Milutinovic Fired as Mexico’s Coach
Bora Milutinovic was fired as coach of the Mexican national soccer team Tuesday, less than a month after the team clinched a World Cup berth.
Milutinovic is the only man to have coached three countries in the World Cup. He coached Mexico to the quarterfinals in 1986, Costa Rica to the second round in 1990, then led the United States to the second round in 1994.
The eight-member national council of Mexico’s soccer federation said its decision was unanimous. Mexico was first in regional qualifying for next year’s World Cup with a 4-0-6 record but disappointed its fans by finishing with ties against the United States, Canada and Costa Rica.
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Jamaica, which 10 days ago qualified for its first World Cup finals, will replace Canada in February’s Gold Cup tournament to be played in Los Angeles, Miami and Oakland. Canada withdrew after finishing last in the final qualifying round for the World Cup.
Motor Racing
Billy Boat and Ron Shuman will have strong incentives when they line up for the 57th Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix at the Ventura Raceway on Thursday night.
Boat will be seeking his third consecutive victory in the Thanksgiving night midget car classic, and Shuman, who has won a record eight of the races, will be trying to go out a winner. He has announced his retirement from full-time racing after this season.
The Turkey Night race has never been run at Ventura and Thursday’s two-part, 100-lap race will be the first since the 1950s over a quarter-mile dirt track.
Qualifying and a TQ midget race are scheduled this evening. Thursday’s program includes more qualifying, two last-chance races, another TQ race and the feature. Racing starts at 7 each night.
CART will shortly announce a sponsorship deal with Federal Express. The 1998 series will be called the FedEx Championship Series for the PPG Cup. The three-year deal, reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was confirmed by BBDO, the delivery service’s ad agency in New York.
NASCAR president Bill France Jr., recovering from a heart attack he suffered last weekend in Suzuka, Japan, was transferred to a Tokyo hospital in preparation for his trip home to Daytona Beach, Fla. He was reported in good condition.
Tennis
Swedish doubles player Nicklas Kulti is struggling with a chronic back injury and is doubtful for the Davis Cup final against the United States this weekend at Goteborg, Sweden.
Baseball
Outfielder Eric Davis of the Baltimore Orioles, who battled colon cancer but returned to bat .304 in 158 at-bats last season, was named the 1997 recipient of the Tony Conigliaro Award. The award is named for the former Boston and Angel player who died in 1990 after an eight-year struggle to overcome a heart attack that left him severely handicapped.
The Cleveland Indians claimed former Dodger infielder Chad Fonville on waivers from the Chicago White Sox. . . . The San Diego Padres signed free-agent catcher Greg Myers to a two-year contract. . . . Infielder Bill Spiers re-signed with the Houston Astros, agreeing to a $2.9-million, two-year contract. . . . The Yankees signed infielder Dale Sveum to a $1.6-million, two-year contract. . . . Mark Connor was named pitching coach by the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks. . . . The Texas Rangers extended the contracts of Manager Johnny Oates and General Manager Doug Melvin by one year through the 1999 season.
Olympics
Duncan Kennedy, three-time U.S. Olympic luge team member, is suffering from bleeding in his brain stem, doctors said, and may not be able to compete in the Winter Olympics in February. Kennedy left the team’s training camp in Nagano, Japan, earlier this month and will be kept out of training indefinitely.
Jurisprudence
Running back Bam Morris of the Baltimore Ravens pleaded not guilty in Rockwall, Texas, to charges that he violated his 1996 probation on a marijuana conviction. Rockwall County District Attorney Ray Sumrow said Morris assaulted a woman in Maryland, drank alcohol and failed to report to his probation officer seven times from July 1996 to August 1997.
The Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Wash., has agreed to pay $500,000 to former Seattle Seahawk Mike Frier to settle his lawsuit charging it with liability in a 1994 traffic accident that paralyzed him from the waist down. Frier, riding in a car driven by teammate Lamar Smith, broke his neck when the car hit a median strip.
Bernd Pansold and Dieter Binus, former East German sports doctors, have been charged in Berlin with physically harming female swimmers by giving them banned substances. They are being held responsible for giving hormones to 19 female swimmers from Dynamo Berlin between 1975 and 1989.
