New women’s soccer league coming in 2008

A women’s professional soccer league, running partially in tandem with Major League Soccer and operating in some cases in MLS stadiums, will be launched in the spring of 2008 with at least six and possibly eight teams, including one in Los Angeles.

Locally, the team will be owned by AEG, which operates the Galaxy, and will play at the Home Depot Center, sometimes as part of doubleheaders with the Galaxy.

In addition to Los Angeles, the league, considering reviving the Women’s United Soccer Assn. name as well as the names of some of its clubs, will have teams in Chicago, Dallas, Washington, St. Louis and an as yet unidentified West Coast city, possibly San Jose. Formal announcement of the league’s formation will be made today, according to Tonya Antonucci, chief executive of the non-profit Women’s Soccer Institute Inc., which is spearheading the venture.

Founded after the 1999 Women’s World Cup, WUSA lasted three years and averaged 4,500 fans per game by the time it folded in 2003. The new league hopes to use the 2007 Women’s World Cup in China in September as a springboard.

In the inaugural season, the teams will each play 20 games from April to October.

Having staged the most successful World Cup in history in 1994, the United States wants to do so again -- this time in 2018.

U.S. Soccer’s board of directors has unanimously approved making a formal bid for the tournament, a decision endorsed by the federation’s membership at its annual general meeting in Los Angeles on Saturday.

England, which staged and won the World Cup in 1966, and Spain, host of the 1982 tournament, also have indicated their intentions to bid and, under the system of rotating the event between continents, a European bid would appear to have the upper hand.

The 2010 World Cup will be played in South Africa. Brazil and Columbia already are bidding for the 2014 event, but if no South American bid meets FIFA requirements, the U.S. has said it is ready to step in as host.

-- Grahame L. Jones

The U.S. men will play an exhibition game against China on June 2 in San Jose.

JURISPRUDENCE

Anaheim files appeal in Angels lawsuit

The Angels parlayed a series of erroneous court rulings into an opportunity to “misdirect the jury” toward a verdict in their favor last year, the city of Anaheim argued in formally renewing its fight over the team’s name.

An Orange County jury decided last February that the Angels had not broken their stadium lease by adding Los Angeles to their name. On Monday, nine months after the Anaheim City Council voted to appeal, city attorneys asked a state appellate court to reverse the verdict or throw it out and order a new trial.

The Angels are expected to file their response in June. A decision is not expected before the end of this season, the Angels’ third under their new name.

By calling themselves the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the jury found, the team satisfied a lease clause requiring the team name to “include the name Anaheim therein.”

However, the city alleges, several crucial errors by Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos paved the way for that verdict. In particular, the city charges that Polos neglected to explicitly instruct the jury that it could consider the intent behind the language in question.

-- Bill Shaikin

BASEBALL

Union takes advisory stance in steroids probe

The Major League Baseball Players Assn. will offer advice but said it’s the choice of each individual whether to cooperate with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s investigation into steroids use.

On another drug-related issue, union head Donald Fehr said the union would “take a hard look” at any verified test to detect human growth hormone. That drug cannot be detected by a urine test, and a blood test is in its early stages of use.

New York Yankees right fielder Bobby Abreu is expected to sit out at least two weeks after straining his right side during batting practice, the team said.

The Yankees received encouraging news on pitcher Carl Pavano’s injured left foot. An MRI exam and X-rays showed a bone bruise. He was hit by a line drive during batting practice.

TENNIS

Kuerten continues comeback in Las Vegas

Gustavo Kuerten, coming back slowly from 2004 hip surgery, defeated Wesley Moodie, 6-4, 7-5, in an elimination match to reach the 24-player, round-robin round part of the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas.

In three round-robin matches, Fernando Verdasco defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Juan Martin Del Potro beat Evgeny Korolev, 6-3, 6-2; and Paul Goldstein defeated Julien Benneteau, 6-1, 6-0.

Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters will not play for Belgium in its first-round Fed Cup match against the U.S. on April 21-22 at Delray Beach, Fla., with both blaming busy schedules.

PRO FOOTBALL

Packers sign Jenkins to four-year extension

Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, 26, signed a four-year, $16-million contract extension, his agent said. The deal reportedly includes a $6-million signing bonus.

CYCLING

Former Tour champion Ullrich, 33, retires

Jan Ullrich, 33, announced his retirement from cycling eight months after being implicated in a Spanish doping scandal.

The German won the Tour de France in 1997 and was runner-up five times. Ullrich had been without a team since being fired by T-Mobile last summer.

PASSINGS

Preas, 73, won two NFL titles with the Colts

George Preas, who won two NFL championships on the offensive line of the old Baltimore Colts, died at 73 Saturday in Roanoke, Va. He had Parkinson’s disease.