Sanchez, Mexico preparing for Olympic qualifying

Mexico national and Olympic team Coach Hugo Sanchez has selected 25 players from a dozen Mexican league clubs for a two-game swing through California and Texas as preparation for the regional qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics.

Mexico’s under-23 squad, led by national team goalkeeper Guillermo ”Memo” Ochoa of Club America and also featuring forward Luis Angel Landin of Morelia, will play Australia on March 2 at Oakland’s McAfee Coliseum and Finland on March 6 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

Also prominent on Sanchez’s roster are midfielders Patricio Araujo, of Chivas de Guadalajara, who captained Mexico to the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in 2005 and later was captain of the under-20 national team, and Cesar Villaluz of Cruz Azul.

The CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament is being held in Carson, Tampa, Fla., and Nashville, with Mexico scheduled to play first-round games against Canada, Guatemala and Haiti at the Home Depot Center on March 12, 14 and 16, respectively.

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Mexico’s other Olympic hopefuls – Coach Leonardo Cuellar’s women’s national team – will arrive in Los Angeles this week and will play the NCAA champion USC women’s team at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Coliseum.

Cuellar’s squad is preparing for the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament to be played in Juarez, Mexico, April 2-13. Mexico, along with Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S., will be competing for two places in Beijing.

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In one of English soccer’s more startling upsets of recent years, five-time European champion Liverpool on Saturday was knocked out of the English F.A. Cup by second division Barnsley as it lost, 2-1, at home.

Liverpool created numerous scoring chances, but superb goalkeeping by Barnsley’s Luke Steele and a last-minute goal by Brian Howard clinched the unlikely victory at Anfield and put the underdogs in the final eight of the 137-year-old Cup.

“It’s a fairy tale … that will live with the players all their lives,” said Barnsley Coach Simon Davey.

Said Howard: “I’m still away with the fairies at the moment. I might be able to describe the feeling Monday.”

Premier League leader Arsenal also bowed out of the tournament but lost to a far more prestigious opponent. Manchester United thrashed the Gunners, 4-0, behind two goals by Darren Fletcher, while Chelsea also advanced to the final eight with a 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town as Frank Lampard scored twice.

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Another landmark event took place in Italy on Saturday when defender Paolo Maldini came on as a second-half substitute for European champion AC Milan in a 0-0 tie at Parma.

It was the former Italian international’s 1,000th professional appearance since making his debut for Milan at age 16 in 1985. Maldini, 39, will retire at the end of this season and dedicated the moment to his mother.

Rival and defending Serie A champion Inter Milan, meanwhile, won again, 2-0 over Livorno behind a pair of goals from Honduran international David Suazo. That result, combined with second-place AS Roma’s 1-0 loss at Juventus, meant that Inter has an 11-point lead atop the table and seems certain of repeating as Italian champion.

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Meanwhile, in Major League Soccer, the rivalry between the Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls is about to be ratcheted up another notch with the news that defender Willman Conde wants to bail out of Chicago before the season begins March 29.

Conde, who joined the Fire last season to play under coach and fellow Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio, now wants to duplicate Osorio’s controversial move to New York, despite being under contract.

“My heart tells me I need to play with Osorio,” Conde told the Chicago Tribune. “I love soccer and I don’t want to hurt anybody, but it’s better to be honest. I don’t want to stay on the team and have a bad attitude.”

The Fire, understandably, so far has refused to bow to Conde’s request for a trade that would significantly weaken the team’s defense while strengthening an Eastern Conference rival, and New York likely would have to give up a significant player to make any trade happen.

grahame.jones@latimes.com