United States Gets Eyeful of Nigeria With Milutinovic
The past two weeks have seen 11 of the 32 World Cup teams play their first preparatory matches of the year for France ’98. Of most interest to U.S. fans--other than their own team’s 1-0 victory over Sweden--was Nigeria’s 1-0 win over Iran in the Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong.
Nigeria is coached by former U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic, whose first match in charge of the African team produced a victory over the team the U.S. will play June 21 in Lyon.
“This was a great victory for a young team and an emotional one for me,” Milutinovic said.
Iran was missing its three German-based players, but newly appointed Coach Tomislav Ivic said he has the basis of his World Cup team in place.
“Seven or eight of these players will play in the World Cup,” Ivic said. “I will be spending the next month and a half looking at players. At the moment, the biggest problem is to find a stopper.”
In Tunis, another U.S. World Cup opponent, Yugoslavia, did not even play three of its standout players--Dejan Savicevic, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Predrag Mijatovic--but still easily defeated World Cup-bound Tunisia, 3-1, on an early goal by Branko Brnovic and two more by Slavisa Jokanovic.
In Saint-Denis, France defeated Spain, 1-0, on a goal by Zinedine Zidane in a game to inaugurate the Stade de France, the $420-million stadium built for the World Cup. Among the sellout crowd of 80,000 were French President Jacques Chirac and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The loss was Spain’s first since the 1994 World Cup quarterfinals.
In Catania, Sicily, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Alessandro Del Piero and Roberto Di Matteo scored second-half goals as Italy shut out Slovakia, 3-0.
In other games involving France ’98 teams, World Cup-bound Cameroon beat Angola, 1-0, in Garoua, Cameroon, on a goal by Rigobert Song, and a Hong Kong all-star team upset World Cup-bound Chile, 3-1, in Hong Kong. The South Americans were without their twin strike force of Ivan “Bam Bam” Zamorano and Marcelo Salas, however.
In Windhoek, Namibia, World Cup-bound South Africa was upset, 3-2, by Namibia in sudden-death overtime. It was South Africa’s first game under interim Coach Jomo Sono, who used to play for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League.
ON A ROLL
The United States women’s national team started out on the long road to the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Championship in the U.S. by winning the Guangzhou International tournament in Guangzhou, China, in emphatic fashion last week.
A 3-0 victory over Sweden on goals by Tisha Venturini, Tiffeny Milbrett and Debbie Keller was followed by a scoreless tie against China and a 3-0 shutout of Norway, with Venturini, Mia Hamm and Cindy Parlow providing the goals and goalkeeper Briana Scurry blanking the Norwegians.
“It’s always satisfying to beat the reigning world champions,” U.S. Coach Tony DiCicco said. “Norway is an outstanding team with a great tradition, and they are very well coached. It is something we can build on looking toward 1999.”
Hamm, the tournament MVP, improved her goal tally to 82 in 139 international games.
NAMES AND NUMBERS
Brazil’s Sports Minister, Pele, will resign from his government position in May to serve as a World Cup ’98 commentator for Rede Globo, Brazil’s largest television network. “I don’t think there is anything strange about a [cabinet] minister being a football commentator, but politically speaking it’s not good,” Pele told Veja, a Brazilian magazine. Pele is making the move for financial reasons. “I lose one million dollars a year working for the government,” he told Veja.
Bryan Robson, whose goal for England against France after only 27 seconds in the Spain ’82 tournament is the second fastest in World Cup history, officially announced his retirement as a player at age 41. Robson had been player-manager for Middlesbrough but now will serve only as coach.
U.S. midfielder John Harkes has been approached by England’s Sheffield Wednesday, which wants him to rejoin the Premier League team until the end of the English season in May. “I would love to go back to England and play with the best players in the world,” Harkes said. “I wish it had happened during the [MLS] off-season.” Harkes, the captain of MLS champion Washington D.C. United, played for Sheffield Wednesday from 1990-93.
European champion Borussia Dortmund has sent Portuguese international midfielder Paulo Sousa to Inter Milan for $8.5 million. . . . England and Manchester United midfielder David Beckham is engaged to be married to Victoria Adams, better known as Posh Spice of the Spice Girls pop group. . . . Nodar Akhalkatsi, president of Georgia’s soccer federation and the coach under whom Dynamo Tbilisi won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981, the Soviet championship in 1978 and the Soviet Cup in 1976 and 1979, died at age 60 of an apparent heart attack. . . . Alan Ball, a World Cup winner with England in 1966, was named manager of Portsmouth of the English first division.
