Donovan Voted Soccer’s Player of the Year Again
Landon Donovan, the midfielder from Redlands who is one of the prime offensive threats on the U.S. national soccer team, Thursday was named the team’s Honda player of the year for the third consecutive year.
Donovan, 22, a two-time Major League Soccer champion with the San Jose Earthquakes, received 355 points to beat PSV Eindhoven winger DaMarcus Beasley (272 points) and Fulham defender Carlos Bocanegra (131 points) in a vote of the nation’s soccer media conducted by Futbol de Primera.
In another development involving MLS, Colorado fired Dan Counce, its general manager for eight seasons.
-- Grahame L. Jones
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Patrick Ianni, a sophomore defensive midfielder for the UCLA men’s soccer team, has been selected Pacific 10 Conference co-player of the year, along with Washington senior midfielder C.J. Klaas.
UCLA’s Jorge Salcedo was selected Pac-10 co-coach of the year, sharing recognition with Washington’s Dean Wurzberger.
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The United States defeated Spain, 1-0, at the 12-team FIFA under-19 women’s World Championship at Bangkok, Thailand.
The Americans will play Australia in a quarterfinal match Sunday. Other quarterfinals have Nigeria facing Germany, Canada meeting China and Russia against Brazil.
Tennis
Roger Federer overcame a second-set lapse and remained unbeaten in the ATP Masters Cup Championships at Houston with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Carlos Moya.
Andy Roddick defeated Marat Safin, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4), and Tim Henman overwhelmed Guillermo Coria, 6-2, 6-2. In a match that ended early Thursday, Federer defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-4.
Golf
Annika Sorenstam birdied four of the last five holes and shot a six-under-par 66 for a one-shot lead after the first round of the season-ending ADT Championship at West Palm Beach, Fla. Cristie Kerr had a 67 and Karrie Webb was among those at 68.
Tiger Woods overcame soggy conditions to shoot a five-under 65 for a three-stroke lead after the first round of the Dunlop Phoenix at Miyazaki, Japan.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Olin Browne, Kelli Kuehne of the LPGA and two-time collegiate champion JJ Jakovac shot 66s to share the lead after the first round of the Pebble Beach Invitational.
The Irish duo of Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington shot a 12-under 60 to share the lead with Austria’s Martin Wiegele and Markus Brier after the first round of the team World Cup at Seville, Spain. Scott Verplank and Bob Tway shot a 64 for the U.S.
Miscellany
The total cost of the Athens Olympics may exceed $14.6 billion, according to Greece’s 2005 budget submitted to parliament. The previous cost had been put at $5.9 billion.
Offices of the agency responsible for building venues for the Turin 2006 Olympics were searched as part of a corruption investigation.
Casey Mears set a track qualifying record of 177.936 mph and won his third NASCAR Busch series pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Rookie David Reutimann won the pole for the season-ending NASCAR truck series race at Homestead with a lap of 171.255 mph.
The Molson Indy Vancouver race was canceled after 15 years because of a lack of financing. The race was not listed on the Champ Car schedule for next year, but the decision by Molson means there is no chance it will be added.
Goalies Martin Brodeur and Dominik Hasek along with the Mighty Ducks’ Sergei Fedorov will lead a European tour by locked-out NHL players from Dec. 9-23.
Tryouts for the Golden Baseball League are scheduled Dec. 14-15 at Goodwin Field at Cal State Fullerton. Information: (925) 226-2889, or goldenbaseball.com.
Passings
Alexander Ragulin, a defenseman on the Soviet teams of the 1960s and 1970s and a three-time Olympic champion, died at 63. He was inducted into the international hockey Hall of Fame in 1997.
T.J. Simers has the day off.
