Thursday, February 8, 2007

Jimmy Conrad scored his first international goal and Landon Donovan converted a late breakaway, leading the United States to a 2-0 exhibition victory over Mexico last night in Glendale, Ariz., that kept up the Americans' dominance of their regional rival.

Conrad headed home a corner kick by Donovan in the 53rd minute, beating goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez inside the left post. It was the first international goal for Conrad, playing in his 19th game for the Americans, and the 24th career assist for Donovan, the U.S. career leader.

Donovan added the clincher in the 90th minute off a pass by Ricardo Clark. It was the 27th goal in 86 international appearances for Donovan, who scored in his second straight game after going scoreless in 18 consecutive national team appearances over 1 1/2 years.

Playing in front of a sold-out, heavily pro-Mexican crowd of 64,462, the Americans improved to 8-2-1 against Mexico since 2000. The United States is 7-0-1 against Mexico on home soil in that stretch, outscoring its southern neighbor 13-0.

· PRO FOOTBALL: Fresh off the Colts' Super Bowl win, Indianapolis assistant head coach Jim Caldwell became the 10th and likely last candidate to interview with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the search to replace Bill Parcells, who retired Jan. 22.

While Jones hasn't said when he will name a new coach, Caldwell said he expected the decision to come "in short order. It won't be long."

The search appeared to be winding down last week until Jones, after formally interviewing eight candidates, said he would wait until after the Super Bowl. Then he added two more in the mix to be the Cowboys' seventh coach -- the sixth since Jones bought the team in 1989.

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner, a two-time head coach and the Cowboys' offensive coordinator for two Super Bowl titles in the 1990s, still is viewed by many as the front-runner for the job. . . .

San Diego Chargers safety Terrence Kiel pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor drug charges for shipping codeine-based cough syrup to Texas, part of a plea bargain that could allow him to avoid jail time.

Kiel was ordered to undergo counseling for gambling and do 100 hours of volunteer work, including talking to young people about the dangers of drugs.

· BOXING: Mike Tyson has checked himself into an undisclosed inpatient treatment program for "various addictions" while awaiting trial on drug charges, his lawyer said.

The 40-year-old Tyson pleaded not guilty on Jan. 22 in Maricopa County (Ariz.) Superior Court to felony drug possession and paraphernalia possession counts and two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of drugs.

· BASEBALL: Left-hander Bruce Chen agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers and will go to spring training with the chance to compete for a spot in the starting rotation. Chen was 0-7 with a 6.93 ERA in 12 starts and 28 relief appearances for the Baltimore Orioles last year.

· PRO BASKETBALL: Chamique Holdsclaw re-signed with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. She ranks fifth in league history in total points (3,896).

-- From News Services