WORLD CUP ’94 DAILY REPORT : Italians Arrive to Fans’ Cheers in New Jersey
Italy’s soccer team, warning that tough competition awaits in the World Cup, arrived in the United States on Tuesday, greeted by cheering fans in New Jersey.
Coach Arrigo Sacchi said the team trained hard in Italy “to give Italian and Italian-American fans a lot of satisfaction in the tournament.”
“We are confident, but there are several teams which are as good as we are,” Sacchi said at Newark International Airport. “And we will need some luck as well.”
The Italians, who knew six months ago that their first two games would be in the New York area, are expected to be virtually a home team at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. They will play Ireland at Giants Stadium on June 18 and Norway on June 23 before playing Mexico in Washington on June 28. Italy will train at the Pingry School in Somerset, N.J.
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McDonald’s retreated from a World Cup promotion in Britain that inadvertently offended Muslims.
The hamburger chain used food bags showing flags of the 24 competitors in this summer’s soccer championship, including that of Saudi Arabia. The green and white flag contains a sacred Koran scripture that is not supposed to be crumpled up and put in the trash.
The Saudi ambassador, Ghazi Algosaibi, expressed his concerns to the McDonald’s vice president for marketing, John Hawkes. A McDonald’s spokesman, Mike Love, acknowledged that the promotion was a mistake but could not immediately say how long it would be before the Saudi flags would stop appearing.
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Saudi Arabia, preparing for its first appearance in the World Cup, called off tuneup games against Northern Ireland and a New Jersey amateur team. . . . Only about 10,000 seats had been sold by Tuesday for tonight’s game between Brazil and Honduras at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
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“Bienvenu a Oxnard Les Lions Indomitables du Cameroun.”
With signs offering greetings in French to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Oxnard welcomed that country’s national soccer team Monday night. The team will practice at Oxnard College.
The Soccer Expert
Brazilian Dream: The 1956 Brazilian World Cup champion team was an offensive marvel. Players freelanced out of a 4-2-4 alignment that was all but impossible to stop. Pele lined up in the middle next to Vava and the two routinely switched sides. Garrincha, the right wing, was a devastating one-on-one players who freelanced all over the field. Djalma and Nilton Santos were fullbacks who overlapped into the offensive end. Left wing Mario Zagalo was fast enough to drop back on defense.
Source: The Simplest Game
