Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sandro focused on Inter

Internacional midfielder Sandro says he is not 'frustrated' that the club rejected an offer from Tottenham Hotspur.


The highly-rated Sandro has been hly-rated Sandro has been linked with a move to White Hart Lane, with reports claiming Spurs had offered �14million.

The Brazilian club's president Vittorio Piffero has described the bid as 'reasonable', but it is not enough to secure Sandro's signature.

Sandro is aware of the rumours surrounding his future, but he insists he is in no rush to leave the Porto Alegre-based club in order to join a European team.

"I am not frustrated by this matter," Sandro told the Brazilian media.

"For me to play in Europe is a dream, but there is time to have another chance to do this.

"At the moment I want to focus on my performances for Inter."

On Friday, Spurs announced a strategic partnership with Inter which could see players head to White Hart Lane from the Brazilian side

Sandro focused on Inter

Internacional midfielder Sandro says he is not 'frustrated' that the club rejected an offer from Tottenham Hotspur.


The highly-rated Sandro has been hly-rated Sandro has been linked with a move to White Hart Lane, with reports claiming Spurs had offered �14million.

The Brazilian club's president Vittorio Piffero has described the bid as 'reasonable', but it is not enough to secure Sandro's signature.

Sandro is aware of the rumours surrounding his future, but he insists he is in no rush to leave the Porto Alegre-based club in order to join a European team.

"I am not frustrated by this matter," Sandro told the Brazilian media.

"For me to play in Europe is a dream, but there is time to have another chance to do this.

"At the moment I want to focus on my performances for Inter."

On Friday, Spurs announced a strategic partnership with Inter which could see players head to White Hart Lane from the Brazilian side

Premier League round-up

Chelsea and Tottenham both maintained their 100 per cent starts to the new season on an afternoon when Liverpool came from behind to beat Bolton.


Champions Manchester United also hit back in the evening game to defeat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford.

The Gunners controlled much of the first half and took the lead through an excellent long-range strike from Andrey Arshavin five minutes before the interval.

United improved in the second period and Wayne Rooney equalised from the penalty spot in the 59th minute after being brought down by Manuel Almunia.

Abou Diaby then headed a Ryan Giggs free-kick into his own net five minutes later to put United ahead, while the game ended with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger being sent off.

Chelsea were highly impressive as they chalked up a fourth successive league win via a 3-0 defeat of Burnley.

The Clarets will rue Martin Paterson's profligacy in front of goal with the scoreline blank, as once Nicolas Anelka broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time there was no way back.

Michael Ballack stooped to double Chelsea's lead after the break before Ashley Cole's stunning angled drive capped another imperious display from Carlo Ancelotti's side.

Tottenham left it late at White Hart Lane as Aaron Lennon's last minute strike against Birmingham City secured a 2-1 victory.

Worryingly for Harry Redknapp, Ledley King and Luka Modric hobbled off injured before the latter's replacement, Peter Crouch, scored his first Spurs goal with a looping second-half header.

Lee Bowyer restored parity via the scruffiest of efforts as Christian Benitez appeared to push Alan Hutton in the build-up to the goal, much to the ire of Redknapp, and the delight of a travelling Blues faithful.

It was, though, Spurs who had the last laugh as Lennon's impressive drive won it at the death.

Rafa Benitez has experienced better weeks in his football career and he'll be thankful for Steven Gerrard after his captain scored a thumping winner as Liverpool won 3-2 at ten-man Bolton.

Following Monday night's defeat to Aston Villa, things got a whole lot worse for Liverpool just past the half-hour mark when Bolton striker Kevin Davies stabbed home after a scramble in the box.

Davies' opener had come against the run of play so it came as little surprise when the in-form Glen Johnson restored parity before half-time when he cut inside on the edge of Bolton's box, before firing a daisy cutter beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen.

It was, though, a frailty at the heart of Liverpool's defence that was exposed again after half-time as Davies' flick header from a set-piece fell invitingly for Tamir Cohen to ram home.

Sean Davis saw red for two bookable offences before Gerrard struck the bar and Fernando Torres levelled matters with a neat finish. The scene was set fonish. The scene was set for Gerrard to emerge as a hero and he did just that with seven minutes remaining, via a searing drive from range.

Hull City and Wolves both went for three points in a bright game at Molineux but had to settle for one apiece after a 1-1 draw.

Stephen Hunt continued an encouraging start to his Hull career as his powerful run and cross from the left was headed in by Geovanni past Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Wolves struck back early in the second half when a free-kick from deep fell to Richard Stearman, who finished with aplomb for a centre-half.

Dave Kitson followed up his first ever Stoke goal in midweek, in the Carling Cup, with a debut league strike as his first-half effort was enough to give the Potters a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland following a scramble in the box.

Blackburn's game with West Ham at Ewood Park ended in a disappointing stalemate as neither club did enough to take the spoils.

Premier League round-up

Chelsea and Tottenham both maintained their 100 per cent starts to the new season on an afternoon when Liverpool came from behind to beat Bolton.


Champions Manchester United also hit back in the evening game to defeat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford.

The Gunners controlled much of the first half and took the lead through an excellent long-range strike from Andrey Arshavin five minutes before the interval.

United improved in the second period and Wayne Rooney equalised from the penalty spot in the 59th minute after being brought down by Manuel Almunia.

Abou Diaby then headed a Ryan Giggs free-kick into his own net five minutes later to put United ahead, while the game ended with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger being sent off.

Chelsea were highly impressive as they chalked up a fourth successive league win via a 3-0 defeat of Burnley.

The Clarets will rue Martin Paterson's profligacy in front of goal with the scoreline blank, as once Nicolas Anelka broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time there was no way back.

Michael Ballack stooped to double Chelsea's lead after the break before Ashley Cole's stunning angled drive capped another imperious display from Carlo Ancelotti's side.

Tottenham left it late at White Hart Lane as Aaron Lennon's last minute strike against Birmingham City secured a 2-1 victory.

Worryingly for Harry Redknapp, Ledley King and Luka Modric hobbled off injured before the latter's replacement, Peter Crouch, scored his first Spurs goal with a looping second-half header.

Lee Bowyer restored parity via the scruffiest of efforts as Christian Benitez appeared to push Alan Hutton in the build-up to the goal, much to the ire of Redknapp, and the delight of a travelling Blues faithful.

It was, though, Spurs who had the last laugh as Lennon's impressive drive won it at the death.

Rafa Benitez has experienced better weeks in his football career and he'll be thankful for Steven Gerrard after his captain scored a thumping winner as Liverpool won 3-2 at ten-man Bolton.

Following Monday night's defeat to Aston Villa, things got a whole lot worse for Liverpool just past the half-hour mark when Bolton striker Kevin Davies stabbed home after a scramble in the box.

Davies' opener had come against the run of play so it came as little surprise when the in-form Glen Johnson restored parity before half-time when he cut inside on the edge of Bolton's box, before firing a daisy cutter beyond Jussi Jaaskelainen.

It was, though, a frailty at the heart of Liverpool's defence that was exposed again after half-time as Davies' flick header from a set-piece fell invitingly for Tamir Cohen to ram home.

Sean Davis saw red for two bookable offences before Gerrard struck the bar and Fernando Torres levelled matters with a neat finish. The scene was set fonish. The scene was set for Gerrard to emerge as a hero and he did just that with seven minutes remaining, via a searing drive from range.

Hull City and Wolves both went for three points in a bright game at Molineux but had to settle for one apiece after a 1-1 draw.

Stephen Hunt continued an encouraging start to his Hull career as his powerful run and cross from the left was headed in by Geovanni past Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Wolves struck back early in the second half when a free-kick from deep fell to Richard Stearman, who finished with aplomb for a centre-half.

Dave Kitson followed up his first ever Stoke goal in midweek, in the Carling Cup, with a debut league strike as his first-half effort was enough to give the Potters a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland following a scramble in the box.

Blackburn's game with West Ham at Ewood Park ended in a disappointing stalemate as neither club did enough to take the spoils.

Summer Bird soars in Travers Stakes

Jockey Kent Desormeaux celebrates atop Summer Bird after winning the Travers Stakes horse race at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. (AP PhoAug. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (Mike Groll - AP)


SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Summer Bird isn't the other Bird anymore.

The Belmont Stakes winner came charging off the far turn and splashed his way to victory in the $1 million Travers Stakes at rain-soaked Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.

Now that Summer Bird is the only 3-year-old male with two Grade 1 wins, the son of Birdstone almost certainly moves to the head of his class. Of course, Rachel Alexandra is No. 1 3-year-old filly and leading contender for Horse of the Year.

But Summer Bird is the word in the boy's world - ahead of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who missed the Travers as he recovers from throat surgery, and ahead of Quality Road, who finished third in the slop as the 3-2 favorite, five lengths behind the winner.

"To me, he is the 3-year-old champion now," a delighted winning trainer Tim Ice said. "They can call him the other Bird if they want, but he's won the Belmont and the Travers. Take it from there."

Like father, like son, too.

In completing the Belmont-Travers double, Summer Bird joins his sire, Birdstone, who did it in 2004. Summer Bird is the 30th horse to win both races.

"Winning this race means as much as winning the Belmont," Ice said. "For my colt to win the Belmont and come back and win the Travers like his sire means a lot."

A crowd of 34,221 braved showers all day for the biggest racing card of the six-week season, capped by the 1 1/4-mile Midsummer Derby.

Summer Bird, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, came into the race off a runner-up finish to Rachel Alexandra in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2. For two weeks, Ice had been saying his colt was ready for a big race, and he surely delivered.
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Quality Road, who would have been the Derby favorite before he was sidelined with hoof issues, won the Amsterdam Stakes earlier in the month in his return. But he wasn't quite ready for the Travers: He bucked jockey John Velazquez off before entering the starting gate, was squeezed between horses at the start and finished third in the seven-horse field.

Charitable Man was fourth, followed by Warrior's Reward, Kensei and Our Edge.

Summer Bird soars in Travers Stakes

Jockey Kent Desormeaux celebrates atop Summer Bird after winning the Travers Stakes horse race at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. (AP PhoAug. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (Mike Groll - AP)


SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Summer Bird isn't the other Bird anymore.

The Belmont Stakes winner came charging off the far turn and splashed his way to victory in the $1 million Travers Stakes at rain-soaked Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.

Now that Summer Bird is the only 3-year-old male with two Grade 1 wins, the son of Birdstone almost certainly moves to the head of his class. Of course, Rachel Alexandra is No. 1 3-year-old filly and leading contender for Horse of the Year.

But Summer Bird is the word in the boy's world - ahead of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who missed the Travers as he recovers from throat surgery, and ahead of Quality Road, who finished third in the slop as the 3-2 favorite, five lengths behind the winner.

"To me, he is the 3-year-old champion now," a delighted winning trainer Tim Ice said. "They can call him the other Bird if they want, but he's won the Belmont and the Travers. Take it from there."

Like father, like son, too.

In completing the Belmont-Travers double, Summer Bird joins his sire, Birdstone, who did it in 2004. Summer Bird is the 30th horse to win both races.

"Winning this race means as much as winning the Belmont," Ice said. "For my colt to win the Belmont and come back and win the Travers like his sire means a lot."

A crowd of 34,221 braved showers all day for the biggest racing card of the six-week season, capped by the 1 1/4-mile Midsummer Derby.

Summer Bird, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, came into the race off a runner-up finish to Rachel Alexandra in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2. For two weeks, Ice had been saying his colt was ready for a big race, and he surely delivered.
ad_icon

Quality Road, who would have been the Derby favorite before he was sidelined with hoof issues, won the Amsterdam Stakes earlier in the month in his return. But he wasn't quite ready for the Travers: He bucked jockey John Velazquez off before entering the starting gate, was squeezed between horses at the start and finished third in the seven-horse field.

Charitable Man was fourth, followed by Warrior's Reward, Kensei and Our Edge.

Kansas City Chiefs lose Matt Cassel to leg injury

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel grabs his left leg after he was sacked in the first quarter Saturday. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images / August 29, 2009)


Matt Hasselbeck threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns with newly signed Edgerrin James watching on the sideline, leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 14-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night in Kansas City, Mo., in a game in which the Chiefs lost quarterback Matt Cassel to a leg injury.

James, the NFL's active rushing leader, signed with Seattle on Tuesday but spent the game in sweats, pen and notepad in hand.

Hasselbeck put on a good show for his new teammate, leading the Seahawks on scoring drives to end the first half and open the second.

Kansas City had a woeful night on offense -- its only touchdown came on defense -- and lost two starters in the game's first three minutes: Cassel and cornerback Brandon Flowers (shoulder). Receiver Devard Darling also had to be helped off in the second quarter, favoring his left leg.

New York Jets 27, at New York Giants 25: Mark Sanchez, in his first game since being named the Jets' starting quarterback, completed a spectacular 31-yard touchdown pass play to Chansi Stuckey and put 20 points on the board in 2 1/2 quarters as the Jets took the annual New York braggin' rights game in East Rutherford, N.J. Sanchez overcame a slow start and a little early pressure to complete 13 of 20 for 149 yards for the Jets, who gave Rex Ryan his first victory as a head coach.

New Orleans 45, at Oakland 7: Drew Brees completed 14 of 17 passes for 179 yards and drove the Saints to touchdowns on all three drives he played.

San Francisco 20, at Dallas 13: Dallas rode Felix Jones and Marion Barber for most of a 94-yard touchdown drive, the highlight series during the first-half battle between the first-team units in a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers.

at Pittsburgh 17, Buffalo 0: Ben Roethlisberger played a nearly flawless first half in his first game since injuring his right foot, James Farrior had a 22-yard interception for a touchdown and the Bills starting offense struggled yet again. Roethlisberger led two scoring drives while going 15 of 19 for 168 yards and 103.5 passer rating before sitting out the second half.

at Cleveland 23, Tennessee 17: Brady Quinn threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards and outplayed Derek Anderson in perhaps their final auditions for Coach Eric Mangini to be the Browns' starting quarterback.

at Detroit 18, Indianapolis 17: Third-string quarterback Drew Stanton threw a 21-yard pass to rookie Dan Gronkowski and a two-point conversion to John Standeford with 4:13 left to win it for the Lions.

at Atlanta 27, San Diego 24:

The Chargers' Philip Rivers led touchdown drip Rivers led touchdown drives in two of his three possessions in his first game since signing a contract extension, before the Falcons' backups rallied.

Baltimore 17, at Carolina 13: Joe Flacco threw for 247 yards and a touchdown and the Ravens' defense shut down Carolina's first unit.

Elsewhere

Byron Leftwich has won Tampa Bay's prolonged quarterback derby by beating out Luke McCown. Leftwich will start the team's regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Buccaneers Coach Raheem Morris announced the selection after practice Saturday, saying Leftwich had an edge over McCown heading into training camp.

New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said Tom Brady left Friday night's exhibition game so the coaches could look at the backup -- not because of injury.

The team had announced at the game that Brady had a sore right shoulder.

Kansas City Chiefs lose Matt Cassel to leg injury

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel grabs his left leg after he was sacked in the first quarter Saturday. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images / August 29, 2009)


Matt Hasselbeck threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns with newly signed Edgerrin James watching on the sideline, leading the Seattle Seahawks to a 14-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night in Kansas City, Mo., in a game in which the Chiefs lost quarterback Matt Cassel to a leg injury.

James, the NFL's active rushing leader, signed with Seattle on Tuesday but spent the game in sweats, pen and notepad in hand.

Hasselbeck put on a good show for his new teammate, leading the Seahawks on scoring drives to end the first half and open the second.

Kansas City had a woeful night on offense -- its only touchdown came on defense -- and lost two starters in the game's first three minutes: Cassel and cornerback Brandon Flowers (shoulder). Receiver Devard Darling also had to be helped off in the second quarter, favoring his left leg.

New York Jets 27, at New York Giants 25: Mark Sanchez, in his first game since being named the Jets' starting quarterback, completed a spectacular 31-yard touchdown pass play to Chansi Stuckey and put 20 points on the board in 2 1/2 quarters as the Jets took the annual New York braggin' rights game in East Rutherford, N.J. Sanchez overcame a slow start and a little early pressure to complete 13 of 20 for 149 yards for the Jets, who gave Rex Ryan his first victory as a head coach.

New Orleans 45, at Oakland 7: Drew Brees completed 14 of 17 passes for 179 yards and drove the Saints to touchdowns on all three drives he played.

San Francisco 20, at Dallas 13: Dallas rode Felix Jones and Marion Barber for most of a 94-yard touchdown drive, the highlight series during the first-half battle between the first-team units in a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers.

at Pittsburgh 17, Buffalo 0: Ben Roethlisberger played a nearly flawless first half in his first game since injuring his right foot, James Farrior had a 22-yard interception for a touchdown and the Bills starting offense struggled yet again. Roethlisberger led two scoring drives while going 15 of 19 for 168 yards and 103.5 passer rating before sitting out the second half.

at Cleveland 23, Tennessee 17: Brady Quinn threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards and outplayed Derek Anderson in perhaps their final auditions for Coach Eric Mangini to be the Browns' starting quarterback.

at Detroit 18, Indianapolis 17: Third-string quarterback Drew Stanton threw a 21-yard pass to rookie Dan Gronkowski and a two-point conversion to John Standeford with 4:13 left to win it for the Lions.

at Atlanta 27, San Diego 24:

The Chargers' Philip Rivers led touchdown drip Rivers led touchdown drives in two of his three possessions in his first game since signing a contract extension, before the Falcons' backups rallied.

Baltimore 17, at Carolina 13: Joe Flacco threw for 247 yards and a touchdown and the Ravens' defense shut down Carolina's first unit.

Elsewhere

Byron Leftwich has won Tampa Bay's prolonged quarterback derby by beating out Luke McCown. Leftwich will start the team's regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Buccaneers Coach Raheem Morris announced the selection after practice Saturday, saying Leftwich had an edge over McCown heading into training camp.

New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said Tom Brady left Friday night's exhibition game so the coaches could look at the backup -- not because of injury.

The team had announced at the game that Brady had a sore right shoulder.

Lineup switch lifts Revs past Quakes

New England notches two late goals to extend winning streak
08/30/2009 01:56 AM
By Kyle McCarthy / MLSnet.com Staff


OXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The first UGH, Mass. -- The first half wasn't exactly what the New England Revolution had in mind as they carried a two-match winning streak into Saturday night's 2-1 win against San Jose.

All of the things that New England had done to achieve those wins against Seattle and Real Salt Lake last week -- tidy passing, opportunistic finishing and cohesive defending -- weren't on display. But for a few timely misses from the Earthquakes, the Revs would have entered the break down.

"We weren't too happy about our first half," Revolution midfielder Wells Thompson said. "We wanted to go out there from the start and get after it. We struggled a little bit. (Revolution coach Steve Nicol) just tried to calm us and get us together. We weren't down at half. The game wasn't over. We had another half to go out and give it to them. That's what we did."

Nicol made a couple of early switches in the second half, sending on Sainey Nyassi and Pat Phelan in place of Mauricio Castro and Kheli Dube. The moves were designed, Nicol said, to aid the Revolution's hold up play with midfielder Shalrie Joseph shifting into a target role.

"We were trying to get a lot more numbers up," Joseph said. "Our problem in the first half, and a little bit to start the second, was that when we got the ball up into the attacking third, it wasn't sticking."

The ball didn't need to stick for the Revolution's opener as Joseph flicked on Matt Reis' long clearance into the penalty area for Steve Ralston to chip over Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

"I was just trying to run off of it," Ralston said. "Shalrie makes a big difference. Kheli worked his butt off up there and was challenging everything, but I guess he doesn't have the body to win balls over their center back, who's a big guy. Shalrie was able to do that. He was able to hold the ball for us, and it made a big difference. On that specific play, I just tried to time it right and get off the center back's back shoulder. And the ball just sat up perfectly for me."

Ralston turned provider six minutes later when he set Thompson free down the right side and allowed him the opportunity to take Earthquakes left back Ramiro Corrales one-on-one. Thompson elected to cut inside onto his left foot and unleashed a stunning effort into the far upper left corner to double the Revolution's lead.

After pointing out that he had struggled with indecision over the past few weeks, Thompson said he wanted to do a better job of making the right choices. The decision to go for goal instead of cut towards the end line stemmed from another area he wanted to improve.

"One thing I've been trying to do is shoot out a little bit more," Thompson said. "It workedhompson said. "It worked out."

Earthquakes midfielder Ramon Sanchez grabbed a consolation goal in second-half stoppage time, but that wasn't enough to put a damper on the Revs' third consecutive win on a dreary night in suburban Boston. New England's first three-game winning streak since May 2008 ensured it would end the weekend in third place in the Eastern Conference.

Thompson said his team can point to its positive response after the difficult start as the reason why it managed to achieve the result it needed.

"That's the great thing about soccer," Thompson said. "It's a 90-minute game. You can beat the other team for 80 minutes and still lose the game 3-0. We just had to keep our heads in it and stay positive, and contain and push forward. And when Steve (Ralston) got that goal, and we didn't want to stop there."

Lineup switch lifts Revs past Quakes

New England notches two late goals to extend winning streak
08/30/2009 01:56 AM
By Kyle McCarthy / MLSnet.com Staff


OXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The first UGH, Mass. -- The first half wasn't exactly what the New England Revolution had in mind as they carried a two-match winning streak into Saturday night's 2-1 win against San Jose.

All of the things that New England had done to achieve those wins against Seattle and Real Salt Lake last week -- tidy passing, opportunistic finishing and cohesive defending -- weren't on display. But for a few timely misses from the Earthquakes, the Revs would have entered the break down.

"We weren't too happy about our first half," Revolution midfielder Wells Thompson said. "We wanted to go out there from the start and get after it. We struggled a little bit. (Revolution coach Steve Nicol) just tried to calm us and get us together. We weren't down at half. The game wasn't over. We had another half to go out and give it to them. That's what we did."

Nicol made a couple of early switches in the second half, sending on Sainey Nyassi and Pat Phelan in place of Mauricio Castro and Kheli Dube. The moves were designed, Nicol said, to aid the Revolution's hold up play with midfielder Shalrie Joseph shifting into a target role.

"We were trying to get a lot more numbers up," Joseph said. "Our problem in the first half, and a little bit to start the second, was that when we got the ball up into the attacking third, it wasn't sticking."

The ball didn't need to stick for the Revolution's opener as Joseph flicked on Matt Reis' long clearance into the penalty area for Steve Ralston to chip over Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

"I was just trying to run off of it," Ralston said. "Shalrie makes a big difference. Kheli worked his butt off up there and was challenging everything, but I guess he doesn't have the body to win balls over their center back, who's a big guy. Shalrie was able to do that. He was able to hold the ball for us, and it made a big difference. On that specific play, I just tried to time it right and get off the center back's back shoulder. And the ball just sat up perfectly for me."

Ralston turned provider six minutes later when he set Thompson free down the right side and allowed him the opportunity to take Earthquakes left back Ramiro Corrales one-on-one. Thompson elected to cut inside onto his left foot and unleashed a stunning effort into the far upper left corner to double the Revolution's lead.

After pointing out that he had struggled with indecision over the past few weeks, Thompson said he wanted to do a better job of making the right choices. The decision to go for goal instead of cut towards the end line stemmed from another area he wanted to improve.

"One thing I've been trying to do is shoot out a little bit more," Thompson said. "It workedhompson said. "It worked out."

Earthquakes midfielder Ramon Sanchez grabbed a consolation goal in second-half stoppage time, but that wasn't enough to put a damper on the Revs' third consecutive win on a dreary night in suburban Boston. New England's first three-game winning streak since May 2008 ensured it would end the weekend in third place in the Eastern Conference.

Thompson said his team can point to its positive response after the difficult start as the reason why it managed to achieve the result it needed.

"That's the great thing about soccer," Thompson said. "It's a 90-minute game. You can beat the other team for 80 minutes and still lose the game 3-0. We just had to keep our heads in it and stay positive, and contain and push forward. And when Steve (Ralston) got that goal, and we didn't want to stop there."

Paul Goydos, Steve Marino tie for lead at Barclays



Both have triple birdies and shoot a three-under-par 68 in the third round to finish at nine-under 204.
Paul Goydos figured Liberty National at least would look good on television, with the Statue of Liberty and so many other New York landmarks serving as a spectacular backdrop at the Barclays.

Inside the ropes is starting to look pretty good to him too.

Goydos put together three straight birdies early in the third round Saturday to build a lead that stood up until Steve Marino ran off three straight late on the cloudy afternoon to catch him for the lead. Both shot three-under-par 68 and were at nine-under 204 at Jersey City, N.J.

Goydos has only two victories in his 17 years on the PGA Tour. Marino made his debut as a PGA Tour rookie in 2007 at the last tournament Goydos won (Sony Open) and is still looking for his first victory.

The focus shifted behind them on a day of light rain that didn't last long. Suddenly lurking is Tiger Woods, who struggled with his putter but made enough for a 67 that put him within five shots of the leaders.

The opening event of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup has several possibilities:

Of the top six players on the leaderboard, only Steve Stricker, who is three shots behind, has won this year. Stricker won the inaugural playoff event two years ago at the Barclays. He kept bogeys off his card, yet made only birdies on the par fives for his 68.

Marino had two chances to win this year, losing a playoff at the Colonial and sharing the 36-hole lead with Tom Watson at the British Open. He might find out how that experience will help him now.

Two shots out of the lead were Fredrik Jacobson (72), the Swede with moving parts in his swing, who is winless in his six years on the PGA Tour; and 24-year-old Webb Simpson, who overcame a triple bogey to shoot 72 and give himself a chance to become the first rookie to win on tour this year.

Champions Tour

Mark McNulty shot a seven-under 65 to share the lead with Loren Roberts entering the final round at the Boeing Classic at Snoqualmie, Wash.

Roberts had four birdies in his final six holes to match McNulty's 65 and finish at 11 under in the second round. The duo holds a two-shot lead over Bernhard Langer and first-round leader Mark O'Meara.

McNulty was four under on his first nine holes, then made another four birdies on the back nine.

LPGA Tour

Rookie Anna Nordqvist's three-under 69 moved her into a one-shot lead over Seon Hwa Lee and Ai Miyazato going into the final round of the Safeway Classic at North Plains, Ore.

Nordqvist, who won the LPGA Championship this year, was at 10-under 134 after the first two rounds.

Miyazato had three straight birdies on Nos. 8-10, all par-five holes, to edge up the leaderboard with a 68. Lee sank a birdie putt on the par-four 18th hole and wound up with a 70.

U.S. Amateur

Byeong-Hun An will fa0D
Byeong-Hun An will face fourth-seeded Ben Martin in his bid to become the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur.

After being 1 down heading to the 13th hole, the 17-year-old South Korean won four straight holes to close out a 3-and-2 victory against Fresno State sophomore Bhavik Patel at Tulsa, Okla.

Martin took a 4-up lead through six holes as Texas senior Charlie Holland got off to a sloppy start, and he cruised to a 5-and-4 victory.

Paul Goydos, Steve Marino tie for lead at Barclays



Both have triple birdies and shoot a three-under-par 68 in the third round to finish at nine-under 204.
Paul Goydos figured Liberty National at least would look good on television, with the Statue of Liberty and so many other New York landmarks serving as a spectacular backdrop at the Barclays.

Inside the ropes is starting to look pretty good to him too.

Goydos put together three straight birdies early in the third round Saturday to build a lead that stood up until Steve Marino ran off three straight late on the cloudy afternoon to catch him for the lead. Both shot three-under-par 68 and were at nine-under 204 at Jersey City, N.J.

Goydos has only two victories in his 17 years on the PGA Tour. Marino made his debut as a PGA Tour rookie in 2007 at the last tournament Goydos won (Sony Open) and is still looking for his first victory.

The focus shifted behind them on a day of light rain that didn't last long. Suddenly lurking is Tiger Woods, who struggled with his putter but made enough for a 67 that put him within five shots of the leaders.

The opening event of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup has several possibilities:

Of the top six players on the leaderboard, only Steve Stricker, who is three shots behind, has won this year. Stricker won the inaugural playoff event two years ago at the Barclays. He kept bogeys off his card, yet made only birdies on the par fives for his 68.

Marino had two chances to win this year, losing a playoff at the Colonial and sharing the 36-hole lead with Tom Watson at the British Open. He might find out how that experience will help him now.

Two shots out of the lead were Fredrik Jacobson (72), the Swede with moving parts in his swing, who is winless in his six years on the PGA Tour; and 24-year-old Webb Simpson, who overcame a triple bogey to shoot 72 and give himself a chance to become the first rookie to win on tour this year.

Champions Tour

Mark McNulty shot a seven-under 65 to share the lead with Loren Roberts entering the final round at the Boeing Classic at Snoqualmie, Wash.

Roberts had four birdies in his final six holes to match McNulty's 65 and finish at 11 under in the second round. The duo holds a two-shot lead over Bernhard Langer and first-round leader Mark O'Meara.

McNulty was four under on his first nine holes, then made another four birdies on the back nine.

LPGA Tour

Rookie Anna Nordqvist's three-under 69 moved her into a one-shot lead over Seon Hwa Lee and Ai Miyazato going into the final round of the Safeway Classic at North Plains, Ore.

Nordqvist, who won the LPGA Championship this year, was at 10-under 134 after the first two rounds.

Miyazato had three straight birdies on Nos. 8-10, all par-five holes, to edge up the leaderboard with a 68. Lee sank a birdie putt on the par-four 18th hole and wound up with a 70.

U.S. Amateur

Byeong-Hun An will fa0D
Byeong-Hun An will face fourth-seeded Ben Martin in his bid to become the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur.

After being 1 down heading to the 13th hole, the 17-year-old South Korean won four straight holes to close out a 3-and-2 victory against Fresno State sophomore Bhavik Patel at Tulsa, Okla.

Martin took a 4-up lead through six holes as Texas senior Charlie Holland got off to a sloppy start, and he cruised to a 5-and-4 victory.

South coast blaze 'unpredictable'

Swirling winds are creating unpredictable conditions for firefighters battling a blaze close to homes at Burrill Lake on the New South Wales south coast.

Authorities haify;">Authorities have confirmed a holiday cottage near Dolphin Point was destroyed by the blaze last night.

Helicopters are waterbombing the fire and crews from surrounding areas have been called in to help protect properties.

Tim Carroll, from the Rural Fire Service (RFS), says strong winds are pushing the fire towards the township of Lake Tabourie, south of Ulladulla.

He says several rural properties are in the path of the fire and if residents choose to leave the area, they should go early.

Mr Carroll says if residents can see smoke and flames, it is probably already too late to leave.

RFS spokesman Matthew Schroder says the wind blowing on the fire ground is averaging about 40 kilometres an hour, with gusts of up to 60 kilometres an hour.

"The fire is still continuing to burn in amongst the properties there so our crews are in there working in behind the homes to ensure those properties are safe," he said.

"There is some wind that is impacting the fire at the moment, so the firefighters are experiencing quite sporadic fire activity as we speak, so they're trying to combat that throughout the day."

The Princes Highway is shut in both directions at Burrill Lake because of the fire.

RFS Assistant Fire Commissioner Rob Rogers says the holiday cottage destroyed last night "couldn't be defended" and the burnt out shell was discovered this morning.

Fingal Bay fire eases

Authorities say a bushfire burning at Fingal Bay, north of Newcastle, no longer poses a threat to properties.

Crews have worked this afternoon to contain a blaze burning through bushland in the Tomaree National Park in the Port Stephens area.

Lower Hunter Superintendent Jason Mckellar says the fire was heading towards properties, but it is now under control.

"What crews have worked on this afternoon is doing a backburn of an... area behind the houses at the back of Fingal Bay," he said.

"[The fire] has burnt out into the national park and met up with the wildfire and taken the intensity out of it.

"Now it will be a process of mopping up and patrolling that area."

South coast blaze 'unpredictable'

Swirling winds are creating unpredictable conditions for firefighters battling a blaze close to homes at Burrill Lake on the New South Wales south coast.

Authorities haify;">Authorities have confirmed a holiday cottage near Dolphin Point was destroyed by the blaze last night.

Helicopters are waterbombing the fire and crews from surrounding areas have been called in to help protect properties.

Tim Carroll, from the Rural Fire Service (RFS), says strong winds are pushing the fire towards the township of Lake Tabourie, south of Ulladulla.

He says several rural properties are in the path of the fire and if residents choose to leave the area, they should go early.

Mr Carroll says if residents can see smoke and flames, it is probably already too late to leave.

RFS spokesman Matthew Schroder says the wind blowing on the fire ground is averaging about 40 kilometres an hour, with gusts of up to 60 kilometres an hour.

"The fire is still continuing to burn in amongst the properties there so our crews are in there working in behind the homes to ensure those properties are safe," he said.

"There is some wind that is impacting the fire at the moment, so the firefighters are experiencing quite sporadic fire activity as we speak, so they're trying to combat that throughout the day."

The Princes Highway is shut in both directions at Burrill Lake because of the fire.

RFS Assistant Fire Commissioner Rob Rogers says the holiday cottage destroyed last night "couldn't be defended" and the burnt out shell was discovered this morning.

Fingal Bay fire eases

Authorities say a bushfire burning at Fingal Bay, north of Newcastle, no longer poses a threat to properties.

Crews have worked this afternoon to contain a blaze burning through bushland in the Tomaree National Park in the Port Stephens area.

Lower Hunter Superintendent Jason Mckellar says the fire was heading towards properties, but it is now under control.

"What crews have worked on this afternoon is doing a backburn of an... area behind the houses at the back of Fingal Bay," he said.

"[The fire] has burnt out into the national park and met up with the wildfire and taken the intensity out of it.

"Now it will be a process of mopping up and patrolling that area."

Swat diary: 'Bright future ahead'


Munir (not his real name), an administrator in the Swat region of Pakistan, has returned to his home in Swat three months after his family fled the conflict there. He describes the challenges of daily life with optimism about the future.


We returned to Swat on 2 August. We were very excited. We were desperate to go to our village, but we were told by other villagers over the phone that people were not allowed to enter the village without a special pass.

Therefore we had to stay near Mingora for two days to obtain such passes before we could return to our home village. More than two feet grass had grown while we were away. Everything seemed to be in its place, nothing was stolen.

After a few days staying at home I went out for a walk around the village. I found many houses badly damaged in the fighting. Our relatives' houses were among the damaged ones. Electricity wires and phone cables were lying scattered on the ground, although we do have power and our phone is working.

Many houses and shops were plundered. I saw three shops completely emptied. One shopkeeper told me that 200 sacks of rice had been stolen from his shop.

Three or four houses belonging to militants were completely razed to the ground. The army is still coming to our village to destroy houses known to belong to militants.

'Militants defeated'

I saw the hairdresser in my village openly and bravely shaving people. I heard songs in the streets and in the shops for the first time after a long while.

About 80% of the people from our village have returned. Life is getting back to normal, but there are problems.

Many people are without jobs d people are without jobs due to the curfews and people can't move easily inside Swat. Swat is like a jail for us now - there are many checkpoints and curfews are imposed all the time. People are sick of them.

Electric power is another big problem. It is so weak, that we can't switch on the motor to pump water up and we can't turn on the refrigerator to cool things. Power cuts can happen any time.

People are a little bit worried again as several suicide attacks occurred in the last few days. But as a whole, people are happy and satisfied with the operation in the area.

We are very happy with the army: people pat soldiers on the back and give them food and gifts - something that had never happened in the past. The army has regained its popularity. People feel indebted to the army also because it has reduced the price of bread from five to two rupees.

Everyone is pleased to be back home, though most people, including me, are anxious that leaders of the militants still haven't been arrested or killed.

You hear about bodies of militants turning up these days. Many people are of the view that the security forces are behind this.

But regardless of who's responsible, people get really happy when they hear that militants have been killed, because their dear ones were brutally killed by those militants.

I have so many stories of the cruelties happening in our lands. I hope I will write them down one day.

I am myself very happy of the way things have turned up. I am optimistic about the future because I see that the militants have been defeated.

They can't hold such a powerful position here again. Swat has a bright future because its people have learnt the importance of peace and education. They have become united.

I am now thinking about my wedding, which will take place soon after the Eid, before October.

Swat diary: 'Bright future ahead'


Munir (not his real name), an administrator in the Swat region of Pakistan, has returned to his home in Swat three months after his family fled the conflict there. He describes the challenges of daily life with optimism about the future.


We returned to Swat on 2 August. We were very excited. We were desperate to go to our village, but we were told by other villagers over the phone that people were not allowed to enter the village without a special pass.

Therefore we had to stay near Mingora for two days to obtain such passes before we could return to our home village. More than two feet grass had grown while we were away. Everything seemed to be in its place, nothing was stolen.

After a few days staying at home I went out for a walk around the village. I found many houses badly damaged in the fighting. Our relatives' houses were among the damaged ones. Electricity wires and phone cables were lying scattered on the ground, although we do have power and our phone is working.

Many houses and shops were plundered. I saw three shops completely emptied. One shopkeeper told me that 200 sacks of rice had been stolen from his shop.

Three or four houses belonging to militants were completely razed to the ground. The army is still coming to our village to destroy houses known to belong to militants.

'Militants defeated'

I saw the hairdresser in my village openly and bravely shaving people. I heard songs in the streets and in the shops for the first time after a long while.

About 80% of the people from our village have returned. Life is getting back to normal, but there are problems.

Many people are without jobs d people are without jobs due to the curfews and people can't move easily inside Swat. Swat is like a jail for us now - there are many checkpoints and curfews are imposed all the time. People are sick of them.

Electric power is another big problem. It is so weak, that we can't switch on the motor to pump water up and we can't turn on the refrigerator to cool things. Power cuts can happen any time.

People are a little bit worried again as several suicide attacks occurred in the last few days. But as a whole, people are happy and satisfied with the operation in the area.

We are very happy with the army: people pat soldiers on the back and give them food and gifts - something that had never happened in the past. The army has regained its popularity. People feel indebted to the army also because it has reduced the price of bread from five to two rupees.

Everyone is pleased to be back home, though most people, including me, are anxious that leaders of the militants still haven't been arrested or killed.

You hear about bodies of militants turning up these days. Many people are of the view that the security forces are behind this.

But regardless of who's responsible, people get really happy when they hear that militants have been killed, because their dear ones were brutally killed by those militants.

I have so many stories of the cruelties happening in our lands. I hope I will write them down one day.

I am myself very happy of the way things have turned up. I am optimistic about the future because I see that the militants have been defeated.

They can't hold such a powerful position here again. Swat has a bright future because its people have learnt the importance of peace and education. They have become united.

I am now thinking about my wedding, which will take place soon after the Eid, before October.

Cosgrove honoured amid E Timor celebrations

Retired General Peter Cosgrove has been presented with one of East Timor's highest honours at a ceremony celebrating the country's 10 years of independence.

Galign: justify;">General Cosgrove has been presented with the collar of the Order of East Timor by the country's President, Jose Ramos-Horta.

General Cosgrove was the head of the Australian-led multinational peacekeeping mission which arrived in East Timor after the vote for independence in 1999.

He says he is receiving the award on behalf of all those involved in the mission in East Timor.

Earlier today, Dr Ramos-Horta thanked Australia for its support and friendship.

Australia's Governor General, Quentin Bryce, has also presented Dr Ramos-Horta with three corrugated iron kangaroo sculptures which are now at the front of the President's palace.

Earlier, Dr Ramos-Horta restated that there would be no international tribunal to bring people responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor to justice.

He said he respected those calling for an international tribunal, but he said one would not be set up.

He called on the United Nations to disband its serious crimes unit, which is gathering evidence on those responsible for the violence in East Timor.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Hassan Wirajuda, attended the ceremony in Dili this morning.

Dr Ramos-Horta said he was confident Indonesia would bring people to justice in its own time.

Cosgrove honoured amid E Timor celebrations

Retired General Peter Cosgrove has been presented with one of East Timor's highest honours at a ceremony celebrating the country's 10 years of independence.

Galign: justify;">General Cosgrove has been presented with the collar of the Order of East Timor by the country's President, Jose Ramos-Horta.

General Cosgrove was the head of the Australian-led multinational peacekeeping mission which arrived in East Timor after the vote for independence in 1999.

He says he is receiving the award on behalf of all those involved in the mission in East Timor.

Earlier today, Dr Ramos-Horta thanked Australia for its support and friendship.

Australia's Governor General, Quentin Bryce, has also presented Dr Ramos-Horta with three corrugated iron kangaroo sculptures which are now at the front of the President's palace.

Earlier, Dr Ramos-Horta restated that there would be no international tribunal to bring people responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor to justice.

He said he respected those calling for an international tribunal, but he said one would not be set up.

He called on the United Nations to disband its serious crimes unit, which is gathering evidence on those responsible for the violence in East Timor.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Hassan Wirajuda, attended the ceremony in Dili this morning.

Dr Ramos-Horta said he was confident Indonesia would bring people to justice in its own time.

Adopted teen finds answers, mystery in China


By Barbara Demick
Christian Norris of Easton, Md., remembers little of his pre-U.S. life. A reunion at a Beijing hotel helps fill in some of the gaps. Reporting from Beijing - The father fell to his knees, weeping. The mother quietly buried her face in her hands. The 17-year-old boy stood upright and motionless -- whether out of shock or stoicism, no one knew.

Christian Norris, who had just returned to China for the first time since he was adopted by an American eight years ago, didn't know what to think.

The interpreter stood quietly on the sidelines waiting for what seemed an eternity, the only sounds were the sobs and the clicking of cameras that filled the room.

"Honey, are you OK?" Christian's adoptive mother, Julia Norris, finally asked. He nodded affirmatively, but said nothing.

The reunion between Christian, a high school student in Easton, Md., and his birth parents took place Saturday in a Beijing hotel room crowded with well-wishers and media on hand to witness the virtually unprecedented event.

Since the early 1990s, an estimated 75,000 Chinese-born children have been adopted abroad, and although they increasingly visit China on heritage tours, Christian is one of only a few who have managed to chase down their personal history.

"I'm not sure yet," Christian answered with a teenage boy's characteristic reticence when asked what he hoped would come of the reunion. "I want to move on."

Christian's case is unusual in several respects: He's male, whereas most adoptees are girls abandoned because of the Chinese preference for boys and the government's "one child" policy. And unlike most adoptees, who are given up as babies, he lived with his family until he was nearly 7, leaving him with fragmentary memories that became vital clues in the search.

His birth parents were medical researchers, better educated than most who give up their children, and it was possible to track them down on the Internet.

It also helped that his U.S. mother, who works for an adoption agency, is both a firm believer in open adoptions and a tenacious investigator who once worked for the television show "America's Most Wanted."

Julia Norris was able to enlist an army of volunteers through a Chinese nonprofit called Baby Come Home, which helps Chinese parents search for lost children.

"This is the first case we've handled where an adopted child came back to find birth parents, but I expect it is going to happen more often," said Yang Guan, one of the agency's founders. "I hope that China can move to a more transparent system where orphanages are more able to make information available."

Like many families, Christian's had its secrets and silences.

He was born Jin Jiacheng in 1991 in Yinchuan, a city in the Ningxia region several hundred miles west of Beijing, to a couple who both worked in a hospital and already had a son. Because his parents could have been penalized for having a second child, he was sent as a newborn to his father's home village to be raised by his grandmother and a 23-year-old uncle, who pretended the infant was his own son. When he turned 6 and was ready to start school, they sent him back to the city.

He had lived only briefly with his birth parents when he somehow got lost, his family says. His father, Jin Gaoke, said that they were on an excursion by bus and that he got off for a few minutes to buy food at a market, returning to discover that the bus had driven off.

"I hope you can forgive our mistakes," the father mumbled repeatedly during the reunion.

The family was wrenched apart by the boy's absence. His mother went into a deep depression. His father and uncle stopped speaking to each other, the younger one blaming the father for losing the child.

"He was like my son. I felt so bad when he was lost, I would drink liquor to take away the sadness," said his uncle, Jin Xiaowang, now 40 and still farming wheat, potatoes and corn at the village home.

Jiacheng somehow ended up 350 miles to the east in Henan province, where he was found wandering under a bridge and brought to an orphanage in the city of Luoyang.

In 2000, Julia Norris was 2000, Julia Norris was touring the orphanage on a business trip when she met the boy and fell in love. She returned the following year to adopt him, becoming a single mother. Three years after that, she adopted a Chinese girl as well. Christian Norris of Easton, Md., remembers little of his pre-U.S. life. A reunion at a Beijing hotel helps fill in some of the gaps. Growing up, Christian was frustrated by the fragmentary nature of his memories. He could remember only a house in the country, mountains in the distance, grazing yaks, a few names. How he had gotten lost had been erased from his memory, perhaps by the trauma of it all; he remembers only a man buying him food and giving him money.

"I thought they abandoned me. It didn't feel good," Christian said.

Julia Norris decided to pursue Christian's origins because she worried he would be tormented for life by nagging questions.

"He needed the peace of mind of knowing what happened," she said.

She worries that many Chinese adoptees, now young children, will eventually be asking questions that will be almost impossible to answer. Adoptees usually have no information except the date and place they were found.

Norris' daughter, now 6, keeps asking, "Mommy, can I find out who my birth parents are too?" Norris said. "I can't make her any promises. She was found on the day she was born."

For Christian, the memories aren't exactly flooding back, but bits and pieces are starting to make sense. He can't remember a word of Chinese or his birth parents, but he recognized his grandmother and the uncle who raised him. At the reunion, his Chinese family gave him a bag with his favorite candy as a young child and an abacus -- on which he had been learning to count before he disappeared.

"This I remember," he said, fingering the beads -- one of the few times he smiled.

His Chinese family seems just as eager to understand the life that Christian has led in the United States. They pored over a photo album the American family brought: Christian posing with a surfboard. With a Halloween jack-o'-lantern. With his sister in front of the Christmas tree.

They marveled over the strapping American teenager Christian has become. A handsome, athletic boy, at 5 foot 8 he towers over all of his Chinese relatives.

"He's so big," his uncle exclaimed. "And he has hairy legs. Just like an American."

Christian and his mother, along with an aunt and uncle, will travel this week to Ningxia to visit his birthplace. Then he will return to start classes at Easton High School.

His birth parents say they are thrilled to see him, but do not expect him to move back.

"Jiacheng's roots are in China, but his future is in the United States," his father said. "It is clear that he has been well cared for and has a bright future in America."

His birth mother, Shao Julian, added quietly, "We hope to stay in touch with him, but we wouldn't try to force him to come back to China -- we wouldn't want to hurt him twice."

Adopted teen finds answers, mystery in China


By Barbara Demick
Christian Norris of Easton, Md., remembers little of his pre-U.S. life. A reunion at a Beijing hotel helps fill in some of the gaps. Reporting from Beijing - The father fell to his knees, weeping. The mother quietly buried her face in her hands. The 17-year-old boy stood upright and motionless -- whether out of shock or stoicism, no one knew.

Christian Norris, who had just returned to China for the first time since he was adopted by an American eight years ago, didn't know what to think.

The interpreter stood quietly on the sidelines waiting for what seemed an eternity, the only sounds were the sobs and the clicking of cameras that filled the room.

"Honey, are you OK?" Christian's adoptive mother, Julia Norris, finally asked. He nodded affirmatively, but said nothing.

The reunion between Christian, a high school student in Easton, Md., and his birth parents took place Saturday in a Beijing hotel room crowded with well-wishers and media on hand to witness the virtually unprecedented event.

Since the early 1990s, an estimated 75,000 Chinese-born children have been adopted abroad, and although they increasingly visit China on heritage tours, Christian is one of only a few who have managed to chase down their personal history.

"I'm not sure yet," Christian answered with a teenage boy's characteristic reticence when asked what he hoped would come of the reunion. "I want to move on."

Christian's case is unusual in several respects: He's male, whereas most adoptees are girls abandoned because of the Chinese preference for boys and the government's "one child" policy. And unlike most adoptees, who are given up as babies, he lived with his family until he was nearly 7, leaving him with fragmentary memories that became vital clues in the search.

His birth parents were medical researchers, better educated than most who give up their children, and it was possible to track them down on the Internet.

It also helped that his U.S. mother, who works for an adoption agency, is both a firm believer in open adoptions and a tenacious investigator who once worked for the television show "America's Most Wanted."

Julia Norris was able to enlist an army of volunteers through a Chinese nonprofit called Baby Come Home, which helps Chinese parents search for lost children.

"This is the first case we've handled where an adopted child came back to find birth parents, but I expect it is going to happen more often," said Yang Guan, one of the agency's founders. "I hope that China can move to a more transparent system where orphanages are more able to make information available."

Like many families, Christian's had its secrets and silences.

He was born Jin Jiacheng in 1991 in Yinchuan, a city in the Ningxia region several hundred miles west of Beijing, to a couple who both worked in a hospital and already had a son. Because his parents could have been penalized for having a second child, he was sent as a newborn to his father's home village to be raised by his grandmother and a 23-year-old uncle, who pretended the infant was his own son. When he turned 6 and was ready to start school, they sent him back to the city.

He had lived only briefly with his birth parents when he somehow got lost, his family says. His father, Jin Gaoke, said that they were on an excursion by bus and that he got off for a few minutes to buy food at a market, returning to discover that the bus had driven off.

"I hope you can forgive our mistakes," the father mumbled repeatedly during the reunion.

The family was wrenched apart by the boy's absence. His mother went into a deep depression. His father and uncle stopped speaking to each other, the younger one blaming the father for losing the child.

"He was like my son. I felt so bad when he was lost, I would drink liquor to take away the sadness," said his uncle, Jin Xiaowang, now 40 and still farming wheat, potatoes and corn at the village home.

Jiacheng somehow ended up 350 miles to the east in Henan province, where he was found wandering under a bridge and brought to an orphanage in the city of Luoyang.

In 2000, Julia Norris was 2000, Julia Norris was touring the orphanage on a business trip when she met the boy and fell in love. She returned the following year to adopt him, becoming a single mother. Three years after that, she adopted a Chinese girl as well. Christian Norris of Easton, Md., remembers little of his pre-U.S. life. A reunion at a Beijing hotel helps fill in some of the gaps. Growing up, Christian was frustrated by the fragmentary nature of his memories. He could remember only a house in the country, mountains in the distance, grazing yaks, a few names. How he had gotten lost had been erased from his memory, perhaps by the trauma of it all; he remembers only a man buying him food and giving him money.

"I thought they abandoned me. It didn't feel good," Christian said.

Julia Norris decided to pursue Christian's origins because she worried he would be tormented for life by nagging questions.

"He needed the peace of mind of knowing what happened," she said.

She worries that many Chinese adoptees, now young children, will eventually be asking questions that will be almost impossible to answer. Adoptees usually have no information except the date and place they were found.

Norris' daughter, now 6, keeps asking, "Mommy, can I find out who my birth parents are too?" Norris said. "I can't make her any promises. She was found on the day she was born."

For Christian, the memories aren't exactly flooding back, but bits and pieces are starting to make sense. He can't remember a word of Chinese or his birth parents, but he recognized his grandmother and the uncle who raised him. At the reunion, his Chinese family gave him a bag with his favorite candy as a young child and an abacus -- on which he had been learning to count before he disappeared.

"This I remember," he said, fingering the beads -- one of the few times he smiled.

His Chinese family seems just as eager to understand the life that Christian has led in the United States. They pored over a photo album the American family brought: Christian posing with a surfboard. With a Halloween jack-o'-lantern. With his sister in front of the Christmas tree.

They marveled over the strapping American teenager Christian has become. A handsome, athletic boy, at 5 foot 8 he towers over all of his Chinese relatives.

"He's so big," his uncle exclaimed. "And he has hairy legs. Just like an American."

Christian and his mother, along with an aunt and uncle, will travel this week to Ningxia to visit his birthplace. Then he will return to start classes at Easton High School.

His birth parents say they are thrilled to see him, but do not expect him to move back.

"Jiacheng's roots are in China, but his future is in the United States," his father said. "It is clear that he has been well cared for and has a bright future in America."

His birth mother, Shao Julian, added quietly, "We hope to stay in touch with him, but we wouldn't try to force him to come back to China -- we wouldn't want to hurt him twice."

10,000 homes are threatened

Homeowners Jack and Debra Carr feel relief after hearing word from a U.S. Forest Service employee that their home in Big Tujunga Canyon is safe on Saturday night. (Christina House / For The Times / August 29or The Times / August 29, 2009)

Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated.

Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years.

It took off Saturday afternoon in all directions, forcing residents out of homes from Big Tujunga Canyon to Pasadena, and reached toward Mt. Wilson.

Heavy smoke clung to the mountains and created a hot and massive convection column that limited the evening aerial fire fight.

Officials predicted that the blaze would continue its march toward homes and across hills through the night with flames that could reach as high as 80 feet.

Late Saturday, U.S. Forest Service officials said they were moving "several hundred firefighters" into the Acton area, where they expected the fire to reach this morning.

At midnight, crews were on alert for a wind shift.

The fire was headed toward Yerba Buena and Santa Clara ridges. El Dorado County Fire Capt. Larry Marinas said it was currently "probably bumping" against them, but all he could say for sure was that flames could reach those ridges "in 12 hours."

Forest Service officials said three civilians were burned and airlifted from rural Big Tujunga Canyon, where at least three to five homes were destroyed. One fire official, after surveying the canyon, estimated that the damage toll may be much worse.

No other homes had been lost by early evening as throngs of residents -- belongings loaded in cars -- descended from the hills.

"I wish I had good news for you," Les Curtis, a fire operations chief, said during a night briefing for firefighters. He shook his head and pointed to the map of the expanding fire zone. "How many of you have knots in your stomach?" he asked. More than a dozen raised their hands.

"Nothing can stop it," said Jost Vielmetter, 62, a Caltech scientist who watched the flames from the northern edge of Altadena.

By late Saturday afternoon, the fire had consumed more than 21,000 acres, propelled by temperatures that eclipsed 100 degrees, single-digit humidity and steep, rugged topography that made for a formidable foe despite low winds.

Firefighters can only expect a slight reprieve on the heat today as red-flag warnings extend until tonight. But more significant cooling and even a moist maroling and even a moist marine layer are expected Monday morning.

Fire officials estimate that about 10,000 homes are in danger if the fire continues burning unchecked.

At sundown, as scattered power outages hit the area, flames encircled the ridges near Briggs Terrace on the northeastern edge of La Crescenta. By 7:30 p.m., the northern end of Pickens Canyon, close to the neighborhood, exploded in flames.

"Oh, my God. This is what I've been dreading all day," said David Ferrera, 35, who grew up in the area.

It was the first time that he and his neighbors were seized with worry. At that point, clouds of glowing embers began floating up from the fire. Suddenly, so-called hotshots -- firefighters with shovels and axes -- rushed by on their way to battle.

Later, a wall of fire crept like lava along the mountainside toward Pickens Canyon homes. A tree would light up in a column of fire every few moments. On the streets, the air was still and quiet except for the crackle and roar of flames.

Firefighters climbed through backyards at the ends of the cul-de-sacs fronting the forest, laying their hoses and waiting to make a stand.
Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to 2C 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
Capt. Kevin Klar of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was in place on Bristow Drive. "As far as the area goes, I think we're going to be all right," he said.

More than 1,800 firefighters from throughout California and the West used an arsenal of weapons to fight the flames.

Ten helicopters dropping buckets of water and eight air tankers were enlisted in the daytime fight.

Officials also are deploying at least one DC-10, one of the largest and most expensive pieces of firefighting equipment in the world.

Elsewhere, firefighters were on the verge of containing the Morris fire north of Azusa and a separate blaze on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Firefighters also made progress on a fire near Hemet in the San Bernardino National Forest, which has burned nearly 2,300 acres and was 30% contained.

As flames bore down on canyon cul-de-sacs in the Crescenta Valley into the evening, residents watched raptly as firefighters -- in the air and on the ground -- valiantly kept the fire away from homes.

On the northern edge of Altadena, a DC-10 unloading fire retardant at the base of a column of smoke received a standing ovation from residents in the 3900 block of Chapman Court, which had been under mandatory evacuation orders for an hour.

Among them was physician John Cooper, 52.

"I think the firefighters are doing an incredible job. I'm in awe. I'd like to line them all up and shake their hands one at a time -- and we also have our fingers crossed," Cooper said, acknowledging the precarious nature of his address. "Live on the edge, and you take your chances."

Evacuated residents could only wait, watch and worry as flames licked the ridges near their homes. Some La Cañada Flintridge residents were evacuated Friday night, but on Saturday that mandatory evacuation order widened to parts of Altadena, La Crescenta, north Glendale and Big Tujunga Canyon. More evacuations were expected throughout the night.

All faced the same nerve-racking drill: the automated phone calls ordering them to leave, the choices about what to pack up, the negotiations with skittish pets refusing to be stuffed into portable kennels.

In Glendale, in the evacuation area north of Santa Carlotta Road, residents were packing up their cars and watering their lawns after being notified to leave.

Joanna Linkchorst, 42, dashed around her house videotaping her belongings, but appeared possessed of a preternatural calm. "For some reason I'm not concerned," she said. "There are far too many houses that would have to burn before it gets down here."

Although authorities stressed that people should not defy evacuation orders -- it puts them as well as fire and police personnel at risk -- some did anyway.

In Pickens Canyon, firefighter hotshots had taken up positions in front of about a dozen homes beneath the oak canopy. Every few minutes, patrol cars cruised by, urging holdouts to leave.

At 8:30 p.m., a law enforcement officer asked Bob Jamison and Gary Ireland, who were sprawled on lawn chairs watching the fire, to collect their belongings and leave the area.

"Everything's under control here," Jamison responded. "We got all the women, pets and important papers down the mountain."

Jay Porter, 47, and his two teenage sons stood on an Altadena ridgeline overlooking tinder-dry Millard Canyon as flames advanced to within 1,000 feet of his two-story Spanish-style home.

"I want to know what's going on here for as long as I possibly can," said Porter, who wasn't budging early Saturday evening. "Right now, I have more information than a lot of my neighbors."

He said, however, that he would relent overnight. He made reservations at a nearby Westin hotel that he said was offering "refugee specials" for evacuees -- in his case, that includes two dogs and a cockatiel.
Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
He watched as earthmovers in the distance rumbled over the ridge, toppling flammable chaparral and small trees in their paths. "Makes me happy," he said.

Ray Henmann, a 76-year-old graphic designer from Glendale whose home on Brookhill Street is in the evacuation area, said he had no plans to leave his home of 48 years.

The fire, he said, would have to come within a few streets of his home before he fled. "I'm not going to panic, I've lived too long to panic," Henmann said.

Across the region, there was no escaping the specter of what has been dubbed the Station fire. An ominous cloud of smoke wafted across the area and rose as high as 20,000 feet in the air, visible from the ocean and the San Fernando Valley, even the Antelope Valley. Otherwise fire-savvy Los Angeles residents were so startled by the sight that they inundated 911 emergency lines with calls about smoke. Authorities begged people to stop calling.

Donna Robinson, 60, of La Cañada Flintridge had been preparing to be evacuated since Wednesday, packing up documents, clothes and baby dish mementos of her adult children. She also packed up two dogs and three cats.

"I'm not even afraid now. I think it's good we're just out of the house. Now I feel it's not under my control," Robinson said Saturday morning as she sat with her husband, Paul, 57, outside the gym at La Cañada High, the evacuation center.

Others couldn't escape the worry. It showed on Sonia Castellon's face as she made her way into the evacuation center. "I was trying to keep calm, keep it together. But the moment you leave your home it's hard," the 46-year-old dentist said as she began to tear up.

10,000 homes are threatened

Homeowners Jack and Debra Carr feel relief after hearing word from a U.S. Forest Service employee that their home in Big Tujunga Canyon is safe on Saturday night. (Christina House / For The Times / August 29or The Times / August 29, 2009)

Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
The unstoppable Angeles National Forest fire threatened 10,000 homes Saturday night as it more than tripled in size and chewed through a rapidly widening swath of the Crescenta Valley, where flames closed in on backyards and at least 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated.

Sending an ominous plume of smoke above the Los Angeles Basin, the fire was fueled by unrelenting hot weather and dense brush that has not burned in 60 years.

It took off Saturday afternoon in all directions, forcing residents out of homes from Big Tujunga Canyon to Pasadena, and reached toward Mt. Wilson.

Heavy smoke clung to the mountains and created a hot and massive convection column that limited the evening aerial fire fight.

Officials predicted that the blaze would continue its march toward homes and across hills through the night with flames that could reach as high as 80 feet.

Late Saturday, U.S. Forest Service officials said they were moving "several hundred firefighters" into the Acton area, where they expected the fire to reach this morning.

At midnight, crews were on alert for a wind shift.

The fire was headed toward Yerba Buena and Santa Clara ridges. El Dorado County Fire Capt. Larry Marinas said it was currently "probably bumping" against them, but all he could say for sure was that flames could reach those ridges "in 12 hours."

Forest Service officials said three civilians were burned and airlifted from rural Big Tujunga Canyon, where at least three to five homes were destroyed. One fire official, after surveying the canyon, estimated that the damage toll may be much worse.

No other homes had been lost by early evening as throngs of residents -- belongings loaded in cars -- descended from the hills.

"I wish I had good news for you," Les Curtis, a fire operations chief, said during a night briefing for firefighters. He shook his head and pointed to the map of the expanding fire zone. "How many of you have knots in your stomach?" he asked. More than a dozen raised their hands.

"Nothing can stop it," said Jost Vielmetter, 62, a Caltech scientist who watched the flames from the northern edge of Altadena.

By late Saturday afternoon, the fire had consumed more than 21,000 acres, propelled by temperatures that eclipsed 100 degrees, single-digit humidity and steep, rugged topography that made for a formidable foe despite low winds.

Firefighters can only expect a slight reprieve on the heat today as red-flag warnings extend until tonight. But more significant cooling and even a moist maroling and even a moist marine layer are expected Monday morning.

Fire officials estimate that about 10,000 homes are in danger if the fire continues burning unchecked.

At sundown, as scattered power outages hit the area, flames encircled the ridges near Briggs Terrace on the northeastern edge of La Crescenta. By 7:30 p.m., the northern end of Pickens Canyon, close to the neighborhood, exploded in flames.

"Oh, my God. This is what I've been dreading all day," said David Ferrera, 35, who grew up in the area.

It was the first time that he and his neighbors were seized with worry. At that point, clouds of glowing embers began floating up from the fire. Suddenly, so-called hotshots -- firefighters with shovels and axes -- rushed by on their way to battle.

Later, a wall of fire crept like lava along the mountainside toward Pickens Canyon homes. A tree would light up in a column of fire every few moments. On the streets, the air was still and quiet except for the crackle and roar of flames.

Firefighters climbed through backyards at the ends of the cul-de-sacs fronting the forest, laying their hoses and waiting to make a stand.
Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to 2C 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
Capt. Kevin Klar of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was in place on Bristow Drive. "As far as the area goes, I think we're going to be all right," he said.

More than 1,800 firefighters from throughout California and the West used an arsenal of weapons to fight the flames.

Ten helicopters dropping buckets of water and eight air tankers were enlisted in the daytime fight.

Officials also are deploying at least one DC-10, one of the largest and most expensive pieces of firefighting equipment in the world.

Elsewhere, firefighters were on the verge of containing the Morris fire north of Azusa and a separate blaze on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Firefighters also made progress on a fire near Hemet in the San Bernardino National Forest, which has burned nearly 2,300 acres and was 30% contained.

As flames bore down on canyon cul-de-sacs in the Crescenta Valley into the evening, residents watched raptly as firefighters -- in the air and on the ground -- valiantly kept the fire away from homes.

On the northern edge of Altadena, a DC-10 unloading fire retardant at the base of a column of smoke received a standing ovation from residents in the 3900 block of Chapman Court, which had been under mandatory evacuation orders for an hour.

Among them was physician John Cooper, 52.

"I think the firefighters are doing an incredible job. I'm in awe. I'd like to line them all up and shake their hands one at a time -- and we also have our fingers crossed," Cooper said, acknowledging the precarious nature of his address. "Live on the edge, and you take your chances."

Evacuated residents could only wait, watch and worry as flames licked the ridges near their homes. Some La Cañada Flintridge residents were evacuated Friday night, but on Saturday that mandatory evacuation order widened to parts of Altadena, La Crescenta, north Glendale and Big Tujunga Canyon. More evacuations were expected throughout the night.

All faced the same nerve-racking drill: the automated phone calls ordering them to leave, the choices about what to pack up, the negotiations with skittish pets refusing to be stuffed into portable kennels.

In Glendale, in the evacuation area north of Santa Carlotta Road, residents were packing up their cars and watering their lawns after being notified to leave.

Joanna Linkchorst, 42, dashed around her house videotaping her belongings, but appeared possessed of a preternatural calm. "For some reason I'm not concerned," she said. "There are far too many houses that would have to burn before it gets down here."

Although authorities stressed that people should not defy evacuation orders -- it puts them as well as fire and police personnel at risk -- some did anyway.

In Pickens Canyon, firefighter hotshots had taken up positions in front of about a dozen homes beneath the oak canopy. Every few minutes, patrol cars cruised by, urging holdouts to leave.

At 8:30 p.m., a law enforcement officer asked Bob Jamison and Gary Ireland, who were sprawled on lawn chairs watching the fire, to collect their belongings and leave the area.

"Everything's under control here," Jamison responded. "We got all the women, pets and important papers down the mountain."

Jay Porter, 47, and his two teenage sons stood on an Altadena ridgeline overlooking tinder-dry Millard Canyon as flames advanced to within 1,000 feet of his two-story Spanish-style home.

"I want to know what's going on here for as long as I possibly can," said Porter, who wasn't budging early Saturday evening. "Right now, I have more information than a lot of my neighbors."

He said, however, that he would relent overnight. He made reservations at a nearby Westin hotel that he said was offering "refugee specials" for evacuees -- in his case, that includes two dogs and a cockatiel.
Across the burning foothills, 1,000 are ordered to flee. Others watch, and dread the phone call to evacuate.
He watched as earthmovers in the distance rumbled over the ridge, toppling flammable chaparral and small trees in their paths. "Makes me happy," he said.

Ray Henmann, a 76-year-old graphic designer from Glendale whose home on Brookhill Street is in the evacuation area, said he had no plans to leave his home of 48 years.

The fire, he said, would have to come within a few streets of his home before he fled. "I'm not going to panic, I've lived too long to panic," Henmann said.

Across the region, there was no escaping the specter of what has been dubbed the Station fire. An ominous cloud of smoke wafted across the area and rose as high as 20,000 feet in the air, visible from the ocean and the San Fernando Valley, even the Antelope Valley. Otherwise fire-savvy Los Angeles residents were so startled by the sight that they inundated 911 emergency lines with calls about smoke. Authorities begged people to stop calling.

Donna Robinson, 60, of La Cañada Flintridge had been preparing to be evacuated since Wednesday, packing up documents, clothes and baby dish mementos of her adult children. She also packed up two dogs and three cats.

"I'm not even afraid now. I think it's good we're just out of the house. Now I feel it's not under my control," Robinson said Saturday morning as she sat with her husband, Paul, 57, outside the gym at La Cañada High, the evacuation center.

Others couldn't escape the worry. It showed on Sonia Castellon's face as she made her way into the evacuation center. "I was trying to keep calm, keep it together. But the moment you leave your home it's hard," the 46-year-old dentist said as she began to tear up.

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