‘Unknown’ Vasquez Stars at Galaxy Camp
Major League Soccer’s 10-day training camps at Del Mar and Boca Raton, Fla., ended over the weekend, with most coaches satisfied that they accomplished at least some of their goals prior to the league’s April 6 launch.
Rosters of the 10 MLS teams will be trimmed to 22 today, with the final cut to 18 scheduled for April 15.
For the Los Angeles Galaxy, the training camp provided a few surprises, most noticeably the play of forward Jose Vasquez.
Listed as one of the team’s “discovery players”--meaning that he was virtually an unknown--Vasquez appears to have played himself into the starting lineup.
The former Santa Ana High and Rancho Santiago College striker, who turned 27 last Wednesday, impressed coaches with his skills and work rate and could start the season teamed up front with Ecuador national team striker Eduardo “the Tank” Hurtado.
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The most quotable comment from the camps came from Renato Copabianco, assistant coach of Tampa Bay.
Describing Mutiny midfielder Carlos Valderrama, Copabianco said: “You could put Carlos in a dark room with six other players and he’s the type of player who would dribble through all of them without breaking a sweat.”
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Jorge Campos, who will not be reporting to the Galaxy until shortly before its April 13 opening game, faces an interesting choice a couple of months later.
On June 16, there’ll be a double-header at the Rose Bowl, with the United States playing Mexico in the opener, followed by a league game between the Galaxy and the Tampa Bay Mutiny.
So which game does Campos, Mexico’s goalkeeper, play in? And what about U.S. winger Cobi Jones, who also plays for the Galaxy?
And who makes those calls?
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The U.S. women’s national team, world champion in 1991 and a third-place finisher in 1995, makes a rare Southern California appearance on April 20 when it plays the Netherlands at Titan Stadium on the Cal State Fullerton campus.
The 7 p.m. game will be only the second meeting between the American and Dutch teams. The first, in Holland in 1991, resulted in a 4-3 U.S. victory.
Favored to win a medal at the Atlanta Games this summer, the United States beat World Championship runner-up Germany twice earlier this month--6-0 in Decatur, Ga., and, 2-0, in Davidson, N.C.
The results improved the team’s record this year under Coach Tony DiCicco to 9-1-1 and extended its unscored-upon streak to 412 minutes.
Mia Hamm, the team’s most potent offensive weapon, injured her right knee in a collision with German goalkeeper Katja Kraus in the game at Davidson and had to be carried off.
Although the injury was first believed to be more serious, DiCicco said last week that Hamm had strained, not torn, the ligament in her knee.
“We’re pleased [that it’s not as severe as first thought] and hope there will be no other problems,” he said, adding that Hamm should be able to play against the Dutch.
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The Coliseum is likely to attract another huge crowd Wednesday night when two of Mexico’s most popular teams, Club America of Mexico City and the Chivas of Guadalajara, meet at 8 p.m.
The game’s promoters are expecting attendance to be between 30,000 and 50,000.
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MLS gained two more major sponsors when Fujifilm, a World Cup sponsor, and Honda became the league’s 15th and 16th commercial affiliates.
But it is another sponsor, Kellogg, that is likely to catch the eye quicker once the company launches its newly designed cereal boxes featuring, word has it, none other than Galaxy goalkeeper Campos.
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Japan, a bronze medalist in 1968, and South Korea on Sunday qualified for the Atlanta Games.
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Diego Maradona, reunited with his former World Cup coach, Carlos Bilardo, at Boca Juniors in Argentina, has reached a unique agreement with Bilardo.
The coach allows him to train only when and if he feels like it.
Last week, Maradona didn’t feel like it, claiming it was too hot.
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World Cup ’94 introduced, among other things, the use of motorized carts to remove injured players from the field. Since then, their use has spread, but it has not been without incident.
Last week, Ataulfo Valencia, a defender with Espoli of Ecuador, was thrown out of his club’s Copa Libertadores game against Barcelona for slugging the driver of one such cart.
It seems Valencia was hit by the cart when it was driven onto the field to retrieve an injured player.
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An as-yet-unidentified bettor in the less-than-upscale Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas won a record $11.5 million this month by correctly forecasting the results of all 15 Spanish League matches.
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World Cup ’98 officially got under way this month when Dominica and Antigua played to a 3-3 tie before 5,000 at the Windsor Park cricket ground in Roseau, Dominica, on March 10.
The first goal in the first of what will be 639 qualifying games played worldwide between now and November, 1997, was scored by Dominica’s Antony Dominic, earning him instant, albeit brief, fame.
A total of 168 countries are vying to be among the 30 that in 1998 will join host France and defending champion Brazil in the June 10-July 12 World Cup.
Soccer Notes
Julie Foudy of Mission Viejo and Carla Overbeck of Pasadena, co-captains of the U.S. women’s national team, were among athletes being honored by President Clinton at a White House reception last Wednesday for their participation in a national anti-smoking campaign. . . . USSF President Alan Rothenberg, MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander and goalkeeper Jorge Campos will be the guests of honor at an April 9 Galaxy kickoff luncheon. The noon event at the Sheraton Grande Hotel in Los Angeles is open to the public at $60 per person and is jointly sponsored by the Los Angeles Sports Council and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. . . . Galaxy General Manager Danny Villanueva Jr. said the team has reached agreement with radio station KTNQ, which will have exclusive Spanish-language rights to broadcast all Galaxy games, home and away. Rolando “El Veloz” Gonzales and Hipolito Gamboa will be the play-by-play announcers.
