Ex-Rebel set for pro debut

Rob Miech

Saturday, April 1, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

The professional education of former UNLV ace Rod Dyachenko continued last Saturday when Jaime Moreno, Dyachenko's 32-year-old teammate at D.C. United, wowed him at the Carolina Challenge Cup.

Moreno, after a sterling 80-yard dash with the ball, was taken down inside the box by Charleston defender Ugo Okoye, then took the ensuing penalty kick himself against Battery goalkeeper Keith Wiggins.

"The keeper was thinking, 'I'm going against Jaime Moreno. I have to save this, since we're the home team,' " Dyachenko said. "Then Jaime chips it as slow as you can, directly down the middle. It must have gone 1 mph. The keeper was already on the ground when it floated by.

"And the whole stadium just went numb. No one could believe it."

Laughs abounded afterward inside the United locker room.

"Jaime is cold-blooded," Dyachenko said. "He's sick. Amazing. It's a pleasure playing with him."

Dyachenko, 22, hopes that's what teammates soon say about him.

Last fall, Dyachenko earned Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player-of-the-year honors on a UNLV team that went 2-16-1 overall and didn't win any of its 10 league games.

In January, the 6-foot midfielder was picked by D.C. in the third round, as the 31st overall selection, of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft.

Dyachenko might make his professional debut Sunday night when United opens its 2006 season against Red Bull New York at RFK Stadium.

"Our team is very deep, probably the deepest in the league," Dyachenko said after a practice this week in Washington, D.C. "As a rookie, it's hard to get a position. But I'm battlin' and fightin' through it."

Dyachenko played a total of 25 minutes as a late substitute in United's preseason games in Spain in early March against midlevel La Liga team Getafe and Atletico Madrid's reserves.

In a closed-door match against second-division Rayo Vallecano, he spelled Christian Gomez for the entire second half.

"I had much more rhythm, and I was much more comfortable on the ball," he said. "It was nice. It was great to go against professionals in Europe. Awesome. The quality was definitely there."

Back in the USSR

Dyachenko will be rooting for fellow countryman Andriy Shevchenko and Ukraine, about a 40-1 to 50-1 long shot in the sports books, to win the World Cup in Germany this summer.

He claims Poltava, about 200 miles east of Kiev in Ukraine, as his hometown. But he was born in Tbilisi, when it was part of the USSR.

Dyachenko's parents, Sergey and Luydmila, took him and his older brother, Kosta, to Poltava when they were very young to escape the rising tensions in the Republic of Georgia that eventually led to civil war.

"It's a long story," Dyachenko said. "There was chaos everywhere in Tbilisi, and my parents always wanted to go to the U.S."

He fondly recalled playing soccer in the streets of Poltava with Kosta, whom Dyachenko credited for giving him the motivation to become a professional player.

Ten years ago, the elder Dyachenkos took their sons and left Poltava for New York. Then Chicago. Then the Portland area. Sergey and Luydmila are English teachers. Kosta, 28, has started his own family in Washington state.

"My brother and parents are unbelievable," Dyachenko said. "Everything I am, I owe to them."

Apologies, Eric

We were critical recently of Nike using former Manchester United striker Eric Cantona in such a major role for those "Joga Bonito" ads, but we take it all back. They're fantastic.

The second and third versions, featuring Wayne Rooney of Man U and Barcelona's Brazilian star Ronaldinho play- ing Futsal in his youth, are brilliant.

On hold

Take a closer look at the young Ronaldinho in that Futsal commercial. That's the game - with the smaller and heavier ball played on a basketball-size court - that television executive Tom Ficara will try to establish in Las Vegas.

Ficara set up the indoor National Alliance Soccer League that flopped after one February doubleheader at the Orleans Arena. The National Alliance Futsal League is scheduled to start in August.

We'll provide details as they become concrete.

Quoting

A VHS tape we recently dug up showing Cantona's kung-fu kick of a fan at Crystal Palace, when he was with Manchester United in the 1990s, also includes an interview with a very young David Beckham.

He must be 16 or 17, not a hint of a whisker and a twinkle in his eye. Among his first top-flight goals was a shocker from midfield, when he caught a goalkeeper napping.

"The boy," the unnamed announcer raved, "has bullets in his boots!"

Corner kicks

American midfielder Bobby Convey has helped the Royals with seven goals and eight assists. A 22-year-old Philadelphia native, Convey started four of seven games for the U.S. national team in 2005, collecting one assist.

When it is ultimately sent to ESPN brass, it might carry more weight if respondents didn't sign their names as "Thierry Henry," "Zinedine Zidane" or "Jayson Blair."

The Strikers open their National Premier Soccer League season in San Diego on April 14 and 15, then play host to San Diego at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex at 7:30 p.m. April 21.

Quiz time

Egypt, which won the recent African Nations Cup on its own turf, is known as "The Pharaohs." What's the nickname for the Egyptian national women's team?

A. The Cleopatras

Match of the week

F.C. Rapid Bucuresti at Steaua Bucuresti, Thursday

Rapid, the squad of former railway workers, plays in the home of Bucharest's old guard in the second leg of the UEFA Cup quarterfinals. The first leg was a 0-0 draw.

Steaua, a former Army club, is Romania's most influential and powerful club. It played a world-record 104 games without losing in the late 1980s.