Thierry Henry

Three Portuguese players were suspended by UEFA on Sunday and the federation was fined for attacks on game officials during their Euro 2000 semifinal loss to France. Defender Abel Xavier, whose hand ball led to the winning penalty goal in overtime for France, was suspended for nine months of international play. Top scorer Nuno Gomes, who received a red card for protesting the penalty, was banned for eight months, and Paulo Bento, who verbally accosted the officials, was suspended for six months.

World Cup champion France edged the Czech Republic, 2-1, and the Netherlands defeated Denmark, 3-0, to secure quarterfinal spots in the European Soccer Championship, marred Friday by its first serious fan violence. Police in Brussels used tear gas and clubs to subdue rampaging English fans a day before today's England-Germany game that had sparked fears of hooliganism. Police said 140 were arrested and 21 injured.

World champion Italy revived its European Championship campaign Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over France in Zurich, Switzerland, to earn a place in the quarterfinals of the 16-nation soccer tournament. The win would not have been enough to get Coach Roberto Donadoni's team into the last eight had Romania beaten the Netherlands in the day's other game in Berne.

Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, who is having a spectacular season for Chivas USA, was named Sunday to Major League Soccer's roster for next week's midseason All-Star game against Champions League winner Chelsea at PPL Park outside Philadelphia. Kennedy's goals-against average of 1.06 is the second lowest in the league for a regular keeper. He also has five shutouts and hasn't given up a goal in his last 228 minutes of MLS play. Kennedy will be joined on the team by Galaxy midfielders David Beckham and Landon Donovan, who are both coming off big efforts in the team's win Saturday at Portland.

The Galaxy goes before a national television audience again Saturday when it plays host to the battered New York Red Bulls on ESPN. But are Major League Soccer's defending champions ready for their latest close-up? "We need to start showing people why we were champions last season," midfielder David Beckham said after training Friday. "At the moment it's not right at all. All the way through the team. " In fact the not-ready-for prime time players, at 3-4-1 after two months, have lost just one fewer game then they did all of last season.

The Galaxy will renew its Home Depot Center rivalry with the Houston Dynamo on May 5, highlighting a 34-game regular-season schedule released Wednesday. The Galaxy, the two-time defending Major League Soccer champion, begins play March 3, playing host to the Chicago Fire. That's a week earlier than last spring's opener, making this season the longest in league history. The regular-season finale for the Galaxy will be Oct. 27 in Seattle. The Galaxy plays its first three games, and six of its first nine, at home with the final game in that stretch coming against Houston.

Portugal, the United States' first opponent at the World Cup, Wednesday tossed Daniel Kenedy off the team after the 28-year-old midfielder tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide, which can be used to mask other illegal substances. Kenedy, who plays for Maritimo in the Portuguese first division, denied any wrongdoing. "I want to make it clear that I did nothing with intent," he said in Macao, the former Portuguese colony where the team is training. "I took something to lose weight....

In one motion, Lionel Messi settled the arcing pass off his chest and used his left foot to split the legs of once the top goalkeeper in America. Perhaps the world's best player, on arguably the world's best team, put on a display of dominance Wednesday night. Blinding in his nuclear peach uniform, Messi scored twice in the first half and FC Barcelona continued its preseason tour of the U.S. with a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders FC.

David Beckham is retiring. ... Again. Only this time, after a couple of false starts with the Galaxy over the last three years, the former captain of England's national team says he's really, truly hanging up his boots for good, drawing to a close a playing career both eventful and spectacular. "Now is the right time to finish," Beckham said Thursday. "Nothing will ever completely replace playing the game I love. However, I feel like I'm starting a new adventure, and I'm genuinely excited about what lies ahead.

Ricardo Lavolpe achieved his first success as Mexico's coach Wednesday night when goals by Pavel Pardo and Jesus Olalde earned the Tricolores a 2-0 victory over Bolivia in front of almost 40,000 fans at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. Mexico outshot the South Americans, 22-9, and dominated play from the start. The opening goal came in the 31st minute after Pardo and Ramon Morales exchanged passes. Olalde clinched the victory with a 16-yard shot in the 72nd minute.