WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : PLAY ON, LADS

“Seldom has a team, so thoroughly outplayed for so much of a match, made such vigorous complaint with so little cause. Brazil is deservedly in the World Cup semifinals and Holland should keep quiet, go home, reread the laws of the game and reflect on whether or not it had done enough to create a better fate for itself. . . .

“When Bebeto put Brazil ahead, 2-0, at the Cotton Bowl, Holland had created a single scoring chance in the previous hour to Brazil’s half-dozen, never mind another six Brazilian half-chances. Holland then spent almost two minutes protesting to Rodrigo Badilla, the Costa Rican referee, that the fact that Romario, walking away from a position three yards offside and back toward his half, with his head down, should have disqualified the goal. . . .

“Holland should have followed the old, old lesson: play to the whistle.”