Reyna Is Injured as U.S. Loses to Morocco, 1-0
The United States World Cup soccer team suffered a double blow Tuesday night when Claudio Reyna, the team’s captain, strained his right hamstring and left the game after only 16 minutes and the U.S. gave up a last-minute goal in a 1-0 loss to Morocco at Nashville.
The African side, which narrowly failed to qualify for the World Cup, struck on a counter-attack at 89:37, when Bouchaib El Moubarki won a duel with defender Steve Cherundolo and then passed to unmarked teammate Mohamed Madihi, who lifted the ball over goalkeeper Kasey Keller as he dived low to block the anticipated shot.
Potentially more damaging than the warmup loss was the injury to Reyna, one of the team’s most creative and influential players. He will undergo an MRI today.
“I hope I’ve gotten away with something very minor,” Reyna said. “That’s what we’re optimistically thinking. I don’t think it’s going to be long-term, but again, tomorrow I’ll know better once it calms down.”
The game, played in front of 26,141 at the Nashville Coliseum, was the first of three matches in six days for the Americans before they depart for Germany on June 1. They also play Venezuela at Cleveland on Friday and Latvia at East Hartford, Conn., on Sunday.
The U.S. plays the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana in the first round of the June 9-July 9 World Cup, beginning with the Czechs on June 12.
-- Grahame L. Jones
BOXING
Arum, De La Hoya Appear Headed to Court
Promoter Bob Arum, through his Top Rank promotional company, has sued Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, alleging that Golden Boy used unrealistic financial figures to deny Arum an opportunity to promote De La Hoya’s May 6 fight against Ricardo Mayorga.
Under terms of a previous agreement, Arum, who has since split with De La Hoya, had the right of first negotiation and the last right of refusal on one additional De La Hoya fight.
Arum was told, according to his attorney, Michael Olin, that he would have to put up a guarantee of $20 million for De La Hoya’s share of the Mayorga match.
“That initial proposal bore no resemblance to reality,” Olin said. “The guarantee Oscar received was $8 million.”
The fight drew a pay-per-view audience of 875,000 and a live gate of $7.6 million. Because De La Hoya received a percentage of pay-per-view buys above 600,000, his income from the fight wound up exceeding $20 million.
“We have done nothing wrong,” said Richard Schaefer, head of Golden Boy Promotions. “The truth will come out.”
Arum had no comment.
The suit was filed in Nevada’s Clark County District Court.
-- Steve Springer
MISCELLANY
Pepperdine Wins NCAA Tennis Title
Freshman Andre Begemann’s victory at the fourth position in singles clinched Pepperdine’s 4-2 upset victory over Georgia and gave the Waves their first NCAA men’s tennis title at Stanford.
The Waves (36-2) had lost, 4-0, to the Bulldogs (30-1) on Feb. 20. Georgia had been ranked first in the country ever since.
Stanford (30-0) won its third consecutive NCAA women’s tennis title with a 4-1 victory over Miami (24-7) at Stanford. Top-ranked Stanford won its 86th match in a row to extend its NCAA record, and won for the 107th consecutive time at home.
Will Harris, a reserve safety for USC, will sit out next season after tearing ligaments in his knee while playing basketball. Harris, a sophomore from Covina, missed USC’s first six games last season because of an ankle sprain. He played in three games but sprained his right knee and missed the rest of the season.
-- Gary Klein
UCLA will play Texas A&M; and USC will play George Washington in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 9 at the Arrowhead Pond.
The Bruins will play the Aggies at 12:30 p.m. in the first game, followed by the game between the Trojans and the Colonials.
California forward Leon Powe said he would go ahead with his plans to be part of the NBA draft and hire an agent. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Powe is projected as a middle-to-late first-round pick or early second-round selection.
Pepperdine’s Eileen Vargas shot a four-under-par 68 to take the individual lead, with USC leading the team competition after the opening round of the NCAA women’s golf championships at Upper Arlington, Ohio. UCLA is tied for ninth.
Catcher Hank Conger of Huntington Beach has been selected the state baseball player of the year by Gatorade. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound switch-hitter, who carries a 3.51 grade-point average, batted .449 with 11 home runs and 27 runs batted in.
Nicolas Kiefer defeated Gaston Gaudio, 7-6, 6-3, to help Germany eliminate Argentina from the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany.
Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated American Amy Frazier, 6-1, 6-1, in the first round of the Strasbourg International in France.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-0, in the Hypo Group International at Poertschach, Austria.
Top-seeded Anastasia Myskina of Russia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Istanbul Cup after beating Tszvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round in Turkey.
Three-time Olympic gold medalists Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes were among the first eight players selected to the United States women’s basketball team for the world championships.
Eddie D’Hondt was fired as general manager of Robert Yates Racing in a shakeup of the struggling team.
NASCAR driver Kyle Busch pleaded guilty to improper driving and was fined $150. Busch was ticketed April 12 in suburban Richmond, Va., for reckless driving after he pulled out of a gas station and into a fast-food restaurant.
