WORLD CUP USA ’94 : A LAST LOOK : Love Them or Leave Them, Veterans Get Another Shot at the Spotlight
One soccer reporter had this to say about Diego Maradona:
“Now 33, back playing in Argentina and supposedly rehabilitated, if he comes he’s as likely to be a disruptive influence as an inspiration; I’d leave him out (of the World Cup) because the shadows some heroes cast can get too long.”
Switzerland’s Andy Egli, 36, felt the sting of similar sentiment when a Swiss newspaper polled 6,000 readers last January and found 79% favored dropping the weak-kneed defender from the national team.
But Maradona and Egli survived such indignation and now are but two of soccer’s grizzled and chiseled veterans who are perhaps paying their last respects to World Cup competition.
The monthlong event could see the final Cup performances of such stars as Roger Milla of Cameroon, Lothar Matthaeus of Germany, Franco Baresi of Italy, Ronald Koeman of the Netherlands, Sergio Goycochea of Argentina, Gheorghe Hagi of Romania and Hugo Sanchez of Mexico.
Their names represent a mixture of emotions, from adoration to ad nauseam. But now that the world’s biggest sporting event has finally dropped in on Main Street America, they are not about to miss the extravaganza even as others suggest they should.
“It’s an awkward situation,” said Sunil Gulati, an executive vice president of World Cup USA ’94. “There’s always a series of stars playing in their last Cup. There’s a sadness to that. But we also look with anticipation to future stars.”
Or as Bob Dylan might say, “Don’t look back.”
It is an attitude whose current flows strong among the sport’s disciples. Yet, before some of those with the longest of shadows are totally discarded, they will play an important role in World Cup ’94.
What will be missed in 1998 when France plays host to the tournament?
“Their flashiness,” said Cle Kooiman, a U.S. defender who plays in Mexico. “These guys are brilliant on the field. Without them, you tend to have a regular soccer game, 11 against 11.
“But when you are playing against Maradona, you’re playing 14 against 11. This guy has the touch of three guys put together.”
Kooiman might be waxing soccer poetic, but he expresses the community’s infatuation with brilliance. Like once-proud matadors, the old warriors who continue playing with diminished skills arouse great expectations. Soccer is such an unforgiving sport that fans demand nothing less than excellence.
Or else.
There is no graceful exit from this quandary except the improbable route of duplicating past feats. Yet, some continue despite themselves.
Matthaeus, who joined the German national team in 1980 as a teen-age defender, has had twice the career of most mortals. At 33, he could have retired as one of the world’s greatest. Instead, he began playing in his fourth World Cup Friday in Chicago. After his outstanding season in the German Bundesliga this year, who could blame him?
“I assume when I finish my career that I won’t be able to walk normally anymore and that my body will be used up,” he said earlier this year.
He was serious. Two years ago, he suffered a severe knee injury, yet trained to compete in another World Cup for the defending champions. Coach Berti Vogts, who moved his star from midfield to sweeper with good results, was relieved.
Vogts has brought a veteran team to the United States because he believes these players will know how to preserve their strength and stamina playing in extremely hot and humid conditions in Chicago and Dallas in the first round.
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We probably would not be writing about Milla, 42, if not for a presidential decree in 1989.
Milla become entangled in a fight between Cameroon soccer fans and soccer officials who four years ago assumed that Milla was too old for World Cup competition. The country’s president, sensing a political coup, interceded by siding with the fans. They were insisting that Milla, the soul of Cameroon soccer, be allowed to compete one more time.
Smart move. Milla emerged as one of soccer’s stars from Italia ’90. And now he’s back with another presidential order.
The latest president, Paul Biya, contributed $185,000 to the team, and persuaded Coach Henri Michel to allow Milla to join the team again.
Such circumstances have caused Guido Tognoni of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, to pause.
“We never say goodby in a World Cup,” Tognoni said. “They might come again.”
And, like Milla, again.
But Tognoni and other officials are more interested in who will emerge than in who is leaving.
“It’s not that sentimental,” Tognoni said of seeing some big names for the last time. “In soccer, you win as a team, lose as a team.”
That’s the official point of view.
Some of the players think otherwise.
“It’s like an honor almost to go out and be involved in the same World Cup with Diego Maradona or somebody you’ve watched growing up,” said Juergen Sommer, a U.S. goalkeeper who plays in the English first division.
“In a way, it’s kind of sad to see that (Maradona) has reached the age where he can’t compete internationally at this level anymore.”
But he is still Maradona, and despite being out of shape with diminished skills, there is always a chance he will exploit a defense with his footwork, if only for a moment.
But the Baresis, Koemans and other established stars in their 30s can not be easily discounted.
“If you can add something to your team, you should be there,” said Kooiman, the U.S. defender who has seen first-hand what a veteran such as Sanchez, 34, can do at an advanced age.
“Inside the (penalty) area, the guy is deadly,” Kooiman said. “Many forwards need to touch the ball three or four times before they can get the ball off. He does everything first touch and tends to surprise the goalie.”
And what Sanchez lacks in youthful spirit, he compensates for with guile.
“He’s a big talker on the field to get defenders out of their game,” Kooiman said. “Usually, it’s the other way around. (But) a lot of defenders lose their frames of mind and go crazy.”
And sometimes that in itself is as brilliant as dribbling through the defense to set up a score.
