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.

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.”

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (STATS) — The Chicago Fire got a challenge from coach Denis Hamlett before their game with Colorado and they responded with a rare road win over the Rapids.

Marco Pappa and Wilman Conde scored in the first half and the Fire ended a 10-game winless slide in Colorado with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night.

“I told them that the challenge was we hadn’t won in Colorado in 10 years,” Hamlett said. “We talked about the things we did well the first half of the season and we agreed we had to get better.”

   Consider the streak over.

Chicago (6-3-6) had been 0-6-4 on the road against the Rapids since 1999. The Fire also were coming off a three-week absence from the MLS schedule to play three SuperLiga matches, and hadn’t played a league match since losing to D.C. United on June 13.

“That was good for us, too,” Pappa said. “It gave us time to think things over and work things out.”

There was also a continuation of strong play on the road. The Fire improved to 5-1-3 away from home this year.

“I can’t explain it,” Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch said. “Maybe it’s our routine and the fact the road brings us closer together.”

Hamlett agreed.

“Our problems at home are going to change,” Hamlett said.

Jacob Peterson scored for Colorado (5-4-6), which has lost two straight for the first time this season. The Rapids also dropped to 11-2-1 on Fourth of July matches.

“I have no explanation for the way we played tonight,” said Colorado forward Conor Casey, returned after missing the team’s past four games to be with the U.S. national team. “We came out flat and dug ourselves a deep hole and couldn’t come back.”

Casey leads the Rapids with eight goals.

Pappa scored his fifth goal of the season in the 30th minute. He took a pass from Baggio Husidic just outside the crease and nudged the ball past Matt Pickens’ right hand.

“I got a great pass from Baggio,” Pappa said. “I had to make a small move to get open to get a shot off.”

Conde made it 2-0 in the 37th minute with a goal off a header. Cuauhtemoc Blanco sent a corner kick into the middle of the field, and Conde finished the play with his second goal.

Colorado nearly took a lead in the 14th minute, but Mehdl Ballouchy hit the center of the crossbar from 15 yards.

The Fire went into a defensive mode in the second half, but the Rapids avoided the shutout in the 76th minute. The ball was stopped near the right post and Peterson ran up and kicked it into the net for his first goal.

“It was down and dusty in the first half,” Colorado coach Gary Smith said. “Chicago was better than us in the first half and that’s when the game was won.”

CHICAGO FIRE CLASH WITH COLUMBUS CREW IN BATTLE FOR FIRST PLACE IN THE EAST
The Chicago Fire (6-3-6, 24 pts.) will line up against their Eastern Conference rival and the 2008 MLS Cup Champion Columbus Crew (5-3-8, 23 pts.) on Saturday, July 11, at home in TOYOTA PARK (7 p.m. CT, ESPN2/Deportes). This Saturday’s game will not only determine who takes the season series, but also which team will claim the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Fire are coming off a momentous 2-1 win over the Rapids on the road, bringing back a win and three points from Colorado for the first time since 1999. With the win, the Fire moved into a tie with D.C. United (5-3-9, 24 pts.) for first place in the Eastern Conference Standings. The Fire will be hungry for three points as the team can push past D.C. United (who have a bye week) with a win or a tie. Columbus will also be in the hunt for points as the Crew sit just one point behind the Fire and D.C. in the Eastern Conference standings and will be looking to pick up important points just past halfway through the season.

This Saturday’s match is the second meeting of the two clubs in 2009. On April 25th, the Fire tied the Crew 2-2 on the road in their first meeting of season. The Crew took a 2-0 lead in the first half with goals from defender Chad Marshall and forward Alejandro Moreno, but the Fire fought back and scored two goals in the final four minutes of the game with former Crew player and current Fire forward Brian McBride and defender Gonzalo Segares providing the fire power. Last season, the Fire tied the Crew 2-2 in both regular season meetings, but the Crew prevailed in the 2008 MLS Cup playoffs, defeating the Fire 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals and ending Chicago’s MLS Cup run.

Despite their history of success over the Crew, the Fire and Crew have played to 2-2 ties in their last three regular season meetings. Of their last six regular season matches, the Fire and Crew have tied four times for a record of 2-0-4.

The Fire will have a hard task ahead of them Saturday as the Columbus Crew have dropped just one contest in their past 10 games this season falling 2-1 to Dallas on June 20, for a record of 5-1-4. The Fire, who went undefeated through the first 11 matches of the season have posted a 4-3-3 record their last 10 matches.

With an all-time regular season record of 17-10-11 against the Crew, the Fire have held onto the lead of the all-time match up, particularly in games played in Chicago where they own a 9-5-5 record. The Fire have not lost a game to the Crew since Oct. 7, 2006 when the team fell 4-1 in TOYOTA PARK, which has proven to be the Fire’s only loss to the Crew in their last 10 match ups. The Fire will look to extend the six-game undefeated streak against Columbus on Saturday night.

SEATTLE (AP)—Sebastien Le Toux drilled in a penalty kick in the 89th minute Tuesday night, giving the Seattle Sounders a 1-0 victory against the Kansas City Wizards in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal.

The Sounders were awarded the penalty kick when Fredy Montero was taken down in the area by Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

Seattle keeper Kasey Keller, who was red-carded in the 29th minute when the teams met in a regular-season Major League Soccer game in Seattle on April 11, earned the shutout.

The Sounders will host the Houston Dynamo of MLS in a semifinal game on July 21. The Wizards were eliminated from the Cup in the quarterfinals for the second straight year, having fall to the USL First Division Sounders last season.

Stephen King, who scored Seattle’s winning goal in last week’s 2-1 third-round Open Cup victory at Portland of USL-1, started the play that led to Seattle’s goal. He sent a long through ball to Montero, who advances into the box and was about 15 yards from the net when Hartman, who came out to challenge Montero on the play, took him down while trying to run him off the ball.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid has a team in the Open Cup semifinals for the fifth time. He won it with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2001 and was runner-up with Los Angeles in 2002.

This is the third straight year a Seattle team has made the Open Cup semifinals. The USL-1 Sounders got that far in 2007 before losing to FC Dallas, and in 2008 before falling to Charleston of USL-1.

Seattle is on a six-game overall unbeaten streak (4-0-2), which includes two U.S. Open Cup victories.

The Sounders doubled Kansas City in shots, 12-6. That included a 7-3 advantage during the first half when Seattle dominated the opening 20 minutes of play.

MILAN (AP)—United States defender Oguchi Onyewu joined AC Milan on Tuesday, becoming one of the few Americans to play in Italy’s top league.

Milan said Tuesday it had agreed to a three-year contract with the 27-year-old, whose contract with Standard Liege had expired.

Onyewu, long a star in the Belgian league, gained increased notice with superb performances in the U.S. run to the Confederations Cup final. Playing in central defense, he helped the Americans end the 15-game winning streak of European champion Spain with a 2-0 win.

That upset put the United States in the final against Brazil, where the Americans led by two goals at halftime before falling 3-2.

“It’s very exciting. It’s one of the great clubs in the world,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “I think it’s a terrific opportunity for him, and certainly the experience that he’ll get there I think will be really important as we move forward with our national team.”

Onyequ was born in Washington, D.C., after his parents emigrated to the United States from Nigeria. He played for Clemson University, started for the United States at the 2006 World Cup and helped Standard Liege to two consecutive Belgian league titles.

AC Milan, back in the Champions League after a one-year absence, is trying to win its first Serie A title since 2003-04. Following the retirement of Paolo Maldini and the return of Phillipe Senderos to Arsenal following a yearlong loan, AC Milan’s central defense options include several holdovers such as injury-prone Alessandro Nesta, Kakha Kaladze, Daniele Bonera and Thiago Silva.

Few Americans have been in Serie A in recent years. Defender Alexi Lalas played for Padova from 1994-96 after starring for the U.S. team at the 1994 World Cup. Forward Giuseppe Rossi, the son of Italian parents who was born in New Jersey, played for Parma and is now with Spain’s Villarreal. He spurned the U.S. national team to play for Italy.

Financial details of the transfer were not disclosed. Onyewu holds a Belgian passport and will likely be registered by Milan as an EU player. Italian teams are limited in the amount of players they can sign from outside the European Union.

After having their franchise-record unbeaten stretch snapped, the Colorado Rapids still have a chance to extend two other impressive streaks Saturday night.

The Rapids look to continue their success on Independence Day and improve their unbeaten streak at home against the Chicago Fire to 11 games.

Colorado (5-3-6) fell 3-0 at Seattle on Sunday for its first loss since April 19. The Rapids, who were 3-0-5 in their previous eight games, outshot the Sounders 14-7 but only two of those shots were on goal.

“I didn’t think we deserved to get beat 3-nil,” Rapids coach Gary Smith said. “I think in the first half, we played as good a (game) as we’ve probably done for some time, especially away from home. The differences in the game were the big plays - the moments we don’t (make) and the ones Seattle does.”

Colorado has had plenty of good moments on July 4, with an 11-1-1 record and going unbeaten in nine straight games on the holiday.

The Rapids play five of their next six at home, where they are 3-0-3 this season. They’ve enjoyed plenty of success there against Chicago, going 6-0-4 in the last 10 meetings in Colorado since a 1-0 defeat Oct. 6, 1999.

The Fire (5-3-6), who split two meetings with the Rapids last season, return to MLS play Saturday after a three-week absence. Since a 2-1 loss to D.C. United on June 13, Chicago has played three SuperLiga matches, going 2-1-0, and most recently a 1-0 loss to Wilmington on Tuesday in a U.S. Open Cup match.

The Fire resume league play looking to snap a three-game losing streak, during which they’ve been outscored 6-1. It was a particularly tough loss against United, with Brian McBride unable to convert on a second-half penalty kick that would have tied the game.

The loss was the Fire’s first on the road, dropping them to 4-1-3 away from home.

Chicago midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco was rested for that game, having played in an international match with Mexico earlier that week, but he was back for the SuperLiga games and should play Saturday.

Colorado, meanwhile, will be without Omar Cummings, who has six goals and six assists, while he is with his native Jamaica playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Leading scorer Conor Casey, though, is expected to rejoin the team though after fulfilling his U.S. national team duty. Casey, who has eight goals and one assist, missed four consecutive games.

David Beckham has come under attack from L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.

In a new book due out later this month, Donovan claims Beckham has demonstrated little commitment to the Galaxy cause and has been a negative influence on the team since the ousting of former coach Ruud Gullit.

“All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us,” Donovan says in ‘The Beckham Experiment’, authored by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.

“As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways - on the field, off the field.

“Does the fact that he earns that much more money come into it? Yeah. If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard.”

Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham’s absence, also questioned the former England skipper’s leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings.

“Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain,” he said. “Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn’t happened. And I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us.”

Beckham’s first two seasons in MLS were largely a miserable experience. An unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign.

Gullit’s departure, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club’s marquee player.

“When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing,” Donovan said. “He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.

“Somewhere along the way - and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go - he just flipped a switch and said, ‘Uh-huh, I’m not doing it anymore’.”

Donovan even claimed Beckham is a bad team-mate, because of his lack of commitment.

“He’s not shown (he’s a good team-mate),” he said. “I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good team-mate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care. But with (Beckham), I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.”

Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home.

“My sense is that David’s clearly frustrated, that he’s unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it’s a joke,” he said. “I also kind of feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don’t see dedication or commitment to this team, and that’s troubling.”

Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16, two days after Wahl’s book is due to be published.

He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer.

“Let’s say he does stay here for three more years,” Donovan said. “I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don’t want to have soccer be this way.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)—Agustin Herrera and Matias Vuoso scored 13 minutes apart in the second half to send Santos Laguna to the SuperLiga semifinals with a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Wizards on Sunday.

Juan Pablo Rodriguez added a stoppage-time goal for Santos, which won for the first time in six SuperLiga matches and finished second in Group B. The Guerreros will face Group A champion Tigres UANL—another Mexican first division side—in the semis, with the first leg set for July 15.

Santos, making its second straight appearance in the three-year-old SuperLiga, needed a win to advance after Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution beat Mexican side Atlas 1-0 earlier Sunday.

In the 61st minute, Herrera took a through ball from Walter Jimenez and fired a low shot to keeper Kevin Hartman’s left from 13 yards. Vuoso’s looping header in the 74th minute, off a long cross from Osmar Mares, made it 2-0.

Both goals came on runs through Kansas City’s central defense, which was missing Jimmy Conrad. The Wizards captain, who has been called up to the United States for the Gold Cup later this month, left late in the first half after aggravating a sore hamstring.

Claudio Lopez scored on a free kick in the 80th minute for Kansas City, cutting the margin to 2-1, but the Wizards failed to capitalize on several late scoring opportunities before Rodriguez put away the match with his stoppage-time goal.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AFP) - Owners of Philadelphia’s Major League Soccer franchise that will begin play in the 2010 season revealed Monday the team will be named Philadelphia Union with blue and gold colors.

The name refers to the 13 American colonies that came together in the 1770s at Philadelphia to break with British rule and form their own constitution with the color scheme from the American Revolutionary Army.

“We were determined to create an identity that portrays Philadelphia’s vital role in the evolution of our nation,” said team chief executive officer Nick Sakiewicz. “Every element in our crest represents a product of unity.”

The US league’s 16th team has a nickname similar to D.C. United and is likely to have a spirited rivalry with the club from the nation’s capital as well as nearby New York Red Bulls.

“We’re pleased to see Major League Soccer add a progressive yet authentic soccer brand with the unveiling of Philadelphia Union,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. “We look forward to the club’s debut next March.”