England and Italy Qualify for Cup

Fourteen more teams qualified Saturday for next year’s 32-team World Cup soccer finals in Germany, with England, Italy and the Netherlands leading the way in Europe.

All five African spots were filled, with Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola qualifying for the first time. Tunisia claimed the final spot from the region.

Paraguay and Ecuador joined already-qualified Brazil and Argentina from South America.

In CONCACAF qualifiers, Carlos Hernandez scored twice and Paolo Wanchope had a goal to help host Costa Rica advance with a 3-0 victory over the United States at San Jose, and Francisco Fonseca scored four goals at San Luis Potosi to lead host Mexico to a 5-2 victory over Guatemala, which might not be able to recover from the loss.

At San Jose, an increasingly giddy crowd danced and chanted in the stands under a hard drizzle that fell steadily but that didn’t seem to affect the Costa Rican players all that much.

“I was not surprised,” U.S. Coach Bruce Arena said. “We expected them to play the way they did. They had two obviously outstanding goals in the second half.”

Mexico and the U.S. already had qualified. The fourth-place team in the region -- probably Guatemala or Trinidad and Tobago -- will play Bahrain or Uzbekistan in a two-game playoff.

Trinidad and Tobago has a two-point advantage going into the final round Wednesday. Guatemala plays at home against Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago plays host to Mexico.

Behind first-half goals by Rafael van der Vaart and Barry Opdam, the Netherlands qualified with a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic in a Group 1 game at Prague.

“It’s a great feeling,” goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar said. “I’m a guy that won’t get many more chances.”

Host England defeated Austria, 1-0, on Frank Lampard’s 24th-minute goal at Manchester. Poland did not play but is guaranteed -- along with England -- of winning Group 6 or finishing as one of the two best second-place teams.

England’s David Beckham received two yellow cards and was ejected.

At Palermo, Italy qualified for the finals for the 12th consecutive time with a 1-0 win over Slovenia in Group 5. Second-half substitute Cristian Zaccardo converted a cross from Palermo teammate Fabio Grosso in the 78th minute.

Host Portugal, which needed only a draw to win Group 3, defeated Liechtenstein, 2-1, at Aveiro.

Four teams are still in the chase in Group 4. Israel leads with 18 points, followed by France and Switzerland with 17 and Ireland with 16.

Ireland stayed alive with a 1-0 win at Cyprus on a goal by Stephen Elliott in the sixth minute, and France and host Switzerland tied, 1-1, at Bern. Israel defeated the Faeroe Islands, 2-1, at Tel Aviv, Israel.

Paraguay clinched its berth by beating host Venezuela, 1-0, on Nelson Haedo Valdez’s goal at Maracaibo.

Togo was the biggest surprise in Africa. The west African nation rallied twice at Republic of Congo to win, 3-2, improving to 23 points in Group 1.

At Kigali, host Angola beat Rwanda, 1-0, and advanced to the finals because of its better head-to-head record against Nigeria. Both teams finished with 21 points in Group 4.

Dwayne De Rosario and Julian Nash scored for San Jose and the Earthquakes became the first Major League Soccer team to go undefeated at home, tying Real Salt Lake, 2-2.

San Jose (17-4-10) ended its home schedule with a 9-0-7 mark. Salt Lake (5-21-5) became the second MLS team to go winless on the road (0-14-2). The tie ended Salt Lake’s 10-game losing streak.

In other MLS games, Youri Djokaeff’s goal in the 68th minute kept the MetroStars’ playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over D.C. United (16-10-5) at Washington.

The MetroStars (11-9-11) move into a tie with Kansas City for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with one game remaining.

At Chicago, Eric Vasquez and Simon Elliott scored after a scoreless first half in a 2-1 victory for the Columbus Crew (11-16-4) over the Fire (15-12-4).

At Kansas City, Mo., Jose Cancela and Clint Dempsey each scored to help New England (16-7-8) overcome a two-goal deficit against the Wizards (11-9-11).

At Frisco, Texas, Dario Sala had three saves in his first MLS game to help FC Dallas (13-10-8) to a 0-0 with the Colorado Rapids (12-13-6).

GOLF

Daly Takes Lead Over Montgomerie

John Daly hit a 378-yard drive that set up an eagle on the par-five 10th hole, hit a 292-yard drive into a stiff wind for a chip-and-putt birdie on the par-four 16th, and finished at three-under-par 67 for a one-shot lead over Colin Montgomerie after the third round of the American Express Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco.

Tiger Woods shot 68 despite hitting some shots into unusual places. One ended up under a sport utility vehicle parked in the woods, and another went off the cart path, over a 25-foot hospitality tent and was headed for the parking lot until it grazed someone’s leg and stopped on the stairs.

Daly was at nine-under 201 and Montgomerie closed with 10 consecutive pars for a 69. Sergio Garcia shot a 67 and is tied with Woods at seven under.

Nicole Perrot of Chile moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a seven-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead after the third round of the Longs Drugs Challenge at Auburn, Calif.

Dana Quigley shot a season-best eight-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Loren Roberts (65) in the Greater Hickory Classic at Conover, N.C.

TENNIS

Davenport, Mauresmo Reach Final in Germany

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport advanced to the final of the Porsche Grand Prix with 14 aces in a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia at Filderstadt, Germany.

Davenport will play fourth-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France, who defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-3, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Fifth-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia advanced to the final of the Japan Open at Tokyo with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Bjorn Phau of Germany and will play Wesley Moodie, an unseeded South African, recovered from a slow start to defeat seventh-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

MOTOR RACING

Kenseth Earns Pole With a Track Record

Matt Kenseth set a track qualifying record in earning the pole for the Banquet 400 at Kansas City, Kan., hoping it will put him in position to win today and get back into the race for the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

Kenseth, who qualified with a lap of 180.856 mph in a Ford, is seventh in the standings, 111 points behind leader Tony Stewart, who had a lap of 179.850 mph in a Chevrolet and will start ninth.

Greg Biffle elected not to nudge Kasey Kahne out of contention during their late side-by-side duel and Kahne moved ahead in his Dodge just yards from the finish line to beat Biffle’s Ford and win the Busch series United Way 300 at Kansas Speedway.

The margin of victory -- .03 of a second -- was the fifth-closest since the series implemented electronic timing in 1993.

Points leader Martin Truex Jr., who started from the pole and led 36 laps, lost ground because of a decision to pit earlier than the rest of the field. He finished ninth in a Chevrolet and widened his lead over Clint Bowyer, who finished 15th in a Ford, from 26 to 49 points.

Steven Michael Lewis continued his winning streak at Irwindale Speedway, recording the first sweep of the USAC Western Sprint Car season, posting the fastest qualifying time, winning his heat race and the 40-lap race, beating series leader Kody Swanson by 6.14 seconds.

MISCELLANY

Falcons List Vick as Questionable

The Atlanta Falcons downgraded quarterback Michael Vick, who suffered a sprained knee ligament last week against Minnesota, to questionable for today’s game against the New England Patriots.

Sasha Cohen began her Olympic season in impressive fashion, winning the Campbell’s International Figure Skating Classic at St. Paul, Minn., with a program that featured seven triple jumps.

Cohen finished with 122.73 points. Fellow American Kimmie Meissner was second with a performance that included two triple-triple combinations and that earned a score of 109.08 points, and former world champion Shizuka Arakawa of Japan was third.

Takeshi Honda of Japan won the men’s event with 123.34 points, and was followed by Americans Michael Weiss and Timothy Goebel.

Trudy Todd of Australia, a veteran of the women’s pro surfing tour, out-pointed countrywoman Samantha Cornish in the final of the Rip Curl Malibu Pro at Surfrider Beach.

Todd, who jumped from No. 13 to No. 7 on the World Championship Tour, suffered a broken back in 2000 and is recovering from recent cancer surgery.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

World Cup qualifying

Standings for the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2006 World Cup:

CONCACAF QUALFYING

Through Saturday’s games

Team; W; L; T; Pts; GF; GA; Diff.

Mexico; 7; 1; 1; 22; 21; 7; +14

United States; 6; 3; 1; 19; 14; 6; +8

Costa Rica; 5; 3; 1; 17; 13; 11; +3

Trinidad & Tobago; 3; 5; 1; 10; 8; 14; -6

Guatemala; 2; 5; 2; 8; 13; 17; -4

Panama; 0; 7; 2; 2; 4; 19; -15

* Saturday’s scores: Costa Rica 3, United States 0; Mexico 5, Guatemala 2; Trinidad and Tobago 1, Panama 0.

* Wednesday’s schedule: Panama vs. United States at Foxborough, Mass.; Costa Rica vs. Guatemala at Guatemala City, Mexico vs. Trinidad and Tobago at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

GERMANY ’06 FIELD

Teams that have qualified for the 2006 World Cup, with automatic berths per region in parentheses:

* Africa (5) -- Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia.

* Asia (4) -- Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea.

* CONCACAF (3) -- Costa Rica, Mexico, United States.

* Europe (14) -- Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine.

* South America (4) -- Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay.

Note: Three more berths will be determined Wednesday, the last day of European qualifying. The remaining three European teams will be decided by home-and-home series pairing six teams that finished second in their groups. The final two berths will go to winners of playoff series featuring CONCACAF’s fourth-place finisher vs. Asia’s fifth-place finisher, and South America’s fifth-place finisher vs. Oceana champion Australia.