U.S. Beats Ivory Coast to Advance
The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Youth Championship on Monday by defeating the Ivory Coast, 2-0, at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The U.S., 4-0 in the 24-nation tournament, won on first-half goals by Justin Mapp and Ed Johnson and will play defending under-20 world champion Argentina in the quarterfinals Friday.
The U.S. took the lead in the seventh minute on a fastbreak triggered by D.C. United midfielder Bobby Convey, whose pass put Chicago Fire midfielder Mapp one on one against goalkeeper Drissa Toure.
Mapp beat Toure to his left to give the Americans the early lead, but the Ivory Coast responded by launching repeated attacks only to be denied by poor finishing and staunch defending.
Dallas Burn forward Johnson scored his tournament-high fourth goal on a penalty kick in the 43rd minute after Toure had fouled 14-year-old Freddy Adu. Before the half ended, Toure handled the ball outside the penalty area and was ejected, leaving the Ivory Coast to play a man short for the second half and effectively ending its chances for a rally.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Argentina, which beat Egypt, 2-1, on goals by Fernando Cavenaghi, the second 20 minutes into overtime; Canada, which beat Burkina Faso, 1-0, on a goal by Josh Simpson and Japan, which got past South Korea, 2-1, in overtime.
Interliga Tournament
Soccer United Marketing (SUM), an offshoot of Major League Soccer, announced it had acquired the marketing, promotional and broadcast rights in the U.S. for Interliga, the eight-team qualifying tournament that will determine two of Mexico’s participants in the annual Copa Libertadores in South America.
The inaugural Interliga tournament will be played as seven doubleheaders at the Home Depot Center in Carson, and in San Jose, Stockton, Dallas and Houston on Jan. 4-14.
The teams playing in the Interliga are Toluca, Morelia, Guadalajara and Santos Laguna in Group A, and Club America, Atlante, UNL and Atlas in Group B.
The two Home Depot Center doubleheaders will feature Chivas of Guadalajara playing Santos Laguna and Club America playing Atlante on Jan. 4, and the tournament’s third-place and championship matches Jan. 14.
Athens 2004
Glenn “Mooch” Myernick, coach of the U.S. under-23 men’s team preparing to qualify for the 2004 Olympics at Athens, called 19 players into camp Friday at the Home Depot Center.
Among those called up were Galaxy defenders Ricky Lewis and Scot Thompson, along with fellow defenders Nelson Akwari, Nat Borchers, Jose Burciaga Jr., Kelly Gray and David Stokes.
Also invited to camp were goalkeepers D.J. Countess and Doug Warren; midfielders Kyle Beckerman, Brian Carroll, Brad Davis, Eddie Gaven, Logan Pause and Kyle Martino, and forwards Edson Buddle, Alecko Eskandarian, Nate Jaqua and Jamil Walker.
Regional qualifying for the Olympics is at Guadalajara on Feb. 2-12.
Quick Passes
Officials at Birmingham City of the English Premier League are trying to identify and have said they will ban for life the spectator who threw a coin at goalkeeper Brad Friedel of the Blackburn Rovers and U.S. World Cup team during Blackburn’s 4-0 victory on Saturday.
Irish thoroughbred racing millionaires JP McManus and John Magnier increased their ownership in Manchester United to 63,286,893 shares, or about 24.24% of the English champion, whose coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, 61, has agreed to a new contract that will keep him in charge through 2007.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
