THE FINAL EIGHT : World Cup Teams, Far Fewer Now, Resume the Battle
And then there were eight.
Three weeks and 44 games after it began, the 1986 World Cup has finally reached the quarterfinal stage.
Along the way, some favorites in the 24-team field have fallen unexpectedly early, among them defending champion Italy, former two-time titlist Uruguay and highly rated Denmark and the Soviet Union.
Then, too, players whose stars were expected to burn a little brighter in Mexico faded sooner than expected. Gone are the Danes, Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjaer. Gone also are Uruguay’s Enzo Francescoli, the Soviet Union’s Rinat Dassaiev and Poland’s Zbigniew Boniek.
Eight teams have survived, including four former World Cup winners. By Sunday evening, those eight will have been reduced to four. The wheat has been separated from the chaff; the task now is to grade the wheat.
Today at noon local time (11 a.m. PDT), three-time winner Brazil takes on European champion France at Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, while at 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. PDT), two-time winner West Germany plays Mexico at Universitario Stadium in Monterrey.
Sunday at noon, two former World Cup winners, England and Argentina, square off at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, and at 4 p.m., Spain and Belgium meet in Cuauhtemoc Stadium at Puebla.
The four surviving teams will advance to the semifinals Wednesday, with the Brazil-France winner meeting the West Germany-Mexico winner at Guadalajara at noon and the England-Argentina winner facing the Spain-Belgium winner at Mexico City at 4 p.m.
At this stage, any sort of prediction is precarious. Being among the best eight in the world generally means being able to hold your own with almost anyone. In other words, each of the four quarterfinal games should be closely contested.
A more detailed look at this weekend’s matchups:
BRAZIL-FRANCE: Brazilian goalkeeper Carlos has shut out each of the four opponents his country has faced, although Spain’s Miguel Fernandez will argue that he had a legitimate goal disallowed in Brazil’s 1-0 opening-game victory.
Either way, Carlos and the Brazilian defense have not been beaten. In France, however, they face their most serious challenge yet. Carlos believes that the outcome might even come down to luck.
“When teams such as Brazil and France meet,” he said, “the victory goes to the one who takes better advantage of the opportunities. When they play more or less the same way, the luckiest one will win.”
Brazil has looked increasingly impressive as the tournament has progressed and has the added advantage of having played all of its matches in Jalisco Stadium. All the same, its bearded philosopher and star, Socrates, is justifiably concerned about France’s midfield might.
In order to contain the brilliance of Michel Platini, Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana and Luis Fernandez, Socrates said, Brazil will have to employ more of a zone defense than a man-to-man.
The French, meanwhile, will be trying to keep in check Brazil’s two emerging stars, Careca and Josimar, while hoping that Zico has an off day.
Of the four quarterfinals, this one seems guaranteed to produce soccer of the highest caliber. Whichever team wins will become the World Cup favorite.
WEST GERMANY-MEXICO: Having played each of their four games at Queretaro and having struggled to score just four goals in those games, the West Germans travel to Monterrey, where they will be playing at a much lower altitude but in a much hotter temperature.
England played its three first-round matches at Monterrey, and striker Gary Lineker, the tournament’s co-leading goal scorer with Spain’s Emilio Butragueno, said last week that heat affects the players far more than altitude.
“I think it was harder to play in Monterrey (than at altitude),” Lineker said. “The heat there is tremendous, and it’s very difficult for players to adapt. It (high altitude) is harder on the lungs, but you can recover. When it’s the heat, it seems to dehydrate you.”
The West Germans already are feeling a bit drained, having been pushed to the limit by Morocco in the second round before snatching a victory in the last two minutes. Then, too, there have been almost daily stories of friction in the West German camp. Friday, for example, Coach Franz Beckenbauer dismissed second-string goalkeeper Uli Stein, who, upset over not being chosen as the starter, had been critical of the team.
West Germany, the losing finalist in Spain four years ago, is the stronger team on paper, especially considering Mexico’s abysmal World Cup record in the past. But, under Yugoslav Coach Bora Milutinovic, Mexico is a legitimate contender. At Monterrey, where Milutinovic pointed out Friday “we have never lost,” Mexico could cause West Germany more than a few problems.
ENGLAND-ARGENTINA: Coach Carlos Bilardo has voiced some concern over Argentina’s ability to stop the high, centering passes that the English players tend to float into the goal area. The continuing absence of injured defender Daniel Passarella, who led Argentina to its 1978 World Cup victory, adds to Bilardo’s worries.
“There is a way of stopping the English wingers and their passes to the forwards,” Bilardo said Friday, “and that is to use the offside trap and to mark (guard) the English forwards closely.”
The difference between the teams virtually comes down to one player--Diego Maradona. So far, Maradona has enjoyed an excellent World Cup, scoring and setting up goals almost at will. How will England contain him?
“If you’re not doing anything Sunday, why don’t you come out and take a look,” was England Coach Bobby Robson’s response to that question. Meanwhile, Robson said, the English players have made a good transition from the heat of Monterrey to the 7,500-foot altitude of Mexico City.
“The one worry I personally had,” he said, “was whether over 90 minutes the players could stand up to the quite different altitude at which we’re now having to play, having been down in Monterrey for a long time.
“I think the players have proved their fitness beyond doubt. Every day now that we are here is an extra bonus to us, a great help, a great benefit. I think we’ve got over the first difficult hurdle and we should be even better physiologically for the Argentina match.”
Physiologically, maybe, but Argentina has the incentive. Ignoring the Falklands-Malvinas issue that reporters here seem determined to dredge up, Argentina has another reason for wanting to win: In 1966, England knocked Argentina out in the quarterfinals en route to its World Cup win.
To Bilardo, Maradona & Co., turnabout would be fair play.
SPAIN-BELGIUM: The general feeling at Mexico City is that it doesn’t make a lot of difference which of these teams wins. Either one would have a difficult time beating England or Argentina in the semifinals.
Both countries, however, earned their quarterfinal spot. The Belgians scored a remarkable 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union in the second round, and the Spaniards thrashed Denmark, 5-1. Results such as those indicate, perhaps, that it is unwise to take either team too lightly.
World Cup Notes The names of the 24 players who so far have been invited to participate in the FIFA-UNICEF world all-star game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on July 27 were released at the International Press Center here Friday. The 1 p.m. match, designed to benefit the children of Mexico, will be between a team representing the Americas, coached by Argentina’s Carlos Bilardo and Mexico’s Bora Milutinovic, and a team representing the Rest of the World, coached by West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and the Netherlands’ Johan Cruyff. . . . Selected to the Americas team were Roberto Fernandez and Julio Cesar Romero ( Paraguay); Hugo Sanchez, Fernando Quirarte and Manuel Negrete (Mexico); Zico, Careca and Julio Cesar (Brazil); Daniel Passarella, Diego Maradona and Jorge Valdano (Argentina), and Paul Caligiuri (United States). . . . Selected to the Rest of the World team were Pat Jennings (Northern Ireland); Hans-Peter Briegel and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany); Antonio Cabrini and Bruno Conti (Italy); Morten Olsen and Soren Lerby (Denmark); Michel Platini (France); Emilio Butragueno (Spain); Gary Lineker (England); Mohammed Timoumi (Morocco), and Chang Sun Park (South Korea).
