Ex-US defender Fernando dies

FRISCO, Feb 10 (AP): Fernando Clavijo, a surprise starter for the 1994 US World Cup team who went on to a long coaching and management career in Major League Soccer, has died. He was 63.

FC Dallas said he died Friday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from multiple myeloma. Clavijo was the team's technical director from March 2002 until he stepped down last September because of his health.

Inducted into the US National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005, Clavijo made 61 appearances for the US national team from 1990-94, mostly as a defender.

"Fernando was an important leader with three MLS clubs, and he played a key role in the league's player development strategy," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement Saturday.

An emerging player in the final years of the North American Soccer League, Clavijo was part of the generation hampered by the lack of the top-level American league between NASL's demise after the 1984 season and MLS's launch in 1996.