St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 30

JUN 1 7 2000 20 or ST.LOmSPOST-aSFOTCH SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2000 Lower-tier teams make most of their shots vs. MLS "1 Players such pn! (ci5) as Peter Nowak (left) and Chris Armas of the Chicago Fire will get more air time starting Monday, when ESPN2 launches its new weekly MLS highlight show. MLS LEADERS MLS scoring leaders (goals, assists, points) 1. Razov, Chi. 113 25 2.

Diallo, T.B. 12 0 24 3. Kreis, Dallas 8 7 23 4. Washgton, Col. 9 3 21 5.

Agogo, Colo. 7 6 20 6. Valencia, Stars 7 418 7. Molnar, KC 8 1 17 7. Moreno, DC 8 1 17 9.

T.B. 1 13 IS 9. Hendrson, KC 5 5 15 9. Baba, N.E. 5 5 15 9.

Harris, N.E. 5 5 15 By Tom Timmermann Of the Post-Dispatch Dreams live on in the U.S. Open Cup, the single-elimination tournament that is open to every soccer club in the nation. In the kind of thing that can only happen in a cup competition, three lower-division teams knocked off MLS teams in Wednesday's round of 32. The biggest surprises were wins by two amateur squads over two of the top teams in MLS The Chicago Sock-ers won a scoreless match with a 7-6 edge in penalty kicks against the Kansas City Wizards, who have the best record in MLS, and the Mid Michigan Bucks beat the Eastern Division-leading New England Revolution 1-0.

Another MLS team, Colorado, was routed 3-0 by Richmond of the second-division A-League. The wins by Chicago and Mid Michigan were the first ever for amateur teams over MLS squads. Both the Sockers and Bucks play in the United Soccer League's Premier Development League, which would be considered the fourth division of American soccer if the classifications went that low. The teams have an "open" designation, which allows college players to play without losing their eligibility. Tournaments like this can create unlikely heroes.

The hero in Mid Michigan's win was Chad Schomaker, a Vietnamese refugee who came to America for adoption when he was 16 months old and is now a preacher at the St. Claire (Mich.) United Methodist Church. Schomaker scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time of the second half. "It proves that all the leagues are pretty close together and that every single one of us could play on a pro team," Schomaker said after the game. "There are a lot of 18- and 19-year-old kids out there that can play ball, and all they need is a chance." That is what Chicago, who is mostly composed of college athletes, proved with its win on penalty kicks over the Wizards.

"I dreamed about this," Chicago goalkeeper Adam Throop, a recent graduate of Westmont College in California, said after the match. "I dreamed it was 0-0 and we won on penalty kicks." Kansas City coach Bob Gansler had started the match with only three of his regular starters on the field, but he brought in Chris Klein, Preki and Chris Henderson as the match went on to try to pull out the win. Chicago coach Bret Hall, meanwhile, had held some of his regulars out of PDL matches to have them ready for the Open Cup match. The Sockers were known as the Chicago Stingers when they won the USL's third-division championship in 1998 and had made plans to move up to join the A-League. But their stadium didn't meet league specifications, so they went on hiatus, converted to an amateur team and changed their name.

"Some of these guys will never get THE ASSOCIATED PRESS its opening match 3-2 to Portugal, and Germany needs a win after tying its opening match 1-1 with Romania Germany has a mathematical chance of reaching the quarterfinals with a loss; England would be out. Italy, with wins over Turkey and Belgium, was the first team through to the quarterfinals. Spain, not surprisingly, failed to live up to expectations by losing to Norway 1-0 in its opening match. D.C. in the dark D.C.

United's match with Kansas City last Saturday was called at half-time after half the lights at RFK Stadium went out. The game was scoreless at the break and will go into the books as a tie. United appealed, wanting the game to be replayed, but the league denied the appeal. The two reasons United wanted the game replayed: The struggling team needs all the points it can get as it battles for a playoff spot, and it thought it had a chance to beat the Wizards; United promised every fan in attendance a ticket to another game. The game drew a crowd of 21,035, United's of the season.

this chance again," Hall said. "For one day, they got to be pros." World Cup update The U.S. national team will find out its third semifinal-round opponent in World Cup qualifying on Sunday when Guatemala faces Antigua and Barbuda in Guatemala City. Guatemala won the first leg 1-0 in Antigua and needs just a tie to advance. Tonight, Honduras faces Haiti and will advance as long as it doesn't lose by four goals.

On Sunday, Canada played to a 0-0 tie with Cuba to advance to the semifinal round, where it will face Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Panama. U.S. Soccer has settled on its dates and sites for its three home matches. The Americans will play their matches on Aug. 16 in Foxboro, Mass.

(against Barbados), on Sept. 3 in Washington (Guatemala or Antigua) and on Oct. 11 in Columbus, Ohio (Costa Rica). Most of the U.S. team's recent qualifying matches have been played on a Sunday, but the matches at Foxboro and Columbus will be on a Wednesday as The Football Confederation (formerly CONCACAF) moves toward following the proposed international calendar.

Most European qualifying matches are on Wednesdays. On the air ESPN2 and Major League Soccer will launch a weekly highlight show starting Monday night MLS has long wanted a show like this to give its games more visibility, especially since ESPN's SportsCenter shows very few MLS highlights. The program will show up to three condensed matches that will run five to 20 minutes and provide features and news on the league. The starting times will vary, with Monday's debut starting at 10 p.m. Euro update England and Germany meet today in Charleroi, Belgium, in the most anticipated match in the first round of Euro 2000.

But with the crowds being well-behaved so far, the interest in the game may move inside Stade Communal. pee.ds after, dropping,.