Lohman Sparks U.S. Win
Penn State midfielder Joanna Lohman led the United States to its fifth consecutive Nordic Cup championship on Sunday when she scored both goals as the U.S. under-21 women’s team defeated Sweden, 2-1, in the tournament final in Randers, Denmark.
“It wasn’t a pretty game,” U.S. Coach Chris Petrucelli told U.S. Soccer. “It was two tired teams sort of slugging it out. It was a physical battle, but we did what we had to do to win.”
Lohman gave the U.S. the lead in the 14th minute, scoring off the rebound of a shot by the University of Portland’s Lindsay Huie, but the Swedes tied it up almost immediately.
Lohman grabbed the game-winner on a headed goal in the 55th minute.
The U.S. has won the Nordic Cup in six of the last seven years. Denmark beat Germany, 3-2, for third place in the eight-team event.
Champions Cup
Carles Puyol scored on a penalty kick as Barcelona defeated Juventus, 3-2, in an opening-round match of the Champions Cup Series in Foxboro, Mass.
Barcelona took a 2-0 lead at halftime on a pair of goals by Javier Saviola in the 28th and 41st minute.
Juventus rallied with two goals within one minute late in regulation. Marco DiVaio took a pass from Fabrizio Miccoli in the 86th minute. A minute later, Miccoli scored on a pass from Mauro Camoranesi.
The penalty kicks were tied, 5-5, when Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes made a diving save on Gianluca Pessotto to force extra kicks. Puyol then tucked a low shot into the left corner for the match winner.
MLS
D.C. United scored four goals in the second half Sunday as it came from two goals down to defeat the New England Revolution, 4-2, in front of 30,912 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., in the warmup to the Juventus match.
Two goals by Taylor Twellman in the 25th and 31st minutes had given the Revolution (5-6-7) a seemingly comfortable advantage at the half, but D.C. United (5-6-6) stormed back behind two goals from Eliseo Quintanilla and one each by Dema Kovalenko and Alecko Eskandarian to get the upset on the road.
WUSA
A goal by Germany’s Marien Meinert earned the Boston Breakers a 1-1 tie with the San Jose CyberRays in San Jose on Sunday afternoon in the day’s only Women’s United Soccer Assn. game.
Meinert scored for the Breakers (7-4-7) in the 64th minute to cancel out Tisha Venturini-Hoch’s 48th-minute goal for the CyberRays (6-8-3). The result lifted Boston into a tie with the Washington Freedom for second place in the eight-team league with four games to go.
Quick Passes
Everton and England striker Wayne Rooney will sit out the Aug. 16 start of the English Premier League season after injuring his right ankle ligaments during Everton’s 3-2 victory over Scottish champion Rangers in Glasgow on Saturday. Rooney, 17, is expected to be sidelined for one month.... Paris Saint Germain, which this month sold Brazilian forward Ronaldinho to Barcelona for $33.8 million, has made a bid to acquire Swiss international midfielder Hakan Yakin from FC Basel for an undetermined amount.... Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven is trying to sign midfielder Giovanni Van Bronckhorst from Arsenal, although PSV Coach Guus Hiddink admits funds are scarce and Van Bronckhorst is likely to come with a $13-million price tag. “We are vulnerable on the left side,” Hiddink told England’s Guardian newspaper. “We have to play a lot of games. When a player on the left side falls off, I have to reorganize the whole team. That is no good. I won’t give up no matter how bad the economic situation is at PSV.”
Times wire services contributed to this report.
