Honduras Goalkeeper Is Shot to Death

Honduras national team goalkeeper Milton “Chocolate” Flores was shot and killed while sitting in his car in the crime-ridden La Union neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, early Sunday morning.

Police said Flores, 28, was struck between seven and 10 times when his unknown assailants, believed to be members of a street gang, fired a burst of at least 15 shots from an automatic weapon before fleeing.

No motive was known for the slaying, which occurred shortly before 3 a.m. It was not immediately clear what Flores was doing in that neighborhood at that hour.

A woman identified as Karina Gonzalez was with him and was seriously injured in the shooting. She was listed in critical condition at a local hospital.

Flores, who played for Real Espana in the Honduran first division, became Honduras’ first-choice goalkeeper after helping it reach the semifinals of the 1995 Pan American Games. He took part in the qualifying tournaments for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and several CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments.

Rafael Leonardo Callejas, president of the Honduran soccer federation, told Reuters that Flores’ death was “an irreplaceable loss for Honduran soccer.”

The goalkeeper had played for his country as recently as Dec. 28 and was scheduled to start against Argentina in a friendly match Jan. 31, according to Honduras Coach Jose Herrera.

Coliseum Tie

El Salvador and Guatemala played to their second scoreless tie in three days Sunday afternoon in front of an estimated 11,000 fans at the Coliseum.

The Salvadorans had better scoring opportunities, with Alianza forward Diego Mejia forcing Guatemala goalkeeper Ricardo Trigueno to make a smart save in the 34th minute and Trigueno again being called up to thwart Municipal Limeno striker Josue Galdamez four minutes later.

The teams had tied, 0-0, at the Santa Ana Bowl on Friday night, but El Salvador won the cup given to the winner of the exhibition series after winning a coin flip.

Korean Duel

The draw for the Asian Women’s Championship, which will determine the region’s representatives in the fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup in China in September, has pitted North Korea and South Korea against each other in the same group.

The 14-nation tournament will take place April 17-30 in Thailand, with the top two teams, other than China, advancing to the World Cup and the next-best team, other than China, entering a playoff with Mexico for a World Cup place.

China qualifies automatically as host of the Sept. 23-Oct. 11 world championship.

The draw, in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, saw defending champion North Korea placed in Group A with South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and host Thailand. The two Koreas will play each other April 25.

Group B consists of Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam and Myanmar, while Group C features seven-time champion China, along with Vietnam, India and Uzbekistan.

Clough OK

Brian Clough, who coached the English club Nottingham Forest to European Cup titles in 1979 and 1980, has undergone a liver transplant in Ireland, according to a report in today’s edition of the English tabloid the Sun.

The newspaper quoted Clough’s son, Nigel, as saying his 67-year-old father was “doing OK” after last week’s operation.

Owen’s Gamble

Liverpoool and England striker Michael Owen on Sunday denied claims made by a British tabloid that he had bet more than $3.5 million on horse races and soccer during the last three years.

Owen’s father, Terry, did open an offshore betting account several years ago, a family spokesman said, adding that it was used by family members, including Owen, as well as friends.

The spokesman was quoted by Associated Press as saying that Owen’s “gambling losses probably total around $48,0000 to $64,000 over the last couple of years.”

Refuting claims made by the Sunday Mirror, Owen, 23, told another tabloid, the News of the World, that he had “done nothing wrong and I can’t understand why people should think I have.”

Mexican Roundup

Two weeks into the new Mexican season, only three of the league’s 20 teams -- Necaxa, Colibries and UNL -- remained unbeaten and untied after games played on Sunday.

That said, the major encounter of the day saw Club America held to a 1-1 tie by Guadalajara in front of more that 90,000 fans at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

Jair Garcia put Chivas ahead shortly before the half-hour mark, but Francisco Torres tied it up for the home team just before halftime.

Guadalajara and Mexico national team goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez was in superb form for Chivas and it was his saves that kept Club America’s high-powered forwards at bay.

Necaxa has yet to yield a goal this season, its latest victory a 1-0 win over Atlas on a 41st-minute goal by Uruguayan striker Miguel Larrosa.

Similarly, Colibries remained unbeaten and untied courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Tecos in which Miguel Perez and Brazilians Claudio da Silva and Leandro Tabare provided the goals.

Also off to a strong start, UNL’s Tigres rolled over Cruz Azul, 3-1, with Argentine Walter Gaitan scoring his third goal of the season to go with others by Juan Montano and Chile’s Pablo Galdames. Cruz Azul’s lone goal came from Uruguay’s Sebastian Abreu.

Toluca, which won the most recent Mexican championship, lost for the second game in a row, 3-2 to Atlante, and is one of only three teams, along with Puebla and Atlas, still seeking its first point of the season.

Coach Hugo Sanchez’s UNAM team, which along with Cruz Azul will represent Mexico in South America’s Copa Libertadores, also remained winless after a 0-0 tie with Veracruz.