SOCCER : Milutinovic Returns Tonight With Mexico at Coliseum
Bora Milutinovic, late of the U.S. team, makes his second debut as Mexico’s national team coach tonight, bringing an experimental soccer team to the Coliseum for a game against Saudi Arabia at 8.
In Milutinovic’s first stint as Mexico’s coach, 1983-1986, his team compiled a 29-7-15 record in international competition and he led Mexico into the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup, which the Mexicans hosted.
This time, his task is twofold: In January, he must successfully defend the CONCACAF Gold Cup that his predecessor, Miguel Mejia Baron, recaptured from the United States in 1993. More important, he must qualify Mexico for the 1998 World Cup in France.
Toward that end, Milutinovic, fired last spring by the U.S. Soccer Federation after coaching the team to unprecedented heights, has dropped many of the veterans from the Mexican team that disappointed in World Cup ‘94, then failed miserably in the Copa America tournament in Uruguay last summer.
In their place, he has selected young players from the country’s leading clubs. The only players who will be readily recognizable tonight will be striker Luis Garcia of Club America, defender Claudio Suarez of UNAM and two Guadalajara stars, forward Daniel Guzman and midfielder Ramon Ramirez.
Otherwise, this is a new Mexico team, one untried in international competition. Notable among the missing veterans are goalkeeper Jorge Campos and striker Hugo Sanchez, both signed earlier this year by Major League Soccer. The flamboyant Campos will play with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The 17-man Mexico roster includes four players from defending national champion Necaxa--goalkeeper Nicolas Navarro, defender Jose Maria Higareda, midfielder Victor Ruiz and forward Luis Hernandez.
But Milutinovic has resisted the temptation to build the team around a single club, choosing players from Atlante, Cruz Azul, UAG, Atlas, Monterrey and Tigres, besides those from Necaxa, Guadalajara and UNAM.
The team arrived in Los Angeles on Monday and practiced at the Coliseum Tuesday morning, where it was joined by Milutinovic, who had been in Washington scouting the Saudis’ game against the United States on Sunday at RFK Stadium.
The Americans’ 4-3 victory in that game must have encouraged Milutinovic.
Saudi Arabia, also has a new coach, Jose Mario De Almeida Barros of Portugal, who was making his debut Sunday. Saudi Arabia will play two games in Japan and one in South Korea after tonight’s match at the Coliseum.
