Soccer Roundup: Chicharito Hurt, Aguero Scores, Torres Misses

In this photo taken Sunday Sept. 18, 2011, Manchester United's Javier Hernandez reacts during a tough challenge from Chelsea's Ashley Cole, left, during the English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Hernandez limped off in the second half after the challenge by Cole. (AP Photo/Peter Byrne, PA) UNITED KINGDOM OUT (AP2011)

Sergio Aguero doesn't play for the Argentine National Team and Manchester City because he is the son-in-law of the legendary Diego Maradona. Aguero is in the lineup because he can fill the net -- again and again and again. In fact, the 23-year-old striker was at it again for City in its 2-2 English Premier League draw with Fulham on Sunday.

He has scored a remarkable eight goals in his first five games this season, second to only Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, who has tallied nine goals in as many matches.

Aguero's fabulous performance -- he tallied in the 18th minute and 12 seconds into the final half -- however, was tempered by the fact City lost a two-goal advantage at home on Sunday.

Now, if his teammates could have played some defense.

After the game, City manager Roberto Mancini did not talk about Aguero's heroics as much as how his team lost the lead.

“When it was 2-0 we thought the game was finished and you cannot do that,” Mancini told reporters. "It is incredible that we lost these two points. Of course you cannot win every game away from home but this is one that we should have won.

“We should have scored more than one goal in the first half just like we should have scored more than against Wigan in the first half when we were similarly dominant. We have to learn the lessons. . . . I am frustrated because I believe that we should have won the game. We gave away stupid goals.”

Javier Hernández

Chicharito suffered an injury that could keep him out for two weeks in Manchester United's big 3-1 EPL win over Chelsea. With the hosts enjoying a two-goal lead in the 79th minute, Chelsea left fullback Ashley Cole was slapped with a yellow card for what was called a nasty, two-footed tackle on the Mexican superstar in the penalty area. Hernández was forced to come out of the match at Old Trafford.

"For me it's a shocking tackle," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told reporters. "The referee has booked him and if he's booked him I don't know why it wasn't a penalty. We're going to have to wait until the morning because at the moment his leg is very numb. He could be out for a couple of weeks anyway."

Fernando Torres

Torres, who scored only his second goal for Chelsea since joining the team from Liverpool in January as he chipped ManU goalkeeper in that 3-1 loss, missed a howler to cut the lead later in the second half. The Spanish international rounded goalkeeper David de Gea and faced an open goal from six yards. But Torres managed to sent his shot wide of the net as some 75,000 United supporters mocked his howler with cheers. "You have an example of [United's Wayne] Rooney missing a penalty too, which is basically the same," Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas told reporters. "The worst things happen to the best strikers in the world and today it happened to both of them." Added Ferguson: "It was a bad miss, he had so much time."

Edinson Cavani

Cavani continued to live up to his nickname, "El Matador," recording a hat trick to lead Napoli to a 3-1 triumph over Italy Serie A defending champion AC Milan. After Alberto Aquilani lifted Milan into the lead in the 11th minute, Cavani took center stage and found the back of the net in the 13th, 36th and 51st minutes. Napoli is tied in points with Juventus, Udinese and Cagliari, but leads the league thanks to goal differential. The scintillating performance finished off a memorable week for Cavani, who also tallied in a 1-1 tie at Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. Cavani found the back of the net 26 times for Napoli last season, which included hat-tricks against Lazio, Sampdoria and Juventus.

Guillermo Ochoa

Forced to play a little more than half the game a man down, Ajaccio and Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa could not hold off Nice, which recorded a 3-0 victory in French Ligue 1 on Sunday. The result left both teams with 1-3-2 record, a week after Ajaccio recorded its first Ligue 1 win since it was promoted to the top flight last season. Ajaccio's Johan Cavalli was red-carded as he was called for a penalty kick in the 43rd minute. The hosts took advantage of the extra man, as Argentine defender Fabian Monzon converted a penalty kick past Ochoa a minute into first-half stoppage time. The visitors kept within striking distance until Monzon put in his second penalty in the 87th minute and another Argentine defender, Renato Civelli, found the back of the net in the 89th minute.

Andres Guardado

Mexican international midfielder Andres Guardado helped set up the first goal and scored the second for Deportivo La Coruña in its 2-1 victory over Sabadell in the Spanish Second Division. Deportivo (3-0-1, nine points) is tied with Elche, Hércules and Sabadell for first place, although Deportivo was listed as fourth due to goal differential. Lassard passed to Guardado at the edge of the penalty area in the 39th minute. The right wing set up Juan Carlos Valderon for his first league goal in two years. Five minutes later, Guardado was at it again, this time as a goal-scorer. A long clearance by Sabadell's Alex Bergantinos went to Salamao, who sent a hard cross from the left wing to the opposite corner of the penalty area. It appeared that Guardado had arrived too late to do anything with the ball. But the Mexican fired a shot that hit goalkeeper De Navas and went into the net for his second goal of the season.

Rafa Márquez

The Mexican National Team captain and central defender did not play in the New York Red Bulls' 1-0 win at FC Dallas because of yellow-card accumulation. The victory snapped an eight-game league winless streak that went back to a 5-0 triumph over Toronto FC on July 6. Márquez is expected to start against Real Salt Lake at home on Wednesday and the Portland Timbers at home on Saturday.

Omar Bravo

Bravo did not score in Sporting Kansas City's 1-0 loss at Real Salt Lake. He was replaced by Omar C.J. Sapong in the 69th minute.

Mariano Trujillo

Trujillo came on at halftime for defender Michael Lahoud and set up former Colombian international striker Juan Pablo Angel's goal in the 61st minute to help Chivas USA come back from a two-goal deficit. But Chivas lost to the Chicago Fire, 3-2, on a Dominic Oduro goal in the 85th minute. Angel scored an own goal for the hosts in the 26th minute when he headed the ball into his own net. "The own goal was something that happened that was an unlucky play," Angel said. "I was in the air when I think the ball was touched by a defender, then the ball hit me and I didn’t have anything to do with it. I think [the goal] was poorly defended by us. It was a poor goal to concede. I am disappointed obviously. But the goal [I scored] was good. It was a good play by Mariano."

Javier Pastore

Pastore helped Paris St. Germain come back from a two-goal deficit to register a 2-2 tie at newly promoted Evian in French Ligue 1. The Argentine beat two defenders to cut the lead in half just before halftime as teammate Mathieu Bodmer put home the equalizer in the 81st minute. PSG moved into a third-place tie with Marseille, Lille, Lorient and Rennes.

German Denis

Denis tallied the lone goal for Atalanta in its 1-0 win over Palermo in a game that was interrupted by a torrential rain storm for a half hour in the second half. Even though the team is unbeaten (1-0-1) after last week's season-opening tie at Genoa, Atalanta has minus two points because of the six points that were deducted in the team's part in a Serie B game-fixing scandal.

Guillermo Giacomazzi and Carlos Grossmuller

Giacomazzi and Grossmuller, who are midfielders, each scored a goal for visiting Lecce in its 2-0 victory over Bologna in Italy.

Radamel Falcao

The new signing, who was brought in to fill the hole left by the departures of Uruguayan Diego Forlan and Aguero, connected for a hat-trick to spark Atletico Madrid to a 4-0 home victory over Racing Santander in Spain's La Liga. Falcao, the leading goal-scorer in the Europa League while playing for Porto last season (17 goals), tallied in the 23rd, 36th (penalty kick) and 55th minutes (chip shot over the goalkeeper). Falcao was given a big ovation by the Atletico's fans when he was substituted for in the second half.

Carlos Reinoso

Reinoso resigned as América coach after his team lost to first-place Jaguares in Mexico's Apertura. Considered a pre-season favorite, America (2-4-3) is in 16th-place out of 18 teams.

Michael Lewis, who has covered international soccer for three decades, can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com.