilian striker Ailton, who plays in the German Bundesliga, said the player would change citizenship and compete for Qatar in a World Cup qualifying match March 31 against Jordan.... Walter Smith, a former coach of Everton in England and Rangers in Scotland, has been named an assistant at Manchester United to Sir Alex Ferguson. Smith takes the spot vacated last summer when Carlos Quiroz left to become coach at Real Madrid.... Former England coach Glenn Hoddle dropped his name from consideration to become coach at Southhampton in the Premier League. The club now appears close to hiring Argyle Paul Sturrock of Plymouth as coach.
-- Compiled by Jim Barrero
