Club America

Club America, a first division Mexican soccer team, defeated the Salsa, 3-0, in an exhibition Sunday in front of 6,389 at Titan Stadium. The Salsa, a member of the American Professional Soccer League, kept its opponents scoreless until Luis Roberto Alves scored in the 25th minute. Gonzalo Farfan and Martin Simental each scored in the second half for Club America.

It has the makings of a pulp novel: A star professional soccer player is shot and gravely wounded in a shady wee-hours bar. The main witness is a skimpily clad blond dancer, the top suspects a businessman known as "the Model" and his supposed bodyguard. Soccer-mad Mexico has been fixated on the mystery surrounding the shooting early Monday of Salvador Cabanas, a star forward for one of the country's most popular teams, Club America of Mexico City. Cabanas lay in an induced coma Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital after surgeons unsuccessfully attempted to extract a bullet that had been fired into his head in the men's room of a night club called Bar Bar. He was listed in grave but stable condition.

Mexico's Club America, last year's champion of Central and North America, and Uruguay's Penarol, the South American champion of 1987, will meet for the America's Cup in the first of two international soccer games beginning tonight at 7 at the Coliseum. The second game, scheduled to begin at 8:45, features the national teams of El Salvador and Guatemala. Club America, ranked No.

Salvador Cabanas, the leading scorer on Paraguay's World Cup team, was in critical but stable condition at a Mexico City hospital Monday night after undergoing seven hours of emergency surgery following a predawn shooting. Cabanas, 29, who was playing for Club America of Mexico's Primera Division, was shot in the head during an attack in the restroom of a bar he had visited with his wife. Dr. Ernesto Martinez, who performed the surgery, said he was unable to remove the bullet, which is lodged in the back of Cabanas' brain.

The Giants Cup came to a predictable ending Sunday--with a thud rather than a roar--when Club America of Mexico defeated D.C. United of the United States, 2-0, in front of 3,127 at the Coliseum. Dogged throughout by indifferent play and paltry attendance, the Giants Cup served no purpose other than to qualify two teams for another CONCACAF event, the Clubs Cup early in 2003.

Brazil's Olympic soccer team, one of the ranking international powers, will play Club America of Mexico tonight for the Camel Nations Cup championship at the Coliseum at 9. Brazil, which won the silver medal in the 1984 Olympics and is regarded among the strongest contenders for the gold in Seoul, advanced to the title game Tuesday with a 5-2 overtime victory over Argentina, the reigning world champion. Club America made the final by beating El Salvador, 3-0.

While wet grounds forced the postponement of the Dodger-Padre doubleheader Thursday evening, the already-delayed soccer doubleheader at the Coliseum went on as scheduled. Two days had passed since the originally scheduled game day, and Club America of Mexico and Penarol of Uruguay could wait no longer to play for the America's Cup. Club America was the 1987 Central and North American champion, Penarol the South American champion.

Riding Rod Dyachenko's goal in the 12th minute, D.C. United didn't allow a shot on goal Sunday night to defeat Club America, 1-0, in a Group-B SuperLiga first-round game at Washington. Dyachenko scored from 12 yards out, pouncing on a headed pass from Christian Gomez near the penalty spot. The victory put United in solid position to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, which features four Major League Soccer teams and four Mexican first division clubs competing for a $1-million purse.

When Club America of Mexico faces River Plate of Argentina in an international exhibition tonight at 8 in the Coliseum, the Eagles will be meeting a familiar foe while preparing for bigger and better things. America, champions of the Mexican first division Summer tournament, and River Plate, Argentina's Closing tournament titlist, have met twice in the last four months in the South American Copa Libertadores tournament. America defeated River Plate, 1-0, in Buenos Aires on Feb.

Say one thing about Club America fans, they do appreciate a helping hand. When the players from Morelia walked off the field at the Home Depot Center on Wednesday night, having thrashed UAG Tecos, 3-1, in the first half of an InterLiga soccer doubleheader, the Club America faithful saluted them long and loud.

A month after winning Mexico's Apertura, Monterrey is going to the prestigious Copa Libertadores for the first time in more than a decade after beating Club America in penalty kicks in the finals of the Interliga soccer tournament before a sellout crowd at the Home Depot Center at Carson. After failing to find the back of the net during regulation, Monterrey couldn't miss it during penalty kicks with Luis Ernesto Perez, Walter Ayovi and Osvaldo Martinez all beating America goalkeeper Memo Ochoa.

Memo Ochoa has been to a World Cup, played in a Gold Cup and the Copa America and made nearly 200 starts in goal for Club America, one of Mexico's most storied soccer franchises. Yet he says he still holds a soft spot in his heart for the 11-nation Copa Libertadores, Latin America's version of the UEFA Champions League that begins with preliminary-round games later this month. "My second game as a professional was in the Copa Libertadores," Ochoa said Tuesday. "It's a tournament that means a lot to me. And I play it with enthusiasm."

No one wins when a game ends with the score tied. But no one loses either, which was the perfect scenario for Monterrey in Sunday's final game of group play in the seventh Interliga soccer tournament at the Home Depot Center. Needing only to avoid a one-sided loss to unbeaten Puebla to advance to the tournament finals, Monterrey turned conservative to protect a second-half tie. Yet, it emerged with a 2-1 victory anyway when Osvaldo Martinez scored a minute into extra time. In Wednesday's championship round, Monterrey, winner of the Mexican Clausura season, will meet Group A champion Club America of Mexico City at 8:30 p.m. Puebla, the Group B winner, will play Jalisco's Estudiantes Tecos at 6. The winner of each game will represent Mexico in the Copa Libertadores, Latin America's version of Europe's Championships League.

Franco DiSanto and Florent Malouda scored in a two-minute span in the second half to lead Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Mexico's Club America on Sunday at Arlington, Texas, in the final match of the World Football Challenge friendly tournament. Malouda took a pass from Ashley Cole and chipped it in front of the goal, where DiSanto beat goalkeeper Armando Navarrete to the ball and knocked it into the net in the 76th minute.

Oguchi Onyewu, who this month became the first American-born player to sign a contract with AC Milan, made his debut for the team to begin the second half Wednesday in Atlanta in the World Football Challenge. While he was on the losing side in Club America's 2-1 exhibition victory, the defender was looking at the positive side. "We have a long time before the season starts," Onyewu said. "This preparation will only help me and the team get better."

Club America, Mexico's wealthiest soccer team, showed up at the sold-out Home Depot Center on Friday night as if its Interliga game against Atlas of Guadalajara were nothing but a formality. Unless it lost by three goals, America was certain of a place in one of Sunday's two finals, the winners of which will earn berths in the prestigious and lucrative Copa Libertadores tournament, South America's equivalent of the European Champions League. So what happened?

Mexico national team goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez played one of the games of his life Sunday, making a series of spectacular saves, but he was unable to prevent defending Mexican league champion Club America of Mexico City from defeating Chivas of Guadalajara, 1-0, at a packed Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara. Sanchez's most stunning save came when he threw himself to his right and batted away a penalty kick by Club America's Chilean striker, Ivan "Bam Bam" Zamorano, in the 24th minute.

Club America of Mexico will face the East German national team in the World Class Soccer Series at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Santa Ana Stadium. It will be the last appearance for the East German team in the United States. The East German players will be part of a unified Germany team next year. The East Germans are led by Mario Kern, Olaf Schreibern, Sven Kmetsch, Nico Daebritz, Henning Buerger and Sven Radtke.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco faced Chivas USA for the first time Sept. 29, wearing the Chicago Fire jersey. For fans who knew Blanco when he wore the Club America colors, and was a leading player battling Chivas of Guadalajara in Mexico's top league, this was not just any game. Thousands of America jerseys stormed the Home Depot Center to see the former Club America star. In the 34th minute of a scoreless game, Blanco was fouled on the edge of the Chivas USA area.

This wasn't just another game. Joel Romero, a lifelong Club America fan, knew it. It's not that often one of the biggest soccer rivalries in Mexico gets staged north of the border. But that's what America-Cruz Azul is, one of the biggest rivalries in Mexico. "It's the most beautiful thing in the world," said Romero, 42, who had never seen a Cruz Azul-American game in person. "A Clasico Joven?