England’s hearts were left broken after a valiant display as Germany were crowned European champions in Helsinki.

The World Cup holders scored the opener with Birgit Prinz slotting in a clever Inka Grings pass and Melanie Behringer then struck a stunner from 41 yards.

Karen Carney pulled one back before Kim Kulig added a third after the interval.

Kelly Smith gave England hope with a fine strike but the Germans ran riot with two goals from the dazzling Grings and a long-range effort from Prinz.

WASHINGTON (STATS) - Given a preference, Tom Soehn will usually choose substance over style, meaning the D.C. United coach embraced every ugly facet of a triumph his team desperately needed.

Luciano Emilio scored in the 39th minute and United opened a five-game homestand with a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards on Wednesday night.

“It’s not always going to be pretty,” Soehn said. “Getting results when it’s not pretty, that’s the times you need it. Those were crucial points.”

The victory moved D.C. (8-5-12) into sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference. United moved ahead of four other teams fighting for the final three MLS playoff berths.

The Polish Football Association has sacked Leo Beenhakker as coach of its national team after the side’s poor showing in a loss to Slovenia that cost Poland a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“The decision is irrevocable. Coach Beenhakker ceases to be Polish national team coach,” Grzegorz Lato, the president of Polish Football Association (PZPN) said in a television interview.

Poland’s 3-0 defeat on Wednesday sparked outrage in Poland, with one tabloid newspaper telling readers the side had “humiliated us.”

Former Poland striker Lato said Dutchman Beenhakker, who had coached the Polish side since 2006, would most likely be replaced by a Polish coach.

SALVADOR, Brazil (AP)—Even without four of its top players, Brazil prevented Chile from clinching a World Cup berth.

Nilmar scored three goals to lead Brazil to a 4-2 victory Wednesday night. The five-time World Cup champions were missing Kaka, Lucio and Luis Fabiano, all serving suspensions because of yellow card, and Robinho, sidelined by a right-leg muscle injury.

Nilmar scored in the 31st, 73rd and 76th minutes, and Julio Baptista got a goal in the 41st for Brazil, which last weekend ensured its 19th consecutive World Cup berth.

Chile erased an early 2-0 deficit with goals by Humberto Suazo in first-half injury time and in the 52nd. Suazo’s second goal came just three minutes after Brazil’s Felipe Melo ejected for a hard foul on Alexis Sanchez, who was sent off himself for yellow cards in the 61st and 77th minutes.

Brazil (9-1-6) leads South American qualifying with 33 points, three ahead of Paraguay (9-4-3), which clinched a berth on Wednesday.

Chile (8-5-3) has 27 points, four ahead of Ecuador (6-5-5), five in front of Argentina (6-6-4) and six ahead of Uruguay (5-5-6) and Venezuela (6-7-3).

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP)—Just one more win will give the United States its sixth straight World Cup berth.

Ricardo Clark scored in the 62nd minute, and the United States beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 Wednesday night to move into first place in World Cup qualifying.

“It’s huge. It’s huge. It gives a little bit of space when things are getting tight in our group,” Clark said. “We knew we had to come out in this game and get a win.”

The United States failed to win its first three road qualifiers this year and played a listless first half. The Americans went ahead when Clint Dempsey played the ball wide to Landon Donovan, who cut the ball back to Clark.

Clark took a touch and let loose a bending 26-yard shot that swerved past goalkeeper Clayton Ince. It was just the second goal in 25 international appearances for the Houston Dynamo midfielder, who also scored against Paraguay in the Copa America two years ago.

The United States (5-2-1) leads the final round of North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying with 16 points, one ahead of Mexico (5-3), three in front of Honduras (4-3-1) and four ahead Costa Rica (4-4). The results of Wednesday’s other two games helped the Americans, with Mexico beating visiting Honduras 1-0 and Costa Rica losing 1-0 at El Salvador.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—Vindication. Satisfaction. Domination.

After finally earning a win against the Americans on U.S. soil, Mexico’s players used all of those words Sunday to describe the 5-0 romp that gave them their fifth Gold Cup championship.

Oh, and one other noun: pride.

“I believe this is a great win for Mexico because we showed the pride we have in our hearts today,” Giovani Dos Santos said. “This is a huge step for us in the process.”

That process had included no progress this decade when the United States hosted its southern rival. The Mexicans were 0-9-2 since a March 1999 victory at San Diego.

They snapped that victory drought before an overwhelmingly pro-Mexico crowd of 79,156 at Giants Stadium with an offensive onslaught in the second half. Captain Gerardo Torrado scored on a penalty kick in the 56th minute, then the inexperienced U.S. squad came unglued.

“When a goal is scored, there’s always a change in the game and we didn’t respond well,” coach Bob Bradley said of the worst American home loss since a 5-0 stinker against England on June 16, 1985.

As the green-clad fans rocked Giants Stadium, game MVP Dos Santos and Carlos Vela scored 5 minutes apart despite several brilliant saves by Troy Perkins. Indeed, it seemed the goalkeeper was the only American on the field during the 11-minute blitz in which Mexico’s attackers could have sprinted all the way back to Azteca Stadium without being touched.

The fiesta was on.

“That’s soccer,” Dos Santos said of the penalty kick after he was fouled in the area by Jay Heaps. “Afterward, you must still do your job. That’s how it is, how it must be.”

While the Mexicans kept at it, the Americans wilted.

Jose Antonio Castro and Guillermo Franco put the finishing touches on Mexico’s dynamic win. Castro scored off a great through-pass from Vela, a substitute who energized Mexico when he entered the game after halftime.

The United States, fielding a raw squad after the top team finished second in the Confederations Cup last month, could not maintain American dominance of its continental rival. Not even close.

We were chasing the game a lot in the second half, and it tired us out,” said forward Brian Ching, a regular with the ‘A’ team who missed the Confederations Cup with an injury. “Look at anybody in the United States and this loss has to anger you.”

Mexico fell 2-0 in February in a World Cup qualifier in frigid Columbus, Ohio, the most recent meeting of the archrivals. The nations meet again in Mexico City on Aug. 12, but then the full American roster will be on hand, along with several of the players who carried El Tri to this Gold Cup crown.

But that is another tale. For now, after a 10-year wait, there was sweet victory in commanding style.

“The win injects us with some motivation, confidence and maturity,” Dos Santos said.

At the final whistle, the green-clad Mexican players stormed onto the field in jubilation, mobbing Dos Santos and coach Javier Aguirre. Then they saluted the crowd that made the Meadowlands sound more like Mexico City, making a tour of the pitch with the trophy in hand.

Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa, …
AP - Jul 26, 7:38 pm EDT

“This ends here in this locker room,” Aguirre said. “we’re celebrating now, but that’s it. Tomorrow is another day and we begin working for Aug. 12, and that’s a different story.”

For the Americans, it was a return to reality. After Bradley coached them to a runner-up finish in the Confederations Cup in South Africa, he gave most of the players a pass for the Gold Cup. Still, the untested fill-ins showed versatility and fortitude—at least until Mexico ran over them in a spectacular 45-minute scoring burst.

“We have to learn from this,” midfielder Stuart Holden said, “and use it in the future.”

Notes: Mexico has won the Gold Cup in 1993, ’96, ’98, 2003 and this year. The United States also has four titles: 1991, 2002, 2005 and 2007 … Heaps drew a second yellow card and was ejected in the 88th minute … Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa needed to make just one save … The United States had a 58-game home unbeaten string against CONCACAF opponents snapped. The last loss was Sept. 1, 2001, to Honduras.

SEATTLE (AP)—Stephen King scored early in the 5 minute of overtime after Seattle teammate Nate Jaqua had tied the game in the 89th minute, boosting the Seattle Sounders into the U.S. Open Cup final with a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Tuesday night.

The Sounders, a Major League Soccer expansion team, will meet defending Open Cup champion D.C. United on Sept. 2 in Washington. United beat Rochester of the second-tier USL First Division 2-1 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

Steve Zakuani set up King’s game-winner, taking the ball into the penalty area. He passed to the top of the box, where King drove it into the right corner, past goalkeeper Tally Hall.

King was happy to see any shot by the Sounders go in as they outshot Houston 12-0 for the second half, 10-5 during the 30-minute overtime, and 26-7 for the game.

“Especially the last 20 minutes when we were really putting it on them and getting chance after chance and it wasn’t going in, it was getting a little bit frustrating,” King said. “We showed the last 20 minutes that we were still going and they were running out of gas.”

Ade Akinbiyi scored in the 32nd minute to give Houston a 1-0 lead. That stood until Jaqua’s shot from 12 yards out, in the left side of the box, glanced off a Dynamo defender and into the net in the 89th.

“We were beat up a little bit there at the end,” Dyanmo coach Dominic Kinnear said of the physical game (40 total fouls). “I’m disappointed for the guys because they left it all out there.”

ATLANTA (AP)—Oguchi Onyewu finally had his first practice with AC Milan.

The first U.S.-born player to sign with the prestigious Italian team, Onyewu is eager to prove he belongs at soccer’s highest professional level.

And he’ll get a first chance, of sorts, on Wednesday, when AC Milan plays Mexico’s Club America in an exhibition Wednesday at the Georgia Dome.

“Obviously in sports, there’s no guarantees,” Onyewu said Tuesday night. “I’m certainly under the impression that I’ll have to play for my spot. I’m still trying to figure out what I need to do because we have a number of great defenders on the squad, and this is the first day that I actually got involved with the team.”

AC Milan organizing director Umberto Gandini, who has hired Brazilian Leonardo as a rookie head coach, hopes Onyewu will be the central piece in a slight rebuilding job for the long-respected team. Captain Paolo Maldini retired when last season ended, and many Milan fans were upset when playmaker Kaka’s contract was sold to Real Madrid.

Gandini replaced coach Carlo Ancelotti, who signed with Chelsea, after Milan finished third last season in Serie A. The team also announced that Massimo Ambrosini will replace Maldini as captain.

SAO PAULO (AP)—Ronaldo is set to play himself in an Iranian movie about a Palestine girl who was killed before realizing her dream of meeting him.

Ronaldo has reached a deal to be part of the movie and will start filming as early as September in Lebanon, according to officials at the Brazil-Iran chamber of commerce, which is helping produce the movie.

Still without a title, the movie is based on the true story of Alneyrab, a 13-year-old girl who dreamed of meeting the soccer star when he visited the Middle East on a humanitarian mission in 2005. She was only able to watch her idol pass through along with his entourage, and later was killed in a conflict in the region.

Ronaldo’s agent, Fabiano Farah, confirmed to Globo’s Web site that Ronaldo has signed a pre-contract for the movie.

The 32-year-old Ronaldo, who is thriving with Corinthians in his comeback from the third serious knee injury of his career, will appear in some scenes that take place in the girl’s dreams, said Farrokh Faradji Chadan, president of the Brazil-Iran chamber of commerce.

Logan Pause is starting to get antsy, looking about as comfortable as if he was taking on the Honduras national team 1 vs 11.
Actually, he might prefer that.
Instead he’s engulfed by a bevy of video cameras, still cameras and three print reporters. It’s a situation he’s not accustomed to; Pause is rarely the object of attention when playing defensive midfielder for the Chicago Fire.
Even though he’s back in the Chicago area and standing on the Toyota Park sod, he’s on a bigger stage for at least a few more days. It’s likely Pause will again start for the United States when it takes on Honduras on Thursday night (6 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel, TeleFutura) at Soldier Field in the Gold Cup semifinals.
For the past few weeks Pause, 27, has taken time off from his club to play for his country, and though his answers are as defensive as his play on the field, it’s clear he knows how special - and fleeting - the opportunity is.
“The highlight is, honestly, to represent your country and to be out here and helping contribute,” Pause said after practice Tuesday. “Obviously, getting my first cap is something special, but we’re here to win this tournament. That’s all behind, and we’re looking forward to Thursday night’s game.”
“Logan’s been a real solid player for the Fire, somebody who does a strong job in the middle of the field every game,” added U.S. coach Bob Bradley, “and I think he’s been able to help our national team with the same type of effort.”
Translation: Everyone knows Bradley brought his “B” team for this tournament, auditioning players for call-ups for this fall’s remaining World Cup qualifiers and the big event in South Africa next June. There are probably only a couple of spots still open. Pause, who earned his first national-team cap in this Gold Cup, probably won’t make the cut again before June unless there are a few injuries.
If you go to ussoccer.com, Pause still isn’t among the 54 listed in the national-team player pool. So what?
“It’s been unbelievable,” Pause said. “I’m fortunate and grateful. It’s an honor and a privilege anytime you get to put on the jersey that represents your country. So I’m just happy to help contribute.”
He has contributed, starting with an assist in that first game, a 4-0 win over Grenada. But offense is not Pause’s role, a fact that might frustrate fans. Since joining the Fire in 2003, the North Carolina graduate has just 1 goal and 7 assists in 160 games.
“If you do the math, they come once every seven years, I guess,” Pause joked about his scoring ability.
That’s OK. He doesn’t have to score to contribute, and his teammates and coaches understand that. He’s comfortable with that, and with the opportunity he’s been given.
“You dream as a kid to represent your country and to play in front of the biggest stage,” Pause said, “and that’s what we’re doing now.”
 

Daily Herald

By Orrin Schwarz
July 21, 2009