WORLD CUP USA '94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : IF IT'S GOOD HERE, WHAT'S IT LIKE AT HOME?

By HELENE ELLIOTT

June 26, 1994 12 AM PT

Dr. Michel D’Hooghe, president of the Belgian Football Assn., was glad to witness his country’s 1-0 victory over the Netherlands on Saturday. But he sounded almost wistful that he was missing “the big festivities going on” back home.

“I can tell you that this is the greatest victory for Belgium,” he said. “I could never believe that this (victory) could ever happen in America.

“I’m very happy to be a part of this event together with the rest of Belgium.”

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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 : IF IT’S GOOD HERE, WHAT’S IT LIKE AT HOME?

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