Wins Don’t Pay the Bills
Argentina’s worsening economic crisis has not affected the country’s status as the World Cup favorite but it has angered Coach Marcelo “El Loco” Bielsa and his staff, who have threatened to quit if they are not paid.
Argentina is unbeaten in its last 17 games under Bielsa and his chief assistant, Jose Peckerman, but the Argentine Football Assn. (AFA) is behind in payments to the coaches.
Bielsa has said he would resign after the World Cup if the situation is not addressed, but the cash-strapped AFA is struggling to meet its obligations, even though it will receive at least $1 million from FIFA simply for appearing in the first round of the World Cup.
“The AFA is not a money-making machine and owes money to Bielsa and the rest of the national team staff,” Julio Grondona, president of the AFA and a FIFA vice president, told Reuters on Tuesday.
“In a country like ours, those who have contracts in dollars have to sit down and evaluate the situation. We are paid in dollars by FIFA ... but all our other contracts are in pesos.”
Ecuador striker Agustin “El Tin” Delgado, who scored nine goals during qualifying play to steer his country to its first World Cup, is being allowed to return to Ecuador by his English team, Southampton, so that he can continue to recover at home from his latest knee operation.
Before joining Southampton, Delgado played for Necaxa in the Mexican league.
Mexico has announced two more warmup games before it travels to the World Cup. Coach Javier Aguirre’s team will play Colombia at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on May 12, then Bolivia at 3Com Park in San Francisco on May 16.
Europe
Second-half goals by France’s Zinedine Zidane and England’s Steve McManaman earned Real Madrid a 2-0 victory over Barcelona Tuesday in the first match of their two-game European Champions League semifinal series in front of 98,000 fans at Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona.
The second game will be played at Madrid on May 1, and Barcelona has to win by three goals to reach the May 15 final.
Manchester United of England plays Bayer Leverkusen of Germany in the first game of the other semifinal series today in Manchester, and United Coach Alex Ferguson said he is counting on his team remembering its 1999 European championship.
“I hope our experience helps us,” he said. “It’s a nervous occasion. A semifinal is a game that you don’t want. You wish you could go straight to the final.”
Germany will be without midfielder Mehmet Scholl at the World Cup. The 31-year-old Bayern Munich player told Coach Rudi Voeller he was withdrawing for health reasons.
“He explained his situation to me,” Voeller said. “I regret it but I have to accept it because the reasons for it are perfectly valid.”
European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, announced that it will abandon the “golden goal” rule, starting with next season’s major club competitions.
Instead of the sudden-death solution, UEFA will revert to two 15-minute overtime periods and then penalty kicks to settle games in which results are needed.
Roberto Baggio’s rapid return from knee ligament surgery--and the two goals he scored for Brescia in his comeback game Sunday--has Italy clamoring for his inclusion on Coach Giovanni Trapattoni’s World Cup squad.
The campaign to include the 35-year-old star of the 1994 World Cup extended to the weekly magazine Guerin Sportivo, whose latest issue featured a cover showing Baggio wearing the shirts of the 31 other World Cup nations.
England’s Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said that he would name his 23-man roster May 7, adding, “There will be many disappointed football players in this country.”
The Swedish coach has been spending his time lately dodging the tabloid press, which has linked him romantically with TV personality Ulrika Jonsson.
