Japan Gets Lesson on First-Class Trip

By GRAHAME L. JONES

March 25, 2001 12 AM PT

Philippe Troussier has no illusions about Japan’s relative standing in the soccer world.

But in order to get the Japanese national team ready for next year’s World Cup, which Japan will co-host with South Korea, the French-born coach has laid out a daunting series of games against top-flight European teams.

Included on Japan’s schedule for 2001 are France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Yugoslavia.

“We will probably lose,” Troussier said, “but it’s the only way to improve. We must master the little ‘tricks’ of football and we can learn them only in Europe.”

The first lesson was a brutal one and it arrived Saturday, courtesy of reigning world and European champion France.

In an exhibition match between two of the only three teams that so far are guaranteed a place in World Cup 2002, the French strolled to a stylish 5-0 victory over the Asian champions at the Stade de France outside Paris--scene of France’s 1998 World Cup final victory over Brazil.

Two goals from David Trezeguet and one each from Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord did the damage.

“‘Obviously there is a huge gap between our two countries,” Troussier said. “We lack the physical strength, we lack the inspiration and basically we lack the soccer culture.”

EUROPEAN AWAKENING

While the France-Japan match was merely an interesting exhibition, a large slate of more meaningful games were played Saturday as World Cup qualifying kicked into a higher gear.

Only eight months remain for the World Cup field of 32 to be decided, and 197 nations are vying to be among the 29 countries joining France, Japan and South Korea.

Twenty-two qualifying games were played in Europe on Saturday, with another full slate of games set for Wednesday, and the traditional powers all prevailed, some more easily than others.

The Netherlands got two goals from second-half substitute Pierre van Hooijdonk as it crushed Andorra, 5-0, in Barcelona, Spain.

Down the coast in Valencia, Spain also scored a 5-0 victory, over Liechtenstein, in a game that saw defender Fernando Hierro score his 26th international goal, tying the all-time Spanish record held by Emilio Butragueno.

Two goals by Filippo Inzaghi earned Italy an impressive 2-0 road victory against Romania in Bucharest.

England and Germany, meanwhile, struggled to overcome Finland and Albania, respectively.

England fell behind, 1-0, before goals by Michael Owen and David Beckham secured a 2-1 victory in Liverpool.

In Leverkusen, Germany made heavy work of the visiting Albanians and appeared destined for a tie before an 88th-minute goal by Miroslav Klose gave it the 2-1 win.

“I am naturally not satisfied with the way we played,” Germany Coach Rudi Voeller said. “We played fearfully and did not take enough risks, especially in the first half.”

AFRICAN INTRIGUE

South Africa’s chances of qualifying for next year’s tournament were considerably enhanced when FIFA tossed group rival Guinea out of the qualifying competition after the country’s sports minister, Abdelkader Sangare, fired the executive committee of the Guinea soccer federation after a disappointing home tie against Malawi.

The action leaves first-place South Africa virtually certain to qualify from its group. Cameroon also is well placed to be one of Africa’s five representatives in 2002.

Not doing as well is Nigeria, whose Dutch coach, Jo Bonfrere, has said he will resign if the team loses its next game.

“There are no two ways about it, I’ll quit,” said Bonfrere, who coached Nigeria to the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. “Nigeria has no business in the World Cup if we cannot beat Sierra Leone.”

TICKETLESS IN SEOUL

South Korean World Cup organizers put 230,000 tickets on domestic sale, ranging in price from $47 to $389, and were deluged by more than 1 million applications. A random draw will determine the fortunate 230,000 recipients and a second sale will take place in September.

In Japan, organizers said they had received 1,741,000 applications so far and expected more than 5 million requests for the 630,000 tickets they have available.

In all, the World Cup has 3.18 million tickets, with about half that number designated for sale outside the host countries.

The tournament finals begin in Seoul on May 31, 2002, when France plays an opponent to be determined at the 2002 World Cup Draw in Pusan, South Korea, on Dec. 1.

The FIFA Confederations Cup in May will give Japan and South Korea the opportunity to do a trial run for the World Cup. Taking part in the eight-nation tournament will be the co-hosts, as well as Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, France and Mexico.

SOUTH AMERICAN MOVES

Brazil Coach Emerson Leao, disappointed by a narrow 2-1 victory over the United States at the Rose Bowl and a come-from-behind 3-3 tie against Mexico at Mexico City, dropped defenders Roberto Carlos and Cafu from the team that will play a World Cup qualifier against Ecuador in Quito on Wednesday.

Colombia recalled temperamental striker Faustino Asprilla to the national team one year after Asprilla had said he never wanted to play for his country again. Colombia, which is sixth in the 10-team qualifying group, is at home against Bolivia on Tuesday.

Argentina leads the standings, followed by Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador. Only the top four are guaranteed a place in Japan/South Korea.

WORLD CUP 2006

Former German striker Juergen Klinsmann, winner of the World Cup in 1990 and the European championship in 1996, has made his home in the Los Angeles area for the last year or two but still gets back to Germany quite often.

He was there, in Frankfurt, 10 days ago when Franz Beckenbauer officially opened the offices of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup.

Beckenbauer noted that FIFA has decided to rotate the World Cup between continents starting in 2010.

“It is so important that we got the World Cup” he said. “It was our last chance. Because of rotation, if we had not had it this time, we would have had to wait for 50 years. This is a present.”

WORLD CUP 2010

FIFA might have agreed on rotation in principal, but, contrary to widely circulated reports, it has not yet agreed that Africa will be the first continent in the rotation.

Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA’s general secretary, said rotation has “a lot of potential problems” that have yet to be worked out.

“We have to be sure there’ll be a real choice,” he said. “Some confederations have more members capable of hosting the World Cup than others, and we have to be sure the pool of potential bidders is as wide as possible.”

Meanwhile, former South African national team coach Clive Barker said South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria are capable of staging the World Cup.

“I think FIFA has looked at Africa and decided that they can take the risk in 2010 and then they won’t have to bring it back to the continent for another 20 years,” he said. “They’ll have breathing space.”

Complicating matters for FIFA is the fact that by 2010 it will have been 32 years since a South American country last staged soccer’s showcase event.

Which makes Brazil a good bet for 2014, the year the U.S. wanted the World Cup back.

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World Cup Qualifiers

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

* Andorra 0, Netherlands 5

* Armenia 2, Wales 2

* Azerbaijan 0, Moldova 0

* Bosnia 1, Austria 1

* Bulgaria 2, Iceland 1

* Croatia 4, Latvia 1

* Cyprus 0, Ireland 4