Mexico Kicked Into Dreamland

Should the United States and Brazil meet in the quarterfinals or semifinals of World Cup ‘99, the Americans might want to keep tabs on Sissi’s dreams.

The Brazilian, who, like her teammates, goes by one name, said she had foreknowledge of how she would play Saturday.

“I had a dream last night that I was going to score two goals,” Sissi said after she had netted three in a 7-1 demolition of Mexico in the nightcap of a Giants Stadium doubleheader that also featured the United States and Denmark.

“So I guess the third one meant the most since it outreached my dream.”

Dreams for some, of course, are nightmares for others, and the Mexican team, making its world championship debut, must have thought it was caught in the worst kind of twilight zone.

Mexico was down, 1-0, after three minutes, thanks to Pretinha’s goal off a Sissi assist.

Hope flickered briefly for Coach Leonardo Cuellar’s side when forward Maribel Dominguez tied the score in the 10th minute, but after that the roof caved in.

Pretinha scored her second in the 12th minute off an Elane assist. Sissi started on her hat trick by making it 3-1 in the 29th. Katia scored on a penalty kick six minutes later and Sissi tallied again in the 42nd to give Brazil a 5-1 advantage by the half.

“In a lot of ways, it was samba [soccer],” Brazil Coach Wilson de Oliveira Rica said. “We will try to change things and make our game a more technical style of soccer.”

What on earth for?

With the Brazilians dancing through the Mexican defense almost at will, Sissi scored her third goal in the 50th minute and Pretinha completed the rout and her hat trick in the 90th.

“Once Sissi got three goals, I got jealous and had to match her,” she joked.

Mexico was not prepared for such an onslaught, and Cuellar, the men’s and women’s coach at Cal State Los Angeles and a World Cup player himself in 1978, empathized with his players.

“I hope they don’t get too disenchanted,” he said. “We were baptized today by one of the most powerful countries in soccer. I see a bright future for Mexico, taking into consideration that the team is young.”

It won’t get bright any time soon. Mexico’s next opponent is Germany, in Portland, Ore., on Thursday.

“We don’t expect the level of competition to drop,” Cuellar said. “We know that Germany was a contender at the last World Cup [it finished second to Norway]. We definitely need to play better to be in the game.”

The games Brazil is hoping to be in take place next year in Sydney.

“Our main objective is to qualify for the Olympics,” Rica said. “I also want to get out of the ninth place we have had in the past two World Cups. That is our goal for the tournament.”

So far, the start has been more than promising, and the U.S. will have to take note.