gled with doping but is under particular pressure over the retests. In one event from 2012, six of the top 10 finishers have

The first-place Philadelphia Union are looking to put an inconsistent stretch behind them, when they head to Houston to play the last-place Dynamo on Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium.The Union (7-5-5), with 26 points, lead second-place New York City by two points in the Eastern Conference table. The top six teams above the red line in the Eastern Conference are separated by six points.Philadelphia has been one of the biggest surprises of the early season, after finishing near the bottom of the standings last year. The Union have been led by a trio of goal scorers. Chris Pontius leads the Union with six goals, and Roland Alberg and C.J. Sapong each has five. Alberg has scored five goals in the last three games.Sapong is expected to return to action Saturday for the first time since suffering a sprained right ankle on June 1. Union coach Jim Curtin told reporters this week that Sapong will be a factor against Houston.Defense has been a recent concern for the Union. They have surrendered nine goals in their three previous MLS games, including a 3-2 home loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps last week.The Union rebounded with a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in U.S. Open play on Wednesday. Pontius had both goals in the win.The Dynamo (3-8-5) rebounded from squandering a two-goal lead in the second half of a loss at Portland last week with a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the U.S. Open Round of 16 on Wednesday. Rising young forward Mauro Manotas had two goals in the win. But, overall, this has been a difficult season for Houston, which already has endured a coaching change and remains in last place in the Western Conference with 14 points.Wade Garrett, a longtime Dynamo assistant, was named Houston interim coach in early June, after former coach Owen Coyle stepped down. The loss to Portland was the Dynamos first defeat under Barrett, but it was disappointing. The Dynamo seemed to be in control, up 2-0 in the second half, before Portland rallied and scored the winning goal on a penalty kick on a controversial call.The Union won last seasons meeting, 2-0, snapping a six-game winless streak versus the Dynamo. Bobby Orr Jersey . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. ED Belfour Blackhawks Jersey . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. http://www.officialblackhawksfanstore.com/authentic-connor-murphy-blackhawks-jersey/ .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Keith Magnuson Jersey . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . David Kampf Blackhawks Jersey . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Three female weightlifters from Kazakhstan have been stripped of gold medals from the 2012 London Olympics after failing retests of their doping samples.The Kazakh lifters were among eight athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee on Thursday after their stored samples came back positive for steroids.Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Maiya Maneza and Svetlana Podobedova have been stripped of the gold medals they won in the 53-kilogram, 63kg and 75kg divisions, respectively. All three tested positive for the steroid stanozolol, with Chinshanlos sample also containing oxandrolone.The IOC did not say whether the medals would be reallocated to other athletes. If that happens, Christine Girard of Canada would be elevated to silver in the 63kg class and could get gold if a failed doping test from a Russian lifter who was the original second-place finisher also results in a ban.Also Thursday, a female weightlifter from Belarus was stripped of a bronze medal. Marina Shkermankova had finished third in the 69kg class. Also disqualified were two other Belarusian lifters, a Russian hammer thrower and a Russian pole vaulter, none of whom won medals.The punishments for the Kazakh and Belarusian weightlifters are now set to trigger an automatic one-year ban from all international weightlifting competitions for the two countries under International Weightlifting Federation rules imposing automatic bans if at least three of a countrys athletes fail Olympic retests.The IOC said a case against a Ruussian wrestler who won a silver medal was dropped because he died in a car crash three years ago.dddddddddddd The IOC disciplinary commission said Besik Kudukhovs result will stand because it cannot rule on doping cases involving the dead.The situation is unsatisfactory as it implies that Olympic results which would probably have had to be reviewed will remain uncorrected, the commission noted in its ruling.The IOC stores doping samples for 10 years so they can be reanalyzed when improved testing methods become available.There have been a total of 98 positive cases recorded in recent retests of samples from the London Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics, with almost half of the cases in weightlifting.Weightlifting has long struggled with doping but is under particular pressure over the retests. In one event from 2012, six of the top 10 finishers have tested positive.In August, IWF president Tamas Ajan told The Associated Press he hoped the sport would be allowed to stay on the Olympic program for future Games despite its struggles with steroids and said he wanted to ban leading countries from the sport for a year in a process he likened to shock therapy.The retests have also implicated a Kazakh gold medalist who is the sports biggest star on social media. Ilya Ilyin has failed retests from both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, though the IOC has not yet finished processing those cases. ' ' '