England-Mexico Soccer Match Opens Doubleheader at Coliseum Today

Two weeks to the day before the start of the World Cup, two of the tournament’s stronger teams--former world champion England and host Mexico--will play today at 3 p.m. at the Coliseum in the first game of an international soccer doubleheader.

In the second match at 5:30, a third World Cup team, South Korea, will play Peru.

The games are expected to attract a crowd of between 50,000 and 60,000, according to promoter Hugo Bandi. If that figure is realized, it would be the largest soccer attendance in the Southland since the 1984 Olympic tournament.

The English team arrived in Los Angles Friday afternoon from its high-altitude training site at Colorado Springs. In two earlier warmup games in Colorado, England defeated the Air Force Academy, 11-0, and South Korea, 4-1. England’s final warmup will be against Canada at Vancouver May 23.

Today’s game marks the return to the Mexican team of Hugo Sanchez, the high-scoring forward who this season led his club team, Real Madrid, to victory in both the Spanish league championship and the UEFA Cup. Sanchez is suffering from a knee injury, however, and is unlikely to start.