Portugal, Poland Among the Losers on a Day of Upsets

It might not be much consolation for the United States, but it wasn’t the only World Cup team to be beaten on Wednesday. On a day of upsets, nine other countries that will take part in the May 31-June 30 world championship also fell in warmup games.

The only good news for the Americans--who lost to Germany 4-2--was that among the losers were Portugal and Poland, two of the U.S. teams’ first-round opponents in Korea/Japan ’02.

Portugal, playing at home in Oporto but without injured midfield standouts Luis Figo and Rui Costa, gave up three goals in the first half en route to a lopsided and embarrassing 4-1 loss to Finland.

It was the first home loss in 18 games for injury-plagued Portugal, which played the last 15 minutes with 10 men because it had no healthy substitutes left on the bench.

The U.S. opens World Cup play against Portugal in Suwon, South Korea, on June 5.

Poland, which will play the U.S. on June 14 in Daejeon, South Korea, in the final first-round game, also was beaten. The Poles had no answer for the inspired play of Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, who scored the first goal in a 2-0 victory in Lodz, Poland.

“The Japanese team was simply better than us,” said Poland Coach Jerzy Engel. “Our first-half performance was the worst by a Polish team in recent times.”

In all, 26 World Cup teams played Wednesday and the most convincing display was by world champion France, which routed Scotland, 5-0, at the Stade de France outside Paris to ruin the debut of Scotland’s German coach Berti Vogts.

Two first-half goals by David Trezeguet and one each by Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry were enough to put the outcome beyond doubt early on.

Senegal, which will open the World Cup against France in Seoul on May 31, gave 50,000 of its own fans something to cheer with a 2-1 victory over Bolivia in Dakar, Senegal.

For others, however, it was a bleak day:

* South Africa, which last month fired Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz and replaced him with Jomo Sono, was buried, 4-1, by Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, in a game in which two South African players were ejected.

“It was not too bad to give up four goals as we had to play almost 35 minutes with two men short,” Sono said without much conviction.

* Russia crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Estonia in Tallin, Estonia, where Andres Oper scored twice for the underdog winners.

“I don’t think that with this kind of game we could win a single match at the World Cup,” said Mikhail Gershkovich, Russia’s assistant coach.

“Apart for a couple of players, I cannot say anything good about the others.”

* Belgium built a 2-0 lead against Greece in Patras, Greece, only to yield three goals in the last 31 minutes, including two in the final 10 minutes, and lose, 3-2.

* Spain, one of the favorites to reach at least the quarterfinals this summer, was beaten, 1-0, by the Netherlands in Rotterdam, where veteran Frank de Boer headed in the only goal.

Meanwhile, in games pitting World Cup-bound teams against each other:

* Three-time world champion Italy came from behind to defeat England, 2-1, in Leeds, England, on Vincenzo Montella’s second goal of the game off a 90th-minute penalty kick following a foul by goalkeeper David James.

* Cameroon, which upset then-world champion Argentina in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, remained undefeated against the South Americans by twice coming from behind to earn a 2-2 tie in Geneva, Switzerland.

* Saudi Arabia scored three goals in 10 minutes in the first half and held on to defeat Uruguay, 3-2, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

* Croatia, which finished third at the France ’98 World Cup, was held to a scoreless tie by Slovenia in Zagreb, Croatia.

* Ireland coasted to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Denmark in Dublin, with Ian Harte, Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison scoring the goals.

In other games involving World Cup teams, Sweden managed a 1-1 tie against Switzerland in Malmo, Sweden, while Tunisia, whose French coach, Henri Michel, quit on Monday, played to a scoreless tie against Norway in Tunis.

In a later game Wednesday, Brazil defeated Yugoslavia, 1-0, in Fortaleza, Brazil, on a headed goal by Luizao in the 72nd minute, but it was the reappearance of striker Ronaldo on the national team after an injury-riddled 21/2 years that was the lone positive for an otherwise dull Brazilian team.

Also, Ecuador and Bulgaria tied, 0-0, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.