WORLD CUP USA '94: ROUND OF 16 : Mexico Pays Penalty Against Bulgaria : Commentary: Bulgarians are quicker to the draw, Mexicans fire mostly blanks in the first showdown of World Cup '94.

By BILL DWYRE

July 6, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES SPORTS EDITOR

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —

Tuesday night, at 7:04 Eastern Time, in a United States football stadium that had seen many things but certainly nothing quite like this, World Cup shootout soccer came to America.

After 43 games, most of which were first-round, group-play games in which ties remained ties, the U.S.A.--or that portion of it that is putting baseball on the back-burner for a month--was treated to the ultimate soccer moment.

The elements of the drama:

--It was Bulgaria versus Mexico, Giants Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

--On hand was a soccer-crazy crowd of 71,030 that even included some Bulgarian fans.

--It was the single-elimination round of 16 of World Cup 1994, which was brought to this country so that fans here could see firsthand the ultimate thrill of this mostly foreign sport.

--Bulgaria and Mexico, after having each scored a goal early, had gone into a shell of boring back-passing and useless one-on-four attacks that allowed the match to drone through more than 100 minutes. Now they were about to deliver the ultimate thrill.

The shootout.

This is done with five players from each team, standing one at a time at the penalty spot, 12 yards from the goalkeeper, and alternating shots until somebody wins.

It is soccer’s hockey penalty shot, only multiplied by five. It is the bottom of the ninth, two out, bases loaded, count three-and-two.

At the end of the second half of overtime, the teams congregated near the sidelines and spent lots of time talking to their respective goalkeepers, Jorge Campos of Mexico and Borislav Mihaylov of Bulgaria.

They are the focal point because, in a shootout, their chances of stopping shots from such close range are very slim. One stop out of the five chances usually means a victory.

So they get their backs patted a lot, their necks rubbed and loads of advice from coaches and teammates alike on which opposing player tends to shoot where.

When each coach had picked his five shooters and it was time to begin, referee Jamal Al-Sharif of Syria marched toward the east goal, flanked by Campos and Mihaylov. It was high noon.

Fittingly, for this NFL stadium, Bulgaria won the toss and elected to receive. Mihaylov would get his first chance at stopping a Mexico bullet.

The shooter would be Alberto Garcia Aspe, the fancy-dribbling forward who had scored Mexico’s goal on a penalty kick in the 18th minute. Garcia Aspe was the perfect choice to begin because he has such total control of the ball.

So, as the stadium hushed and America squeezed in closer to television sets all over the country, Garcia Aspe approached slowly, then rifled a kick well over the crossbar and so far off target that all he could do was bury his head in anguish and stumble back toward his stunned teammates at midfield.

In soccer, players missing penalty kicks in shootouts live with this failure forever. They never forget. Fans never let them. It is one thing to be stopped by the goalkeeper but entirely another to flat-out miss. Garcia Aspe had yipped a one-foot putt for the Masterstitle, had volleyed an easy floater wide on match point at Wimbledon.

Among the sympathizers was Campos, dressed as always like a neon gas station sign and about to be in the bright lights himself against the first Bulgarian shooter, Krasimir Balakov. Undoubtedly, Campos told his teammate it was OK because he would just stop the Bulgarian. And, to the shock of all, he did just that, with a lightning-quick dart to his right, batting the shot wide right.

After the first round, it was Mexico 0, Bulgaria 0 and millions of soccer aficionados at a total loss.

Mexico’s Marcelino Bernal stepped to the plate. He was a perfect No. 2 hitter, versatile as a playmaker and scorer. It had been Bernal who had scored the goal against Italy last week that had given his team a 1-1 tie and first place in the toughest group in the World Cup.

So Bernal approached, shot to the right of Mikhailov . . . and failed. The Bulgarian had guessed right and smothered it. Three penalty shots, three misses. Pandemonium in the Meadowlands, bewilderment in the watching soccer world.

Bulgaria’s Boncho Guentchev was next, and he struck smartly down the middle, beating Campos and restoring some measure of sanity to this revered exercise. But Mexico’s Jorge Rodriguez tried Mihaylov’s left side and again the Bulgarian guessed right.

Mexico had had three shots at it, from 12 yards, and missed all three. From Mexico City to Monterrey, they knew. It was all over. Time to fold the sombreros.

Claudio Suarez, a defender no less, kept Mexico from total disrespect in the soccer world by beating Mihaylov in the fourth round, but all that had to happen for Bulgaria to win was for Yordan Letchkov to beat Campos one more time, which he did with a right-footer to Campos’ right.

Campos dived, saw the ball pass him, and lay face down, motionless, in the east penalty boxof Giants Stadium for a full two minutes.

Afterward, Garcia Aspe said he had missed so badly because he had a moment of hesitation, trying to decide whether to aim at the same spot he did on his earlier penalty kick or shoot elsewhere. In the end, he shot mostly toward Atlantic City.

Campos was asked whether he cried. He said he hadn’t, and added, “That is the way football always is.”

Mexico’s Luis Alves, the star of Mexico’s offensive efforts all day and the player scheduled to kick last for his country in the shootout, said, “There is a lot of painfor Mexico. It was the wrong result.”

Hristo Stoitchkov, scheduled to be the No. 5 shooter, suggested his team was the beneficiary of divine intervention.

“God was a Bulgarian today,” he said.

The Quarterfinals

Saturday At Foxboro, Mass.

* Spain vs. Italy

* Time: 9 a.m.

* TV: Channel 7

Sunday At E. Rutherford, N.J.

* Germany vs. Bulgaria

* Time: 9 a.m.

* TV: ESPN

Saturday At Dallas