Portuguese Coach Rejects Offer by U.S. Soccer
Carlos Queiroz, in an abrupt turnaround, rejected an offer to coach the U.S. national soccer team Monday and agreed to a three-year contract extension with Sporting Lisbon of the Portuguese first division.
Hank Steinbrecher, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s executive director, confirmed that Queiroz had been offered the job. Queiroz, 42, notified Sporting Lisbon’s management last Friday that he was resigning at the end of the season. But after an all-night bargaining session with team officials in Lisbon, he changed his mind.
Bora Milutinovic was fired as coach April 14.
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Frenchman Bernard Tapie, the flamboyant leftist politician who led Olympique Marseille when the club won France’s only European club soccer title, was sentenced to a year in prison for masterminding a game-fixing scandal.
Football
Ernest Givins, the Houston Oilers’ leading receiver with 542 receptions in nine seasons, was released by the team, which cited the economic realities of the salary cap. He was to make $1.4 million this season.
Wary of increasing competition for professional sports franchises, the San Diego City Council approved a lease for the Chargers that includes $60 million in stadium improvements. The deal calls for the Chargers to play at Jack Murphy Stadium until 2020.
Michigan will give interim head football coach Lloyd Carr, the defensive coordinator, a one-year tryout as Gary Moeller’s successor, the Detroit News reported.
Tennis
Second-seeded Michael Chang defeated Mark Philippoussis of Australia, 6-4, 6-3, in the first round of the Italian Open in Rome. . . . Lori McNeil, seeded 11th, was upset by Russia’s Tatiana Panova, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in the first round of the German Open at Berlin. . . . Stanford’s Jeff Salzenstein defeated UCLA’s Robert Janecek as the top-seeded Cardinal won four singles matches to beat the Bruins, 4-1, and advance to the final of the men’s NCAA championship in Athens, Ga. Unseeded Mississippi upset second-seeded Georgia, 4-3.
Names in the News
Boxer Jimmy Garcia remains in a coma with kidney failure and his doctor said he did not think the 24-year-old Colombian would survive. “We’re not winning the battle,” Dr. Al Capanna said. . . . Undefeated Orzubek Nazarov of Kyrgyzstan knocked out South Korean Park Won in the second round at Tokyo to retain his World Boxing Assn. lightweight crown. . . . Former welterweight champion Aaron Pryor was arrested on drunk driving charges in Cincinnati.
Allan Bristow announced that he will return next season as coach of the Charlotte Hornets. . . . Massachusetts center Marcus Camby will bypass the NBA and stay in school for his junior year. . . . Kevin Garnett, a senior at Farragut High School in Chicago, has made himself available for the NBA draft but says he will play college basketball if he attains the necessary entrance test score. . . . Theresa Grentz, who coached the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team to a bronze medal in 1992, is leaving Rutgers after 20 years to take over as coach at Illinois. . . . All-state guard Shomario Richard of La Puente Nogales High signed a letter of intent with San Diego State.
