WORLD CUP ’94 / DAILY REPORT

Pele wasn’t much kinder to his former team.

According to the Brazilian great, Colombia is the best team going into the World Cup.

“Colombia has a good team. They have (Faustino) Asprilla. Colombia has a very organized team,” Pele said at an awards ceremony in New York. “Win? I don’t know. But they will be one of the four finalists.

“For me Colombia is the best team. It doesn’t mean they are going to win it. Italy, going into the 1982 finals, had the worst team.”

Pele praised the individual talents of the Brazilian squad but was cautious about its chances.

“Brazil individually has very good players, and the best of them are in Europe: Romario, Bebeto, Mauro Silva, Jorginho,” he said. “All are good as players, but as a team they are not so necessarily compact, like Germany. Germany doesn’t have so many big names, but they work well together.”

He said the U.S. chances rest largely on the team’s opening game in the Pontiac Silverdome against Switzerland on June 18.

“If they win the first game, no doubt they will go to the second round,” Pele said.