and with a little help from lady luck -- the U.S. moved on to the round-of-16 in Cheonan, South Korea. Kirk Urso came on as a second-half substitute and gave the U.S. the lead. Just seven minutes later, Mykell Bates added some insurance in the shutout.
Having dropped their first two games of the World Cup, the U.S. national team needed some help to advance, and they got it when Tunisia topped Tajikistan in other Group E action. With their win differential and the Tajikistan loss, the USA jumped from fourth place to second place in the group.
Next up for the U.S. is favorite Germany, who topped Group F, in Cheonan on Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7 a.m. ET. The game will be shown live on ESPNU.
Other top contenders at the biennial event are Peru, England, Brazil, Nigeria and Spain.
Spanish La Liga
Sad news after the opening weekend as Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta died following a collapse in FC Sevilla's 4-1 win against Getafe on Saturday. The cause of death was said to be a heart ailment. The loss of the young, talented Spaniard has postponed Sevilla's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg at AEK Athens on Tuesday. No word yet on whether Friday's UEFA Super Cup matchup with AC Milan will go ahead.
Defending champion Real Madrid got off to a winning start on Saturday with a 2-1 comeback against Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby. Newly acquired Wesley Sneijder -- over from Ajax -- wowed the Bernabeu, setting up the game-winner.
In other prominent La Liga action, Barcelona got all they could handle from a plucky Racing Santander in a goalless draw.
Italian Serie A
After a year in the lower flights due to a match fixing scandal, Italian power Juventus made a triumphant return to top division play, destroying Livorno 5-1 on the back of a hat trick from French forward David Trezeguet. Juventus had begun last season in Serie B with penalties, but had earned promotion back to Serie A beginning this year. Claudio Ranieri's boys were ready for the moment, scoring in the 26th minute and getting two more goals from substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta.
Lazio drew 2-2 with Torino, AC Milan got a pair of goals in a 3-0 drubbing of Genoa and Inter Milan tied 1-1 with Udinese.
German Bundesliga
Top of the table Bayern Munich had no trouble continuing its strong start, stomping Hannover 96 3-0. Italian striker Luca Toni scored again, his third goal already in the 2007 campaign.
Bayer Leverkusen grabbed its first win of the season, 3-0 over Karlsruhe. Similarly, Borussia Dortmund are off the schneid with a convincing 3-0 victory against Energie Cottbus. The win brings the preseason contenders out of the Bundesliga cellar.
English Premier League
Andriy Voronin scored his first EPL goal for Liverpool in a 2-0 shutout of Sunderland on Saturday. The win helped the Reds keep pace with Chelsea, the early EPL pace-setter. Chelsea won in typically efficient fashion, dispatching Portsmouth 1-0 on a Frank Lampard strike at Stamford Bridge.
In a battle of teams expected to contend this year, Arsenal got a powerful goal from Cesc Fabregas to top Man City 1-0, besting what to that point had been a standout performance from City 'keeper Kasper Schmeichel. Kasper, the son of former Manchester United superstar Peter, was impressive between the pipes. He stopped a Robin van Persie penalty kick earlier in the match. The loss was Man City's first in EPL action this season.
Fulham got a first-half goal from U.S. forward Clint Dempsey, but couldn't hold off Aston Villa after going down a man. Villa eventually broke through when Shaun Maloney scored in injury time for the 2-1 victory.
Man United held off Spurs by 1-0, staying within a point of Chelsea in the standings.
In other EPL games, James McFadden scored in the 78th minute to pull out a 1-1 draw for Everton against Blackburn Rovers. Bolton took out Reading 3-0; West Ham finished even with Wigan at 1-1; Birmingham topped surprising Derby 2-1.
OTHER NEWS
U.S. national team winger DaMarcus Beasley scored the opening goal in Rangers' 2-1 victory against Kilmarnock in Scottish Premier League action over the weekend. Celtic thrashed Hearts 5-0. ... Dutch League powerhouse PSV Eindhoven got a big 5-0 win against NEC Nijmegen ... Freddy Adu's new squad Benfica was held to a scoreless draw with Guimaraes.
Coming up ...
The final round of UEFA Champions League qualifying continues this week, with Crvena Zvezda hosting Scotland's Rangers FC, Lazio visiting Dinamo Bucuresti and Liverpool playing Toulouse at Anfield. Wednesday sees a slew of high-profile teams in action, including Werder Bremen, Arsenal, Ajax and Celtic.
