COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Ryan Smith scored in the 75th minute to give Sporting Kansas City a 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.
Sporting Kansas City (1-6-2) snapped a five-game MLS losing streak. The team is playing its first 10 games on the road while its new stadium is completed.
Conor Casey scored for Colorado (4-3-6) in the 13th minute. The Rapids have tied their last five games, and have a seven-game unbeaten streak.
A crowd of 16,439 attended the game.
WEMBLEY, England — The debate is over now. Barcelona is on the list of soccer’s all-time greatest teams.
Led by another dominant performance from Lionel Messi, the Catalan club beat Manchester United 3-1 on Saturday to earn its third Champions League title in six seasons and No. 4 overall.
“I feel privileged,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “You always want to win, but the way we have won is what I am most proud of. This is the way we want to play football.
“Lionel is the best player I have seen and probably the best I will ever see.”
Messi was typically subdued in his celebration.
“I’m very happy about the match,” Messi said. “We were the better team. We deserved to win.”
Messi put Barcelona ahead to stay with his 53rd goal and helped create another score to give the Spanish league champion some breathing room.
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Barcelona dominated play at Wembley Stadium with its trademark one-touch passing, but it needed the Argentine striker to conjure a 54th-minute solo strike from the edge of the penalty area to take the lead for the second time.
Barcelona Wins Champions League Final
There seemed to be no space as Messi was tracked by fullback Patrice Evra. But the two-time world player of the year spotted a gap between the central defenders and hit a shot down the middle, beating goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
Messi added a fake and run that led to David Villa taking possession on the edge of the area. From there, the Spain striker curled a shot into the top corner of the net.
“They do mesmerize you with their passing and we never really did control Messi,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “But many people have said that.
“In my time as manager, it’s the best team I’ve faced.”
Soccer commentators had said before the game that Barcelona, which already had won a third straight Spanish league title, would be ranked among the sport’s truly great teams with a victory over United. Now, with four European titles, only Liverpool, AC Milan and Barcelona’s fierce rival Real Madrid have won more.
With Pedro Rodriguez scoring the opening goal midway through the first half on an imaginative through ball from Xavi Hernandez, the win was as comprehensive as Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over United in the 2009 final in Rome.
“When Rome finished, I thought we had played a good game, but when I looked at it again I wasn’t that impressed,” Guardiola said. “But it has served its purpose.
“I think we played much better than the game two years ago.”
Guardiola now has won 10 titles – including two European Cups – in three years.
Wayne Rooney’s goal in the 34th minute left it tied at 1 at halftime. Rooney carried the ball to the edge of the area, slipping it to Ryan Giggs. Giggs knocked it back, giving Rooney the perfect opportunity to curl a shot past goalkeeper Victor Valdes at the far post.
Barcelona’s performance was so comfortable that Guardiola was able to bring on regular captain Carles Puyol for the last few moments, giving the oft-injured defender the chance to play a part in a memorable triumph.
But in a gesture symbolizing Barcelona’s team ethic, Puyol handed the armband over to Eric Abidal. His place on the team had been in doubt after he had surgery this season to remove a liver tumor – and the France defender lifted the famous trophy.
“Players are human beings,” Guardiola said. “Carles has made a great gesture and it has made us stronger.”
After a shaky opening, Barcelona simply outclassed the English champions. Xavi, standing in as captain for Puyol, orchestrated play from in front of Sergio Busquets, while Andres Iniesta and Messi hurt United with pinpoint passing.
“This is the reason I came to Barcelona,” Villa said. “I’m very happy, very satisfied. We have a team with ambition, a team with the will to win.”
United could do little to disrupt Barcelona, the prevailing force of European soccer.
“They were the better team so we can’t really argue,” United’s Rio Ferdinand said. “They’re a great side with great players.”
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Lineups:
Barcelona: Victor Valdes, Dani Alves (Carles Puyol, 88), Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez (Ibrahim Afellay, 90), Lionel Messi, David Villa (Seydou Keita, 86).
Manchester United: Edwin van der Sar, Fabio da Silva (Nani, 69), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick (Paul Scholes, 77), Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-sung, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez.
There’s no way you could see this coming.
When Bryant High School (blue) faced against Conway High School (white) in Arkansas, few expected a play of this magnitude.
Misdirection is an understatement.
We’re not going to give away the whole thing, but what appears to be a blooper turns out to be something a bit more sinister.
According to Yahoo! Pep Rally, some are questioning whether it deserved a yellow card, as the two Bryant players involved are really “actors.” Regardless, this isn’t the first misdirection play we’ve seen and it’s certainly not the most questionable.
Commendable or shameful that’s your decision, but could you have stopped the goal?
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The Sacramento Bee:
Lisa Wrightsman used soccer to turn her life around. Now she’s using it to help others do the same.
Wrightsman, a standout at Sacramento State and in a semipro league, later fell to drugs, alcohol, homelessness and jail.
Last year, however, she entered a Volunteers of America recovery program and discovered VOA’s street soccer program at Mather.
Read the whole story: The Sacramento Bee
Did 36-year-old David Beckham score the finest goal of his long career on Saturday night during the L.A. Galaxy’s 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City?
In a post that’s titled, “Beckham Scores One Of His Finest”, FanHouse UK thinks that just might be the case: “It may be that (Beckham) has saved his best for last (or at least most recent) as evidenced by this free kick against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. … Edwin van der Sar and Iker Casillas would have stood little chance of saving this Beckham strike, a thing of beauty.”
Check out the highlight below and decide for yourself if it’s Beckham’s best goal ever. But whether or not you think it’s his greatest goal of all time, it’s still a thing of beauty, that much is certain.
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Wayne Rooney doesn’t respond well to Twitter abuse.
A fan threatened the Manchester United striker on Tuesday night saying: “Rooney ya fat whore ill smash ya head in with a pitchin wedge an bury ya with a ballast fork ya fat ugly lil nonse.”
Rooney responded with a threat of his own and challenged the fan to a fight.
“I will put u asleep within 10 seconds hope u turn up if u don’t gonna tell everyone ur scared u little nit. I’ll be waiting,” Rooney said.
He then brushed off the altercation and called it a “bit of banter.”
@sam_oldham_LFC I will put u asleep within 10 seconds hope u turn up if u don’t gonna tell everyone ur scared u little nit. I’ll be waitingless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone 
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AMSTERDAM — Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg usually has a safe pair of hands, but he managed to drop the Dutch league’s trophy from the top of a bus as the team took a triumphal ride through Amsterdam.
Amateur video taken Sunday shows the trophy fall backward off the bus, apparently after colliding with overhead tram wires. It was handed back by a fan, to the applause of onlookers.
The incident resembles one from last month when Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos dropped Spain’s Copa del Rey trophy, which was crushed beneath the team’s bus.
Ajax sealed its 30th league championship with a 3-1 win over Twente on Sunday.
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BARCELONA, Spain — Street parties in Barcelona celebrating the victory of the city’s soccer team in the Champions League final turned violent early Sunday and at least 18 people were hospitalized, according to local media reports.
Police said more than 80 people were arrested after revelers attacked officers with bottles, flares and other objects, and destroyed park benches and bus stops. The scuffles broke out hours after Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in England on Saturday night. About 50,000 people flooded the streets of Barcelona to celebrate.
A police officer was among those hospitalized. AP photographs show plainclothes police officers, who were wearing Barcelona jerseys to blend in with the crowds, making arrests. More than 100 other people were hurt, but they didn’t require hospitalization and were treated at the scene by paramedics for cuts and bruises.
An unnamed 17-year-old woman died accidentally when she slipped and fell into a deep hole beside a fountain while celebrating the win in the northwestern town of Santa Comba, local newspaper La Voz de Galicia reported.
Soccer fans had poured shampoo into the fountain to create bubbles, which concealed an uncovered manhole that led to the fountain’s pump, the paper said.
The team was expected to arrive in Barcelona with the Champions League trophy Saturday afternoon, with tens of thousands of fans expected to line the streets to celebrate the victory. The festivities will culminate at the 98,000-seat Camp Nou Stadium at around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT), the club said in a statement.
For Miroslav Klose, scoring a goal would have been too easy.
Early in Bayern’s match against Stuttgart on Saturday, Arjen Robben broke free and made a beautiful pass to Klose right in front of the goal. The World Cup’s second all-time leading scorer had a wide open net, but instead kicked the ball over the crossbar. Klose knew he missed an easy opportunity and fell into back of the goal. Fortunately for Klose, Bayern still managed to win the match 2-1. Scroll down to watch the miss.
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