SOCCER / JULIE CART : Tickets for Early-Round World Cup Games to Cost $23.75 to $80
Although an announcement regarding 1994 World Cup tickets won’t be made until Wednesday, applications already mailed to 1.7-million homes in the United States include some prices and other information.
Tickets per game during the first two rounds will cost $23.75 to $80, according to the Associated Press.
The applications were sent to persons registered with the U.S. Soccer Federation and others who are in the soccer “family.”
The tickets are being sold in strips of four or five, depending on the city.
Each strip includes one ticket to each of the four first-round games in a one stadium and one second-round match. Buyers can purchase up to 10 strips each. Those purchasing strips will get opportunities to buy tickets for the quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
About 3 1/2 million tickets are available for the tournament, to be played from June 17-July 17, 1994. More than half will be available to the U.S. public, according to a World Cup official, and about 525,000 will be designated for the International Federation of Association Football, soccer’s governing body.
Ticket prices for the general public will be higher than those for U.S. Soccer Federation members and the 1.7 million people who already have requested ticket information. There are three price tiers for each venue.
For the Rose Bowl and six of the other eight sites, the prices will be $275, $205 and $127.50 per strip for early applicants and federation members, and $355, $245 and $140 for the general public.
World Cup officials will also announce later another system, through which fans may buy “country” tickets--all the matches of a particular team--so they can follow their favorite teams.
The U.S. national team practiced Monday for the first time on the field at its new $2.3-million World Cup training facility in Mission Viejo. Although the team has been on the site for two weeks, storms and poor field conditions have prevented the players from using the fields.
Although the players are happy with the practice facility--two lighted fields and a 3,800-square-foot clubhouse expected to be completed by the end of May--the grand opening on Jan. 11 did not go off without a hitch.
The city of Mission Viejo donated and constructed the fields, which will be converted to city use after 1994. But the Mission Viejo Soccer Foundation didn’t come through on its promise to help subsidize housing for national team players and their families. That left the U.S. Soccer Federation holding a $250,000 bag.
According to Bill Nuttall, U.S. national team general manager, the foundation agreed to arrange for housing for the 20 players in apartments close to the training facility. The promise of having this major expense paid was a major factor in the USSF’s selection of Mission Viejo as its World Cup training base.
Just weeks before the site was opened, however, the foundation acknowledged that it would not be able to come up with the money, leaving the USSF with the unexpected bill.
“While it cost us more than we budgeted, it still got us where we wanted to be,” said Alan Rothenberg, president of the World Cup organizing committee.
Former UCLA goalkeeper Brad Friedel is finally in training camp with the U.S. team. But maybe not for long. Friedel elected not to sign a contract with the U.S. Soccer Federation because he is close to signing with Nottingham Forest of the English Premier League. So, he is with the U.S. team on a per diem basis, which means that the USSF pays his housing and gives him about $30 a day.
Friedel--a three-time All-American and winner of the 1992 Hermann Trophy, awarded to the best college player--was bought by the English team for a reported transfer fee of more than $400,000 but has played only once, in a reserve match.
As a foreign player, he needs a work permit from the Professional Footballers’ Assn. Such permits are usually issued according to the player’s international experience. Usually, the player is required to have 10 international appearances, although the rule is flexible in this regard. It would have to flex nearly to the breaking point to accommodate Friedel, who has one full international. Both the English team and the United States need Friedel, though, as a backup goalie. But the USSF has played hardball with Friedel and, for the time being at least, it has managed to get him in camp.
“All I want to do is play,” he said.
World Cup qualifying update: Switzerland is a strong leader in Europe’s Group 1, with three victories and a draw. Italy has a tenuous hold on second place, one point ahead of Portugal. Scotland, which is winless, is fourth. The top two teams advance.
Group 2 is being watched closely by U.S. World Cup officials, since, with England and the Netherlands, it is high in the hooligan quotient. Norway is the leader with seven points in no defeats. The Norwegians have scored 15 goals in four games and have allowed only two. The second qualifying position is a three-way tie among England, the Netherlands and Poland.
Soccer Notes
The U.S. Soccer Federation hired Coach Bora Milutinovic in March, 1991. It is generally accepted that, under his guidance, the U.S. national team has prospered. Has it? In 1992, the team was 6-14-6 and gave up 35 goals while scoring only 21. The most productive American was Eric Wynalda, who played in only seven games but scored five goals and one assist. The next-most goals scored were three each by Marcelo Balboa, who played in 24 games, and Hugo Perez, who played in 20.
The Continental Indoor Soccer League, yet another professional venture, is forming, with a franchise in Los Angeles and games to be played at the Forum. The tentative schedule has the 11-team league playing a 26-game schedule, beginning June 18. . . . The U.S. national team plays Romania at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 1 p.m., the FC Zurich club on Feb. 9 at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo at 7 p.m., and the Russian team on Feb. 13 at Orlando and Feb. 19 at Stanford Stadium at Palo Alto at 1:30 p.m.
Steve Sampson has moved from vice president of competition management for the 1994 World Cup to serve as an assistant coach of the national team. Sampson was NCAA coach of the year while he was at Santa Clara.
