WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : OLDER, NOT BETTER

By HELENE ELLIOTT

June 24, 1994 12 AM PT

Although his coach and the Moroccan players he frustrated last Sunday insist Belgian goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme is at the top of his game, Preud’homme begs to differ.

Despite the evidence--a shutout that included several saves both teams deemed world class--he says his best days are behind him.

“The good period begins at 26, 27. At least for me, it was like that,” said Preud’homme, who estimated that a keeper loses some of his reflexes and quickness in his mid-30s.

“I am not better than I was five years ago. I am 35. How can I be better?”

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : OLDER, NOT BETTER

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