WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : WORLD CUP ’94 / DAILY REPORT : Foreign Game, but the Show Is All-American

The Hamburg weekly, Die Zeit, editorialized on its front page, under the headline “Kick Off,” this week:

“That American soccer-audience still bursts out laughing at headers--a rumor. Nevertheless, we have to get used to soccer news of the next weeks coming entirely from places whose names so far weren’t compatible with soccer at all: Boston the goalie, Washington as libero, Dallas as sole forward, Orlando and San Francisco on the wings. A soccer World Cup under the baseball cap--almost. . . . Where have our guys ended up?”

The Bonn daily, Die Welt, ran an article on its opinion page by Ulrich Dost under the headline “Soccer with Popcorn,” which said in part:

“America and European football, as they call soccer, have never understood each other despite many contacts. . . . The North Americans are so much in love with their favorite sports--baseball, football and basketball--that they take soccer for a girl’s sport at the most. . . .”

Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung had four special pages on the World Cup in its sports section, which included an article by Kurt Kister headlined “Soccer’s Belated Invasion of America.” He wrote:

“Has America woken up, has it become a soccer nation just in time for June 17? Not really. . . . The nation will not fall for the frenzy because the game that fascinates the rest of the world has never settled in North America.

“One can dare to predict two things, though: Most probably the World Cup will run in almost perfect organization in sold-out stadiums, and the Americans will like it a few days into it--that means if the U.S. team doesn’t go down too quickly. . . .

“Even if the U.S. team suffers the same fate as four years ago--three defeats in the first round--the rest of the soccer-playing world doesn’t have to worry about this World Cup. There is probably no one in the world who can organize big events of all kinds as well as the Americans. . . . Only an earthquake could still disturb the program of this World Cup.”