WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : JUST ANOTHER GAME?

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

July 2, 1994 12 AM PT

Brazilian Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said his team will not approach the July 4 game against the United States any differently.

“We will approach the opponent we’re going to play like any other,” Parreira said after Tuesday night’s game against Sweden. “If you reached the final 16, you did so on merit.”

Dunga, a Brazilian midfielder, was a bit more forthcoming.

“They’re a little bit of Europe, a little bit South American,” he said of the U.S. playing style. “They take good care of the ball. They’re not a team that just sends the ball mindlessly up the field.”

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Chris Dufresne

Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : JUST ANOTHER GAME?

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