Sissi Helps Brazil Apply Boot to Italy

She lurks. There’s no other word for it.

Behind the forward line, in front of the midfield, in that no woman’s land where defenders can’t really tell what she’s up to or what she has in mind.

And then, out of nowhere, she strikes. It might be a run past three players and into the penalty box before flicking the ball to an unmarked teammate. Or it might be that she unwinds her right leg and blasts the ball from long range. Her aim, after all, is deadly.

Either way, when Sissi is on the field, the result usually means goals and a Brazilian victory.

It was that way again Thursday afternoon at sold-out Soldier Field, where Sissi scored in each half as Brazil defeated Italy, 2-0, to clinch a place in the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup.

The eventual crowd reached 65,080, but fans were still streaming into the stadium when she netted her tournament-high fourth goal of the Cup in the third minute.

In the 63rd minute, she netted her fifth and celebrated by sprinting back to the Brazilian bench, slapping her right thigh and then holding her hand up, five fingers spread.

After scoring a hat trick in Brazil’s 7-1 stomping of Mexico, she is halfway toward matching the record of 10 goals in a world championship, set by the United States’ Michelle Akers in China in 1991.

Italy was no match for Brazil. It was slower, less technically skilled and far less imaginative. Dull, in fact.

It took Sissi less than three minutes to expose those weaknesses. Taking a pass from Katia, who partnered Pretinha in Brazil’s forward line, she fired a ball from the top of the penalty area that rocketed into the roof of the net before Italian goalkeeper Giorgia Brenzan could even react.

Italy had a chance to tie it in the 33rd minute when it was awarded a penalty kick after striker Patrizia Panico was tripped by Brazil’s captain, Elane.

But Antonella Carta hit her shot straight at goalkeeper Maravilha and Rita Guarino sent the rebound sailing over the bar with an errant header.

“Missing the penalty kick weighed heavily on us,” Brenzan said after the game.

Sissi wrapped up the victory in the 63rd minute, taking a pass from Nene--who had mesmerized the Italian defense with some fancy footwork--and side-footing the ball into the far corner of the net.

“I’m very happy that we have qualified for the Olympic Games,” the 32-year-old striker said.

“In Brazil, as in America, we have a saying that one gets better as one gets older.”

So far in World Cup ‘99, no one will argue with that.