COSTA MESA : World Cup Banners on Display at Plaza

Hundreds of bright banners are being hung at South Coast Plaza during the next week to celebrate the 1994 World Cup soccer games, which will be played in various U.S. cities during June and July.

The largest banner, 1,200 square feet, will be unfurled next week across the Bear Street facade of the Crystal Court shopping center. There also will be numerous banners inside the center.

More than 130 lampposts around the South Coast Plaza and Crystal Court shopping centers will fly eight-foot banners.

The banners show soccer players and the American team’s mascot: a dog named Striker.

The banners will stay up until after the July 17 soccer finals, said Ellen Appel, spokeswoman for South Coast Plaza.

The World Cup is the most-watched athletic competition worldwide. Finals for the World Cup will be at the Rose Bowl.