BRUSSELS — The U.S. men’s national soccer team lost to Belgium 1-0 on Tuesday, leaving Jurgen Klinsmann without a win in three games since he was hired as the Americans’ coach.
This was the first road game for Team USA since Klinsmann came aboard. The Americans earlier tied Mexico and lost to Costa Rica.
Nicolas Lombaerts‘ half volley in the 55th minute was the only goal in an exhibition game dominated by the Belgians on the rain-soaked field.
“It was an interesting game for both sides,” Klinsmann said. “For the first 25 minutes the U.S. had a good passing game going, but then the individual Belgian class started to show. The players have learned a lot from the game.”
Klinsmann, a former star player and coach for Germany, is looking to assemble the U.S. players who will play in the World Cup qualifiers that start next June. He pointed to such promising players as Juan Agudelo, Jose Torres, Brek Shea and Timmy Chandler.
• The Mexico club team Santos Laguna said former U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley is in the running to become its coach.
NBA meeting set for today
NEW YORK — NBA players and owners will resume negotiations today, two people with knowledge of the plans said. This comes a week after the sides vowed to meet more frequently in hopes of reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.
The session will be just the third between top negotiators since the league’s lockout started July 1. But with the opening of training camps less than a month away, the sides said they recognized the urgency to pick up the pace.
No new proposals were exchanged last week during a meeting that lasted about six hours. Neither side shared many details, saying they preferred to keep the nature of the talks private.
Commissioner David Stern said afterward there was still “clearly enough time” to make a deal that would allow the regular season to open as scheduled Nov. 1.
Footnotes.
Roger Federer has been included on Switzerland’s Davis Cup team that will play Australia in a World Group playoff set for Sept. 16-18 in Sydney.
Australia’s team will be led by Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion.
• Becky Hammon scored 17 of her season-high 37 points in the fourth quarter and the visiting San Antonio Silver Stars beat the Los Angeles Sparks 82-65 to clinch the West’s final berth in the WNBA playoffs. Hammon scored 26 points after halftime. The former Colorado State star hit 14-of-19 shots overall.
• Angel McCoughtry‘s 35 points helped the host Atlanta Dream move into third place in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference with an 85-74 win over the Connecticut Sun. Tina Charles had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Sun, her 22nd double-double of the season, matching the WNBA record she set last year.
• The RadioShack cycling team is merging with the Leopard-Trek outfit led by Andy and Frank Schleck for the 2012 season. The team will be known as the RadioShack-Nissan-Trek professional cycling team.
The Associated Press
