Worldwide Soccer Sport

HARRISON, N.J. (AP) -- New York coach Hans Backe called Saturday's game against the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps a "must-win."

Well, Backe's club didn't win. But the Red Bulls didn't lose either - for a league-high 15th time this year, tying a league record.

Reserve forward Juan Agudelo scored a goal off a fine feed from Rafa Marquez in the 68th minute, lifting the Red Bulls to a 1-1 tie with the league's worst team.

Agudelo entered in the 62nd minute as a substitute and scored his sixth goal of the season, but the Red Bulls, playing down a man after Jan Gunnar Solli was ejected right before halftime, could not get the go-ahead goal and fell to 6-6-15 overall.

It was the eighth straight match without a win for the Red Bulls, going 0-3-5 during that span.

The Red Bulls have 33 points, one ahead of Portland and two ahead of D.C. United for the last playoff spot.

"We're still in it and that's a good thing," Backe said. "It's unbelievable with all the tied games. I still think we're good enough to pick up wins. Time is running out (the Red Bulls have seven games remaining) and we need to get wins. It's frustrating, of course, and not normal. It's more frustrating that we're getting injuries and red cards and just can't get a rhythm going."

The Whitecaps (4-13-10) remained winless on the road this season, posting an 0-10-5 record.

The Whitecaps scored in the 23rd minute, when Camilo moved down the right side, then passed into the box to Davide Chiumiento, who whirled and did a 180-degree spin to fire a right-footed shot over Bouna Coundoul into the net. It was Chiumiento's second goal of the season, but he was upset with his team's performance after getting the lead.

"The second half, we didn't play with any energy or desire to win the game," Chiumiento said. "It's tough. We're not ready mentally to win on the road. We played a good first half and the second half we drew a blank. We didn't show enough courage to win the game."

Solli received a red card from referee Terry Vaughn in extra time in the first half. The ejection of Solli enabled Vancouver to play more conservatively and enabled it to keep the action away from the Red Bulls for most of the second half.

The Red Bulls drew even when Marquez lifted a 50-yard crossing pass right to the foot of Agudelo, who slid the ball past a stunned Vancouver goalkeeper Joe Cannon for the game-tying goal. It was the teenager's sixth goal of the season.

"I was very happy to see him make a difference," Backe said. "He played with passion and was physically strong. It's great to see him perform like that and he's a player we have to see if he can start in the future."

The Red Bulls had two golden chances to take the lead in the 78th minute, when Agudelo's header was stopped by Gannon and Dane Richards' rebound shot was fired hard into Gannon's midsection.

"I never had a team like this with so many ties," veteran defender Carlos Mendes said. "It's very difficult to keep getting ties. We need to fix it quick."

SEATTLE (AP) -- Alvaro Saborio scored from 10 yards away early in the 56th minute, and a rare gaffe by Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller resulted in an own goal as Real Salt Lake hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.

Salt Lake (13-7-6) won its third in a row. The Sounders (13-6-9) had a four-game unbeaten streak halted.

Saborio set up his own game-winner when he picked up a loose ball in the penalty area, deked around Sounders defender Tyson Wahl and, from an angle to the right, and beat Keller to the back left corner.

"I just had to control the ball and kick it," said Saborio, who scored his team-leading eighth goal of the year. "We were hoping for the win, and we have to continue like that."

At the outset of the 13th minute, Salt Lake's Fabian Espindola sent a ball from the top left corner of the box toward the far post. Keller appeared to grab it at the post with Kyle Beckerman right there, and then lose his grip on it. He said afterward what he was really trying to do was knock the ball out of danger, but instead sent it trickling into the back right corner.

"It was a good cross into the box, and I scrambled to get it, and it kind of chucked off the turf a little bit," Keller said. "I didn't want to leave a rebound out in the middle, so I tried to hook it out for a corner and just got too much on it and ended up hooking it into my own net. Simple at that - it was my fault."

Mauro Rosales could have tied it for Seattle just 4 minutes later, but sent a penalty kick barely wide left. That was the the third time on eight attempts that the Sounders have missed from the spot this season.

Fredy Montero did tie it with about 30 seconds remaining in first-half stoppage time with a blast from the top of the 6-yard box past Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Midway through the 69th minute, Rimando helped preserve Real Salt Lake's lead when he literally put his face in front of a hard shot by Seattle's Tyson Wahl that was taken from 12 yards straight in front of the net.

"Those are the ones you don't expect to make, and you don't train for them," Rimando said. "When they happen, you don't want them to go in the back of the net. But the guys kept on playing, so I saved it with my face."

Both teams finished with 10 men after each side had a player sent off by referee Mark Kadlecik midway through the first half - Tony Beltran of RSL on his second yellow of the game, and Seattle's Jhon Kennedy Hurtado less than 4 minutes later on a straight red for a hard tackle.

"I'm proud of the fact that they stuck together and kept working extremely hard and stayed disciplined through some pretty interesting decisions in the first half and some dire circumstances," Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis said. "In two of the past three matches, we've had a player ejected early in the match and the group has stayed very resilient."

Sounders oach Sigi Schmid felt his team should have garnered at least a point instead of going away empty.

"Sometimes, games go like this," he said. "In the first half especially and some in the second half, I thought we had some in the second half, there were some good moments where we got in and created some chances, where we got behind them on the flanks, which is exactly what we talked about. But at the end of the day, we couldn't convert."

Between the ninth and 11th minutes, thousands of the 35,940 fans at Century Link Field waved miniature American flags in recognition of Sunday's 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has revealed he has been mocked by Borussia Dortmund's players ahead of the Champions League clash between the sides.

Szczesny's Poland team-mates Lukasz Piszczek, Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Blaszczykowski, all of whom play for Dortmund, have teased him following the Gunners' 8-2 hammering at Manchester United last month.

After the Gunners got back to winning ways by beating Swansea 1-0 on Saturday, though, Szczesny is confident that he will have the last laugh on Tuesday in Germany.

"There has been a little bit [of stick], I'm not going to lie," Szczesny said in The Sun. "I think two of them will be playing on Tuesday and the one who was the loudest, Jakub, will be on the bench. They've been taking the mickey out of the 8-2 defeat but they can't get into my head. I will be focused. I hope after the game I will be the one who comes out on top with the banter."

Wenger has revealed he will lean on new signing Per Mertesacker, a Germany international, for advice ahead of the Dortmund fixture. "He knows the Dortmund stadium well and knows German football. He talks and communicates with the team and when a German communicates, you listen," Wenger said.

Meanwhile, Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm said he thinks Arsenal are still suffering because of their lack of confidence.

"I think the stadium was scary," he said in the Daily Mirror. "You come inside and think, 'Okay, 60,000 people' and the atmosphere was great, but they play with no confidence and with new players it's hard for them to fill in the places.

"I think Arteta did well, but although I think they have the quality they don't have the confidence. I loved to watch Arsenal and the way they played a couple of years ago. I hope it is going to get better and I think it will come.

"Manchester City have the confidence - and the money. I think that is the ?difference. They have a group of 22 or 23 players who are all world class. I think Arsenal have a lot of young players and Man City have a lot of experience. Arsenal feel a lot of pressure, including from the crowd. It's not easy to play here but it was a good lesson for us."

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Teal Bunbury scored once in each half, sparking Sporting Kansas City to a 3-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

C.J. Sapong also scored for Sporting (10-8-10), which broke a two-match winless streak, and Jimmy Nielsen needed to make only one save to earn his fifth shutout of the season.

Houston (8-9-11) lost its second straight and had to play the last 25 minutes short-handed after the ejection of forward Carlo Costly.

Bunbury scored in the 9th and 73rd minutes, beating marks from defender Andre Hainault each time. Sapong made it 3-0 in the 79th, tapping in a cross from Kei Kamara.

Costly was issued a straight red card in the 64th minute for a hard foul on Kansas City defender Chance Myers.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- Shalrie Joseph scored in the 14th minute and Rajko Lekic had a goal late in the second half to lead New England to a 2-0 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday night, snapping the Revolution's seven-match winless skid.

Joseph had his team-leading eighth goal of the season and Lekic scored in the 85th minute. New England (5-11-12) was 0-2-5 in its last seven games overall and were also winless in their last seven (0-3-4) at home since beating Vancouver on May 14.

Revolution goalie Matt Reis had his fifth shutout of the season, stopping six corner kicks and making four saves - the best of which was off a header by Dallas' Maicon Santos in the 16th minute.

F.C. Dallas (13-8-7) is just 1-3-1 in its last five matches.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp expects Luka Modric to be offered a new contract after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy rejected several bids from Chelsea during the transfer window.

Modric was keen to leave Spurs in the summer but Levy insisted the Croatian playmaker would not be sold at any price and, true to his word, turned down increasingly large offers - reportedly of ?22 million and ?27 million - from Stamford Bridge. Redknapp said there was a final offer of ?40 million on deadline day.

Redknapp feels Modric can now focus on playing for Spurs and although the 26-year-old is already tied to a long-term contract, is anticipating an improved contract for Modric.

"Luka will just get on with it - the chairman will sit down and discuss his contract and make a deal," said Redknapp.

"We are looking to make him a good offer. The transfer window being shut now makes my job easier because he has to just get on with playing."

Redknapp also confirmed that Giovani Dos Santos wanted to leave Spurs during the summer but the Mexico international, who has spent loan spells at Ipswich, Galatasaray and Racing Santander, refused a move to Udinese.

"Gio wanted to move. But we couldn't let him go. We had a ?13 million offer from Udinese for him," Redknapp said.

"It was ?10 million down and ?3 million do-able bonuses. A big sell-on. He wouldn't go. He wanted to go to Seville who were offering €3 million. You can't blame the chairman for not letting him go."

"Only him and Luka are here now out of the lads who wanted to leave."

Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock has suggested the club could make a move for David Beckham in January after owner Tony Fernandes said he was interested in bringing the player back to England.

Beckham has spent five years in the United States with Los Angeles Galaxy but his contract with the Major League Soccer club ends in two months' time.

That means he will be free to negotiate a return to the Premier League and while he has said playing for a club other than Manchester United in England's top flight would be difficult he has not ruled it out.

After rumours of a move for Beckham emerged on Wednesday, Fernandes said on Twitter: "I think having someone like David in the club would be great. Was always in my thoughts."

And now Warnock has followed that up by saying "anything is possible" now Fernandes is in charge at Loftus Road.

Warnock was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying: "About three weeks ago I would not have dreamed to sign Joey Barton so I will never write anything off.

"The chairman Tony Fernandes has got such [an opinion] - why accept the average when you can reach for the top? That is how he is.

"It came out of the blue. I think anything is possible. He is a very astute businessman.''

However at a press conference on Thursday, Warnock appeared to try and put distance between himself and a move for Beckham.

"It is not a discussion [Tony and I] have had,'' he said. "I mean obviously it is good news for you lads I suppose and nothing much surprises me at the club but it's not something we've talked about, not myself anyhow.''

Asked what he would do if Fernandes offered him the player, he retorted: "I think you will have to ask me as and when. I've got enough problems worrying about Newcastle (on Monday), I don't want to worry about that (as well).

"We can't sign him anyhow, we can't sign anybody else now until January so why worry? I think he is a fabulous professional. I think he has been a great asset to English football, I like him as a person but ask me in January.''