Sports briefs for July 20, 2005

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 9:14 a.m.

Americans improve to No. 6 in rankings

The United States improved to No. 6 in FIFA's rankings today, the Americans' best showing in the monthly ratings by soccer's governing body.

The Americans, who will play in this week's CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals, had never been ranked higher than seventh. They were 10th last month, but passed France, England, Portugal and Spain to move within one spot and three points of rival Mexico.

World Cup champion Brazil remained No. 1, and Argentina improved one spot to second. The Netherlands was third, and the Czech Republic dropped from second to fourth.

Gross sales, average prices down

A record number of horses for sale didn't translate into an increase in gross sales during Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky July Yearlings sale, which ended Tuesday.

The auction house catalogued 679 thoroughbreds for the two-day event, the year's first major yearling sale. Of those, 368 were purchased for a combined $37,106,000, an average price of $100,832. Those numbers were down from last year, when 338 horses sold for $38,620,000, an average of $114,260.

The median price decreased to $75,000, from $80,000 in 2004.

The increased number of horses for sale this year also resulted in a soaring rate of horses that didn't meet their reserve, or minimum, price. The 233 horses not sold represented 38 percent of the catalog.

Mexican League coach feared kidnapped

The Argentine coach of the Cruz Azul soccer team was attacked and feared kidnapped Tuesday as he left a practice facility on the Mexican capital's southern outskirts.

Ruben Omar Romano, 47, was forced from his gray BMW van by five armed assailants who swarmed the area in several vehicles as he left the team's La Noria sports complex. Mexico City police said they could not confirm Romano had been abducted, but they did not know where he was. Cruz Azul vice president Alfredo Alvarez told a local radio station that five men forced the coach into a vehicle and drove away.

Romano's father, who lives in Guadalajara, said he had not been contacted with ransom demands.

-- Sun wire services