My Sports News Digest

It has been a rather calamitous summer for United States soccer. First, the American men get schooled by Mexico in the Gold Cup final at a teeming Rose Bowl, a performance that underscored the talent gap – chasm is more like it – between the two rivals. Then, in the U-17 World Cup – the one eventually won by home-standing Mexico – the Americans were embarrassed by Germany in the knockout phase, losing by four goals. As for the U-20 World Cup, which begins later this month? The United States failed to qualify. And yet, the worst news for American [...]

Read the full story

Updated Jul 16, 2011 5:20 AM ET David Beckham explained Friday why he and his wife Victoria decided to name their daughter Harper Seven. “A lot of thought goes into our children’s names and Harper is a name that we’ve loved for a long time for a couple of reasons,” the English soccer star said in a video on his Facebook page. “One of the reasons is Harper is an old English name which we love and one of the other reasons is Victoria’s favorite book is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and the author is Harper Lee,” he added. Beckham, 36, [...]

Read the full story

Updated Jul 16, 2011 3:03 AM ET FRANKFURT The US women’s soccer team, which plays Japan in Sunday’s World Cup final in Frankfurt, Germany, has riveted fans of both sexes this year with nail-biting wins over Brazil and France, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. HISTORY: USA Despite coming home empty-handed three times in a row, failing to finish lower than third in any World Cup gives the United States an unmatched record of success in the game’s marquee competition. YEAR HOST FINISH 1991 China 1st 1995 Sweden 3rd 1999 USA 1st 2003 USA 3rd 2007 China 3rd 2011 Germany 2nd [...]

Read the full story

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —The Col­orado Rapids extended their unbeaten streak to seven matches against the New Eng­land Rev­o­lu­tion, play­ing a 0-0 draw Sat­ur­day night. Col­orado is 3-0-4 against New Eng­land over the last seven meet­ings since 2007. The Rapids are 4-3-2 over­all this sea­son, includ­ing 2-2-1 on the road. Before a crowd of 11,755, New Eng­land (2-3-4) was shut out for the fourth time over the past five matches, scor­ing just three goals in that span. The Rev­o­lu­tion has been held score­less through the past 187 minutes. New Eng­land hit the goal­post twice and had a point-blank header by Shal­rie Joseph in the [...]

Read the full story

COLUMBUS, Ohio —Emilio Rente­ria con­verted a penalty kick in the 67th minute as the Colum­bus Crew ran its unbeaten streak to seven by tying Seat­tle 1-1 on Sat­ur­day night in Major League Soccer. The Crew (3-1-4) got the penalty kick when Chad Mar­shall was pulled down by Patrick Ianni dur­ing a cor­ner kick. Colum­bus, which hasn’t lost since the sea­son opener, has scored half of its eight goals via penalty kicks. “He got me,” Mar­shall said of the Seat­tle defender. “I’ve got marks all over me from his hands. I’m glad they called it.” Seat­tle coach Sigi Schmid wasn’t so sure. [...]

Read the full story

CARSON, Calif. —Thierry Henry scored for New York in the fourth minute, Landon Donovan countered for Los Angeles in the 41st and the Red Bulls and Galaxy tied 1-1 on Saturday night. “Last year, I didn’t have the feeling that it was a rivalry or that type of game,” New York coach Hans Backe said. “But this year, with the (designated players), the power strikers on both teams, it is a special game.” In a showdown between Major League Soccer division leaders, neither team was able to get the go-ahead goal in the second half despite a flurry of chances. [...]

Read the full story

PORTLAND, Ore. —Defender Mamadou Danso scored in the 72nd minute and the expansion Portland Timbers beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Friday night to remain perfect at soldout Jeld-Wen Field. Goalkeeper Troy Perkins made three saves for his second straight shutout in MLS play to help Portland improve to 4-0 at home and 4-3-1 overall. Danso, known as “Futty,” scored on a header off a free kick from Jack Jewsbury, breaking open what had been a defensive match, with Philadelphia controlling the tempo with its methodical style. The Union (4-2-1) allowed only their third goal of the season. They had [...]

Read the full story

FRISCO, Texas —Reigning Major League Soccer MVP David Ferreira of FC Dallas has had surgery to repair a broken right ankle. Ferreira was hurt April 23 during a 2-1 victory at Vancouver. After eight goals and 13 assists last season for FC Dallas, he had three goals and an assist in the first six games this season. The team says Ferreira had surgery Tuesday in the Dallas area. It’s unclear how long he will be out. FC Dallas also Thursday waived defender Kyle Davies, who missed most of last season after breaking his right arm in the opening game.

Read the full story