Ramirez Says He Wants to Return to Chivas USA
Ramon Ramirez, the Mexican soccer icon who left Chivas USA last week amid reports he was unhappy that his children’s nanny could not get a visa in a timely fashion, wants to return to the MLS expansion team.
Ramirez called Coach Thomas Rongen and President and co-owner Antonio Cue from Mexico to express remorse at leaving. A meeting with Cue to decide Ramirez’s fate is scheduled for Monday, Cue said Saturday.
“My decision of today is that he is still off the team, but he is a proven professional,” Cue said. “Everybody can make a mistake and have personal problems and tough times that affect their attitude.
“That’s why I want to see him in person. If he really believes he made a mistake, I may take a chance and I’ll consider [reinstating] him. If I don’t believe he’s truly [remorseful], I won’t accept him back.”
Chivas USA, which has been outscored 12-0 in its last three exhibitions, played at the Fresno Fuego Saturday night.
-- Paul Gutierrez
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Manchester United and Arsenal reached the English FA Cup semifinals, gaining some consolation after being knocked out of the Champions League earlier in the week.
With American Tim Howard in goal, defending champion Manchester United routed Southampton, 4-0, on goals by Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo and two from Paul Scholes.
Arsenal beat Bolton, 1-0, on Freddie Ljungberg’s third-minute goal. The Swedish forward scored his 13th goal of the season off a perfect pass through the defense by Robert Pires.
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Golf
Geoff Ogilvy overcame an eight-shot deficit at the start of play, shooting an eight-under-par 64 to tie Brett Wetterich for the lead after three rounds of the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Wetterich, bidding for his first PGA Tour victory, began the day alone in the lead but scrambled to a 72 and joined Ogilvy at 12-under 204.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, seeking his first tour title since 1998, bogeyed No. 18 to fall out of a three-way tie for the lead.
A round of 72 left him one stroke off the pace and tied with Pat Perez at 11 under. Perez, a fourth-year tour veteran seeking his first win, shot 67.
With the elevated greens firmer than in the first two rounds and winds still strong, bogeys became more frequent on the long Country Club at Mirasol course. None of the players among the top eight at the start of the third round broke par.
The conditions didn’t faze Ogilvy, who won his first title in 108 PGA Tour starts two weeks ago at Tucson, then took last week off.
He struggled to a 73 in the opening round but began to surge Saturday when he birdied four of the first six holes. He also birdied Nos. 17 and 18.
Henrik Stenson shot a six-under 66 in the Qatar Masters at Doha to take a two-stroke lead over Niclas Fasth and Richard Green.
Stenson, who had five birdies on the back nine, is at 10-under 206.
Fasth shot 69 and Green had a 73 at the 7,311-yard Doha Golf Club.
Ernie Els, the only top-50 player in the event, posted a second straight 69 and is five strokes back.
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Winter Sports
Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., recorded her first World Cup victory in the season’s final slalom and Janica Kostelic of Croatia finished second to close in on overall leader Anja Paerson of Sweden at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Paerson finished in 10th place and now has 1,359 points in the overall World Cup standings, 35 more than Kostelic with only today’s season-ending giant slalom remaining.
Paerson will be favored in the giant slalom, and a victory would get her another 100 points. She also will be attempting to win the event title.
Schleper covered the two runs on the Silvano Beltrametti course in 1 minute 29.13 seconds, maintaining her lead from the first run. Kostelic was 0.34 of a second behind. Nicole Hosp of Austria was third, 0.90 back.
Magnus Moan of Norway won a World Cup Nordic combined event at Oslo, beating newly crowned overall champion Hannu Manninen of Finland in the concluding 15-kilometer cross-country ski race.
Robert Sorlie of Norway leads the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race after being the first musher into Eagle Island, Alaska. From Eagle Island to the finish at Nome is 368 miles, about one-third of the 1,100-mile race.
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Track and Field
Florida sophomore Kerron Clement broke Michael Johnson’s world record in the 400 meters at the NCAA Division I Indoor championships at Fayetteville, Ark.
Clement, 19, beat a strong field and was timed in 44.57, bettering Johnson’s mark of 44.63 set on March 4, 1995.
Terry Gatson of Arkansas was second in 45.29 and Kelly Willie of Louisiana State third at 45.41. Darold Williamson, anchor of the Olympic gold medal 1,600-meter relay team in Athens, was fourth at 46.26.
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Pro Football
The Detroit Lions and Jeff Garcia agreed to terms on a one-year contract, reuniting the quarterback with Coach Steve Mariucci. Garcia, who played for the San Francisco 49ers under Mariucci from 1997 to 2002, was released by the Cleveland Browns on Feb. 22
The Minnesota Vikings signed veteran safety Darren Sharper to a four-year contract.
John Dutton threw six touchdown passes to help the Colorado Crush beat the Nashville Kats, 42-35, in an Arena Football League game at Nashville.... Rob Bironas’ 32-yard field goal with 15 seconds left gave New York Dragons a 53-51 victory over the Georgia Force at Uniondale, N.Y..... Clint Dolezel threw for 273 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Las Vegas Gladiators to a 63-34 victory over the Columbus Destroyers at Columbus, Ohio.
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Miscellany
Sean Rooney had 30 kills and John Parfitt added 25 for host Pepperdine, which outlasted No. 1 UCLA, 28-30, 36-34, 30-26, 27-30, 15-13 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball match between the top-ranked teams in the country. UCLA is 18-3, 13-3; Pepperdine is 14-1, 14-1 after avenging its only loss of the season.
Sergio Pedroza hit two home runs to lead third-ranked Cal State Fullerton to a 9-8 victory over No. 1 Tulane in front of 9,385 at New Orleans. The Titans (14-2) extended their winning streak to nine games. Tulane is 14-3.
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T.J. Simers has the day off.
