Away from the laptop much of the weekend (happy birthday, mum) so if (like me) the last soccer action you noticed was Manchester City’s Wayne Bridge artfully missing shaking the hand of Chelsea’s John Terry before the two teams met Saturday, here’s what else happened this weekend:
*UCLA’s Lauren Cheney scored two goals today as the U.S. beat Sweden 2-0 to reach its eighth consecutive Algarve Cup final. The U.S. plays the winner of the Germany-China encounter in the final.
*David Beckham played 90 minutes Sunday for the first time since AC Milan’s UEFA Champions League loss to Manchester United as Milan beat Atalanta 3-1 to stay second in Serie A.
*Flu-stricken Landon Donovan came on as a 63rd minute sub Sunday but couldn’t prevent Everton losing 2-1 to Tottenham Hotpsur. He missed a sitter with 13 minutes to go, failing to convert Jack Rodwell’s cross from close range that would have been his second goal in 11 appearances for the club.
“This is just a really disappointing moment for me personally,” Donovan told the Liverpool Echo. “I’ve put a lot into my time here and another goal would have been a nice reward.
“I got myself in a good position at the back post and was hoping Jack was going to put the ball across goal,” he added. “He did that and it came perfectly for me.
“It’s hard to understand what went wrong. I felt like everything was right but then I looked up to see the ball had hit the side netting.
“It’s so frustrating because if we had scored then it’s possible we might have gone on to win the game.
“It’s tough but we’ve got to put this behind us now and move on. There are still a lot of points to play for.”
*Fontana’s Maurice Edu became an instant Ibrox hero Sunday when his lone stoppage time goal decided the Old Firm clash as Rangers beat 10-man Celtic, 1-0.
*The Galaxy beat the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Friday evening on a Gregg Berhalter penalty kick in Arizona, but heavy rain canceled a Sunday rematch and the Galaxy headed home today.
Lineup: Josh Saunders (Kevin Guppy 45′); Alex Cazumba, Gregg Berhalter, Yohance Marshall, Sean Franklin; Chris Birchall, Bryan Jordan, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein; Jovan Kirovski, Edson Buddle (Mike Magee 31′)
*Lastly, Chivas USA introduces El Salvadoran midfielder Osael Romero today. More on that in Tuesday’s column.
