ABCDE
SPORTS
friday, may 28, 2010
HOCKEY
Caps in Winter Classic
Pittsburgh will host the NHL’s annual outdoor game on New Year’s Day at Heinz Field. D5
COLLEGES
Lacrosse in Landover?
FedEx Field is vying to host Final Four in 2013 and ’14. D2
160,000
MICHAEL WILBON
Celtics are staring at a historic low
ince the most accomplished team in baseball, the New York Yankees, were the very first to blow a 3-0 series lead in the game’s history, it’s probably fitting that the Boston Celtics, the most decorated team in pro basketball, are perilously close to becoming the first to blow a 3-0 series lead in NBA history. Down 0-3 in the Eastern Conference
S
finals last weekend, Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said that at some point some team was going to come back from a three-game deficit. Van Gundy was plotting a way to stop the streak of automatic 3-0 losers in the NBA playoffs at 93 straight. It seemed ludicrous . . . until the Magic won Game 4 in Boston, then crushed the Celtics in Game 5 back in Orlando. And now, the series swings back to New England for Friday night’s Game 6 with the Magic enjoying the momentum shift if not total control of the series. For the first time in the series, the real pressure is on the Celtics, down to their final home game. And the tension can be felt throughout New England. Six years after the gloating over the Red Sox’ historic achievement of coming from 3-0 down in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, Boston is about to become Choke City. Just a few weeks ago the Big Bad Bruins won the first three games of their series with the Philadelphia Flyers and led 3-0 at home in Game 7 only to lose in regulation to Philly, which is now in the Stanley Cup finals. The Celtics are now on deck and to say they look shaky going into Game 6
wilbon continued on D3
Magic vs. Celtics
Game 6: 8:30 p.m. Series: Celtics lead, 3-2. Where: TD Garden, Boston. TV: ESPN.
Unsold tickets for World Cup matches with two weeks till kickoff. None of the 64 games is sold out. D6
Victory bounces away from Nats
BLOGS, MULTIMEDIA AND CHATS
washingtonpost.com/sports
First Things First Today, 9:30 a.m. Dan Steinberg takes your questions about the Caps in the Winter Classic. Soccer Insider Steven Goff has you covered on the buildup to the World Cup, plus D.C. United and MLS. Nationals Journal Adam Kilgore keeps you up-to-date as Washington’s trip swings into San Diego.
NBA PLAYOFFS
Game 5 goes late
The Suns-Lakers game did not end in time for this edition. For coverage, visit
washingtonpost.com/sports.
D
S
JED JACOBSOHN/GETTY IMAGES
Giants closer Brian Wilson celebrates after shutting down the Nationals in order on 15 pitches in the ninth inning of San Francisco’s 5-4 victory.
Lead disappears as three-run seventh gives Giants 5-4 win
by Adam Kilgore
san francisco — In close games, the kind the Washington Nationals special- ize in, the randomness of chance often determines the outcome as much as the
WORLD CUP 2010 14 DAYS
VESSEL OF DREAMS
Hosting global event carries great significance in soccer-mad Africa
by Sudarsan Raghavan
in yaounde, cameroon
have holes, as do his worn black socks. His father is a carpenter, his mother a tai- lor. The pennies they save are invested in him. As he weaves past his opponents, the lean 15-year-old carries his parents’ dreams, too. “They hope I will make them rich one
O
day,” Anguissa said. In less than three weeks, he will watch his heroes — wealthy African players who were once poor boys like him — take the field in South Africa for the conti- nent’s first World Cup. “It’s such a great joy!” Anguissa gushed. “I never expected the World Cup to be held in Africa.” Hardly anyone expects the historic
event to alter the trajectory of the conti- nent. Western sponsors, not African firms, are expected to reap billions in profits. The vast majority of Africans cannot afford to travel to South Africa or pay for tickets. And in the world’s poor- est region, there are more pressing prior- ities. Yet on a continent where soccer repre- sents something far greater than a sport — a symbol of unity, an escape or a source of dreams — there is overwhelm- ing pride and significance attached to hosting the World Cup. “It is a sign that Africa is playing a growing role on the world stage,” said Asha-Rose Migiro, the United Nations deputy secretary general who is from Tanzania. She spoke last week before
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SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN/THE WASHINGTON POST
Boys play soccer in Cameroon with the hope that they one day can represent their country in the World Cup, which will be contested in Africa for the first time.
African nations in the World Cup
CAMEROON (19th in FIFA rankings)
Best World Cup finish: Quarterfinals, 1990
Top players: Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan), Alex Song (Arsenal)
NIGERIA (21)
Best World Cup finish: Round of 16, 1994
and 1998 Top players: Obafemi Martins (Wolfsburg), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea)
IVORY COAST (27) Best World Cup finish: First round, 2006
Top players: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea)
ALGERIA (30)
Best World Cup finish: First rd. 1982, 1986
Top players: Karim Ziani (Wolfsburg), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient)
GHANA (32)
Best World Cup finish: Round of 16, 2006
Top players: Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan), Asamoah Gyan (Rennes)
SOUTH AFRICA (83) Best World Cup finish: First rd. 1998, 2002
Top players: Benni McCarthy (West Ham), Steven Pienaar (Everton)
n the red earth of a soccer field, Jean Yves Anguissa moves the tattered ball with grace. The soles of his fake Pumas
teams on the field. A bloop will drop. A fly ball will fall inches short and turn from a home run into a double. The bounces don’t care which team they help. “It’s bear hunting,” reliever Tyler
Walker said. “Sometimes you get the bear. Sometimes the bear gets you.” The Nationals know too well how eas- ily one-run games can turn, and they learned anew Thursday afternoon in a 5-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants be- fore 28,251 at AT&T Park. They had con-
trol of the game, and the series, for most of the afternoon. But a home run turned into a double, a few bloops turned into singles, and a win turned into a loss. But as they packed for San Diego, the
Nationals understood they couldn’t blame only misfortune. The three-run, seventh-inning rally the Giants used to erase a two-run Nationals lead started with an error by Adam Dunn. It culmi- nated with a clean, two-RBI single by Freddy Sanchez off of Walker. They also understood they have too
often left themselves susceptible to chance. They had a chance to build an insurmountable lead, but they scored just one run after they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. The flame- out represented a larger, important trend. In May, the Nationals have scored 4.3 runs per game, 18th in the majors. They have gone 11-14 in those games, but nine of those losses have come by two runs or
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Terps look to make up for last year’s stumble
Top seed in women’s lacrosse returns to Final Four
by Zach Berman
The hotel will be different for the
Maryland women’s lacrosse team when it takes another trip north to Towson, Md., for the national semifinals, and it will not be graduation weekend in Col- lege Park for the seniors. Otherwise, there are few tangible
differences between the top-seeded Terrapins’ preparations for Friday’s game against Syracuse and last sea- son’s final weekend, which they en- tered as an undefeated No. 2 seed, only to lose by one goal in the national semi- finals.
“I wish I knew what the answer was,” Coach Cathy Reese said. “The reality is you get to the Final Four, and they’re great games. I don’t think there’s a rea- son to set us apart for why we lost.” The most important distinction be-
tween this season’s team and last sea- son’s team, though, is the experience the group has developed since conclud- ing its season prematurely at Johnny Unitas Stadium last May. The Terrapins entered 2009 with few expectations yet romped to an unblemished regular sea- son before losing to North Carolina in the Final Four, thwarting an anticipat- ed national championship matchup against top-seeded Northwestern. “I know last year, after the game, we were like, ‘What just happened?’ ” sen- ior midfielder Caitlyn McFadden said. That team relied heavily on its junior class, and there were no seniors in the starting lineup. With almost every ma- jor contributor returning, a return to Towson was practically required, and advancing to the national champion- ship is almost expected.
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JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Cathy Reese, right, is seeking her first NCAA championship as a head coach.
NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Maryland vs. Syracuse
When: 5:30 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Northwestern
When: 8 p.m.
SUNDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinal winner vs. Semifinal winner
When: 5:30 p.m. TV: CBS College Sports.
All games at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson.
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