Beckenbauer Says He Has Agreed to Work for U.S. Team

Franz Beckenbauer told a West German soccer magazine this week that he has reached an agreement to work with both the U.S. Soccer Federation and the 1994 World Cup.

“I will be part of the organization in the last two years before the World Cup,” he told Kicker magazine. “It’s clear that I also will look after the national team of the U.S.A. indirectly.”

Beckenbauer, who coached West Germany to victory in the 1990 World Cup, resigned immediately thereafter and said he would like to work for the United States team.

But a USSF official denied that a deal had been struck.

“There is no deal with Franz Beckenbauer,” said John Polis, the USSF’s director of public relations. “ . . . We have just had an election, and we have a new president (Alan Rothenberg of Los Angeles). He and his transition committee will look at everything. Any report along the lines of a change like that would be premature.”

Sources said Beckenbauer reached an agreement last month with Werner Fricker, then president of the USSF. The deal was put on hold when Fricker was voted out of office, the sources said.