SOCCER : Colombia Beats Soviet Union on Goalkeeper’s Penalty Kick

Entering their soccer match Saturday at Stanford, the Soviet and U.S. national teams will have at least one thing in common. They have both tried to beat Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita and lost.

A little more than two weeks after defeating the United States on penalty kicks in Miami, Colombia did the same to the Soviet Union Tuesday night, winning, 1-0, in the Marlboro Cup before a crowd of 18,132 at the Coliseum.

Colombia will play for the tournament championship Thursday night against Chivas of Guadalajara, which beat Costa Rica, 3-0, in the second game Tuesday night. The Soviets will meet Costa Rica for third place.

If it is any consolation to the young U.S. players, they had more success against Colombia in their 2-1 loss on Feb. 4 than did the Soviets, who are considered among the favorites for this summer’s World Cup in Italy.

Tuesday, after neither team scored during 90 minutes of regulation, the Soviets converted only two of their four penalty-kick opportunities in the tiebreaker against Higuita, who, at 23, already may be one of the world’s best goalkeepers.

He certainly is one of the most versatile. After stopping the final penalty kick by the Soviets’ Igor Kolivanov, Higuita turned offensive and scored the goal that clinched the victory.

Colombia scored on four of its five penalty kicks. Colombian Coach Francisco Maturana said he does not get nervous during tiebreakers, even when they are extended, such as the one against the United States, because of Higuita’s presence.

“He gives the rest of the team security,” Maturana said.

It is during regulation, when Higuita often wanders as far as 30 yards from the goal, that he would figure to make Maturana nervous. But the coach said he doesn’t mind.

“I know him, and when he does that, it means he’s into the game,” Maturana said. “It means he’s alert. I get nervous when he doesn’t do that.”

There was hardly any danger of the Soviets scoring during the first half, when they took only four shots and forced Higuita to make only one save. It appeared as if the Soviets had left their game in Italy, where they recently finished a 10-game tour.

But after being outplayed for the first 45 minutes, the Soviets were more assertive in the second half, outshooting Colombia, 12-3. Higuita finished with five saves.

“We should have played the first half the way we did the second,” Soviet Coach Valeri Lobonovsky said.

But he refused to use the long trip from Rome on Sunday as an excuse.

“If a team is good, jet lag doesn’t mean anything,” he said.

Lobonovsky’s team is missing several players because they are under contract to European professional teams.