U.S. women's coach to step down

Associated Press

Posted: September 02, 2012

The U.S. women's soccer team's post-Olympic victory tour also will be a goodbye tour. Coach Pia Sundhage is stepping down, returning to her native Sweden after leading the Americans to consecutive gold medals and their first World Cup final in 12 years.

Saturday's announcement of her departure came just a few hours before the U.S. women began their "victory tour" against Costa Rica in star Abby Wambach's hometown of Rochester, N.Y.

"I want to thank all the players and all of my assistant coaches for making me better," Sundhage said in a statement. "Before I took this job, I always admired the spirit and character of the U.S. team, but to experience that firsthand on the training field and from the bench as their coach was truly special and something I will treasure for the rest of my life."

The Americans are 89-6-10 since Sundhage took over in 2007, and made the final of all three major tournaments during her tenure. Their 2-1 victory over Japan in last month's Olympic final was a rematch of the 2011 World Cup final and avenged the most painful loss in team history.

During a pregame interview at midfield Saturday, Sundhage broke into song when asked what message she wanted to deliver fans regarding her departure. To cheers from the sold-out Sahlen's Stadium that holds more than 13,000 people, Sundhage took the microphone and sang a few lines from "If Not For You," written by Bob Dylan and made famous by Olivia Newton-John.

Her team then went out and overwhelmed Costa Rica, 8-0, to extend its winning streak to 12. Wambach had two goals and an assist in her homecoming as did Megan Rapinoe. Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Sydney Leroux, and Heather O'Reilly also scored.

Sundhage is expected to stay with the team for at least the next two games of their victory tour, against Australia on Sept. 16 in Carson, Calif., and Sept. 19 in Commerce City, Colo.

Premier League

Carlos Tevez inspired Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, moving the defending champions to within two points of early pacesetter Chelsea in the Premier League.

Tevez scored for the fourth straight game and set up the other two goals, by Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko.

The misery continued, however, for Tottenham and its manager Andre Villas-Boas, who is still searching for the first league win at his new club after a disappointing 1-1 home draw against Norwich.

MLS

Emilio Renteria scored in the third minute of stoppage time to lift the Columbus Crew to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Montreal Impact. Renteria entered the match in the 77th minute and received a pinpoint pass by Federico Higuain from the left flank and scored from 12 yards out.

In Kansas City, Kan., Oriol Rosell scored his first MLS goal in the 87th minute to lift Sporting Kansas City to a 2-1 win over Toronto at Livestrong Sporting Park. Paulo Nagamura had a goal and an assist for Sporting (15-7-5), which moved into a tie for the overall points lead with San Jose.