WORLD CUP ’94 / DAILY REPORT
Striker Giuseppe Signori scored for the third consecutive game, giving Italy a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica in New Haven, Conn., in its final World Cup warm-up match.
Signori, who led the Italian League in scoring this season with 23 goals for Lazio of Rome, connected with 30 minutes remaining off a pass from Roberto Baggio, the world player of the year in 1993.
The Italians open against Ireland next Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J.
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At Montreal, Marco Pascolo, Switzerland’s No. 1 goalkeeper, returned with a bandaged knee after a three-week absence and played the first half of a scoreless tie against Bolivia in a game in which the two sides attacked only in the first half.
Stephane Chapuisat wasted several scoring chances near the end of the first half for the Swiss, who open World Cup play on Saturday against the United States in Pontiac, Mich.
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At Miami, Luis Garcia scored on a penalty kick and a 15-yard shot in the first half, Carlos Hermosillo scored in the 78th minute and Hugo Sanchez returned from a two-month layoff, playing the first 69 minutes of Mexico’s 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland.
Sanchez, a 35-year-old forward, has been out seven weeks because of a torn thigh muscle. He was Mexico’s hero at the 1986 World Cup and a five-time scoring leader in Spain.
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Cameroon players in Santa Barbara said they voted to replace Stephan Tataw as captain with goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell, who has been among the players asking for higher bonuses.
Bell got 14 of 22 votes, Tataw got two and Roger Milla one.
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Leaving nothing to chance, Norway’s team doctor was worried that ice cubes made from tap water at a hotel in Princeton, N.J., could contain bacteria that would make the players ill, so ice is being withheld from the team until an analysis of the water is completed.
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At Brazil, fans were angry that television networks used poor camera angles in exhibitions against Canada and Honduras during the past two weeks to keep from showing advertising for Brahma, a Brazilian brewery.
Rather than pay large fees for World Cup game advertising rights on the Globo and Bandeirantes networks, brewery publicists gave fans giant banners to take to the stadiums.
During the games, cameras have kept to narrow shots in order to avoid the banners on the stands. Executives for the two networks said they will go back to normal camera angles for today’s game against El Salvador at Fresno.
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At Duncanville, Texas, Jeong Woon Ko scored one goal and assisted on another as South Korea beat Honduras, 3-0, in its final tuneup.
South Korean goalkeeper Choi In-young didn’t play and may miss miss Friday’s game because of an injury sustained against Ecuador this week.
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Alan Rothenberg, the chief U.S. organizer, is taking a “glass is half-full” approach to polls that show only one-quarter to one-third of Americans realize the tournament is being played in the United States this summer.
“I think we’re making incredible progress,” Rothenberg said. “The last poll said 20%. Now it’s 31%. That’s a 50% increase.”
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The last World Cup team scheduled to arrive is defending champion Germany, which comes in Monday and opens the tournament Friday afternoon at Chicago before a crowd expected to include President Clinton and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
