WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : GO FIGURE

This World Cup is becoming too surreal for comfort. Let us simply try and count the ways in which what passes for normality in soccer has been transformed into something of an illusion.

One, a team from the U.S., most of whose players are obscure--to put it mildly--and whose goalkeeper is more intent on an acting career, comes within 15 minutes of forcing Brazil into extra time. This was in no script written outside Hollywood.

Two, a game in Giants Stadium between Saudi Arabia and Morocco drew a crowd of 72,000. Think about it: two Arab teams playing in New Jersey, no less, and selling out.

It would only have been understandable had it been played in Casablanca or Riyadh with (Humphrey) Bogart as referee and (Peter) O’Toole and Omar Sharif working the lines. Equally amazing, Russia against Cameroon drew an even bigger crowd.”