U.S. women to face China 2 more times
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will play China in an exhibition Wednesday in Houston and Saturday in Boca Raton, Fla., closing 2012 with the familiar faces of Abby Wambach and Hope Solo as well as the soon-to-be familiar face of Alex Morgan. Morgan, 23, positioned herself as a successor to the team’s scoring lineage that includes Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Wambach by recently winning U.S. Soccer’s Player of the Year Award. Wednesday’s match, at 7:30 p.m., will be shown on Fox Soccer. The Saturday match, which begins at 6 p.m., will be shown on the NBC Sports Network and will conclude a 10-match tour to celebrate the goldmedal performance at the London Olympics. The United States, 26-13 in 2012, will be led by interim coach Jill Ellis. Incoming coach Tom Sermanni will assume duties early next year.
■ Fulham ended a seven-game winless run in the English Premier League by beating Newcastle 2-1 on Hugo Rodallega’s second-half goal.