St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 45

ST. LOUIS POST-DISRAJCH SATURDAY. MAY 6. 2000 is indereated ft Snrisiig CI P.nJj By Tom Timmermann Of the Post-Dispatch I Vf A ALU THE WEEK IN SOCCER 15 i 'JA 6ty want our most important playoff games affected by the qualifying, which may mean not having our games on the Oct. 7-8 weekend." The MLS playoffs already are complicated by the Olympics, which in some cases will take two or three players away from teams for the final two weeks of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

D.C. United, for instance, probably will be without Ben Olsen and Chris Albright for the start of the playoffs. Even tougher for MLS is that Olympic coach Clive Charles gets to choose three overage players for the team he takes to Sydney, all of whom will likely be from MLS. So D.C. could also lose Eddie Pope or Carlos Llamosa or Chicago could lose Chris Armas.

Another name being mentioned as a possible overage player is former SLU star Brian McBride, now with the Columbus Crew. The Olympic men's soccer tournament is limited to players under 23, but teams are allowed to have three players who are over 23. Around the league Chicago Fire midfielder Armas suffered a pulled hamstring in the first half of the United States' 2-0 loss to Russia last week in Moscow. Armas missed Wednesday's game with Colorado and is questionable for this weekend. In another game between division leaders, Dallas and Tampa Bay, the top teams in the Central, play tonight in Florida Talk about a gift from heaven.

Brian Dunseth was available to New England on Saturday night only because of his yellow card and red card suspensions at The Football Confederation Olympic qualifying tournament. In the Revolution's game with Miami, Dunseth headed in the team's only goal in a 1-1 tie. In that same game, Miami's Henry Gutierrez chipped the ball over goalkeeper Jeff Causey for a goal, snapping the Fusion's scoreless streak at 457 minutes, the second-longest streak in league history From the MLS press notes for the Chicago-Colorado game on Wednesday: Key players out: DaMar-cus Beasley (school commitments). Kansas City and Los Angeles, the last two unbeaten teams in Major League Soccer, play tonight in Pasadena, Calif. That simple sentence is as unlikely a thing to see in print as "Aliens abduct president, demand toaster pastries for safe release." Or, closer to home, "Rams win Super Bowl." The fact that LA is unbeaten isnt too surprising.

The Galaxy were the preseason choices of a lot of people to win the MLS West Division and reach the MLS Cup for the second consecutive year. KC, which has a two-point lead over LA in the West standings, is another matter. A year ago, KC went 8-24 and finished with 20 points. Through seven games this season, the Wizards are 6-0-1 and have 19 points. "We feel that we are for real," Wizards coach Bob Gansler said.

"I think the combination of veterans and young players are going about their business in good fashion. How real we are, only time will tell." The Wizards improved themselves by bringing in several new players. Defenders Peter Vermes and Matt McKeon were acquired in a trade from Colorado and have toughened up the backline. Danish forward Miklos Molnar has given the Wizards scoring power up front, though he will probably miss the LA game because of an ankle injury. Veteran Chris Henderson came over from Colorado a year ago and has done well as a playmaker, along with a revitalized Preki, who struggled through the 1999 season.

"The amazing thing for our team is that we've come together as quickly as we have," Vermes said. "We have a lot of room to grow, based on the fact that we are still leading each other about on things like set plays." "I'm surprised about their start," Galaxy defender Robin Fraser said. "No one expected us, or them, to be undefeated at this point. I always knew that they have good players and made some, strong acquisitions, but you never expect any team to be unbeaten at this point." The Wizards have had the advantage of playing four games at home and having faced Miami, Colorado and the MetroStars, with a combined record of 7-11-4, on the road. Still, KC has trailed for just seven minutes this season and has markedly improved over last season.

Another fine mess U.S.: The U.S. women's team wraps up play in the U.S. Women's Cup on Sunday in Portland, Ore. MLS: Columbus beat D.C. United in RFK Stadium on Wednesday, the first win for the Crew at D.C.

in 14 tries. World: Calais, a fourth division amateur squad, plays Nantes for the French Cup on Sunday at the Stade de France outside Paris. On TV: MLS, Tampa Bay vs. Dallas, ESPN2, 3 p.m. today.

Women, U.S. Women's Cup final, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m. Sunday. English Premier League, highlights, Fox Sports Net 5 p.m. Sunday.

UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich vs. Real Madrid, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. UEFA Champions League, Barcelona vs. Valencia, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Colorado's Pual Bravo (left) tangles with Kansas City's Chris Henderson in a game last week. series to end early the week before so players could be released for training. "Certainly it presents a lot of issues for us," MLS executive vice president Ivan Gazidis said. "Clearly, we don't Rica in what may be a decisive qualifying game the weekend of Oct.

7-8. (The game could be played as late as Wednesday, but that would complicate matters even more.) That could force the league to move up the semifinal Milwaukee wins NPSL title; Canada prevails in U.S. Cup The Associated Press Hector Marinaro, the league's six-time MVP and seven-time scoring champion, had two 2-point goals for Cleveland. U.S. Cup: Andrea Neil's header off a corner kick in the 71st minute gave Canada a 1-0 win over South Korea in the semifinals of the U.S.

Cup on Friday in Portland, Ore. Canada will play in the championship game Sunday against the winner of the other semifinal late Friday night between the United States and Mexico. The U.S. has won the tournament all six years it has been held. "We beat one of the greatest teams in indoor soccer history," Wave coach Keith Tozer said.

"I'm so proud of our team. We had the best record in the regular season (31-13) and finished it off here decisively." Richardson had a 3-point goal and a 2-pointer in an 8-0 run in the first half to spark the Wave from a 2-0 deficit to an 11-6 halftime lead. His 2-point goal at 5:17 of the third quarter started the Wave on another 8-0 run that sealed the victory in front of a league playoff-record crowd of 15,469. Richardson was voted most valuable player of the playoffs. Michael Richardson scored three goals to power the Milwaukee Wave past the visiting Cleveland Crunch 19-6 to win the National Professional Soccer League title Friday night.

The Wave became the first team in the league's 16-year history to lose the first game of the best-of-five finals at home and rebound to win the championship. Milwaukee, which won its first crown in 1998, kept the defending champion Crunch from winning their fourth title in the last six years. MLS usually has played the final game of its semifinal playoff series the weekend before the MLS Cup. But that may have to be changed this year because of the schedule that has been set for World Cup quakfying matches. The United States will play Costa.