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Soccer

GROUP H: Argentina vs. Japan

By HELENE ELLIOTT
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SITE: Toulouse

TIME: 5:30 a.m. TV: ESPN, Ch. 34. RADIO: KWKW (1330 Spanish).

* ABOUT ARGENTINA: A rib injury will make second-string goalkeeper German Burgos unavailable, and a pulled calf muscle will idle forward Hernan Crespo. However, explosive striker Gabriel Batistuta, who sat out several days of training because of various nagging injuries, is expected to start. Defender Jose Chamot is also questionable.

* ABOUT JAPAN: The team is eager to make a good impression in its World Cup debut, especially since it will share host duties with South Korea in 2002. Its players are very sound technically, but as a team they haven’t reached a high level of offensive creativity.

* OUTLOOK: Japan’s only chance is to play as cautiously as possible and make no mistakes defensively. Even then, its hopes are slim. Argentina has too much scoring depth and talent and will press continuously under the guidance of midfield general Ariel Ortega.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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