Manchester United Plans a U.S. Tour
The long-range plan to raise soccer’s profile in the United States by bringing top-level foreign clubs to play here moved closer to fruition Thursday with the announcement that Manchester United of the English Premier League will play three games in the U.S. in 2003.
The games are tentatively scheduled for Los Angeles on July 12, Boston on July 16 and the New York area on July 19.
Manchester United is supposed to bring its first team, but no decision has been made on opponents.
The trip is being put together by ChampionsWorld, a New Jersey marketing company, and Soccer United Marketing (SUM), which counts the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the Hunt Sports Group and Dentsu Inc. among its investors.
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One unexpected no-show at the U.S. World Cup team’s 10-day training camp that opened in Cary, N.C., on Wednesday was winger Eddie Lewis, who, for reasons not clear to Coach Bruce Arena, was not released by his English club, Fulham.
Fulham Coach Jean Tigana, a standout midfielder on France’s 1986 World Cup team, said he wanted to keep the former UCLA player at Fulham until after the club’s final game May 11.
The decision means Lewis will miss the U.S. team’s warmup game against Uruguay on May 12 at RFK Stadium in Washington.
Europe
Germany will be without Jens Nowotny for the World Cup after doctors confirmed that the 28-year-old defender had suffered a torn ligament in his right knee Tuesday while playing for Bayer Leverkusen in its Champions League semifinal against Manchester United.
Nowotny, being counted on by Coach Rudi Voeller to organize Germany’s back line, will undergo surgery in Vail, Colo., and will be sidelined for six months.
“It’s not only a bitter setback for Jens and all of us, it’s a big loss for the national team,” Voeller said. “Jens ... was going to take charge of defense and relay my instructions from the bench. It will be difficult to replace him.”
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England’s midfielder David Beckham, who broke a bone in his foot last month, should be fit for the World Cup, Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said Thursday.
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, FIFA’s president, faces a potential vote of no confidence today when the FIFA executive committee meets in Zurich, Switzerland, to determine whether to override Blatter’s decision to suspend an internal audit of FIFA’s finances.
At the meeting, Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA’s general secretary, is expected to offer evidence of the financial mismanagement that he claims is rife within soccer’s international governing body.
Blatter has denied those claims. Unless Zen-Ruffinen can offer compelling proof in the closed-door session, Blatter is likely to win reelection May 29 in his race against Issa Hayatou of Cameroon for the top job in soccer.
Russia’s former captain, Igor Shalimov, lashed out at Coach Oleg Romantsev, accusing him of keeping CSKA Moscow winger Rolan Gusev and Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov off the national team.
“If you are the national team coach, a professional, you have to put the team interests above anything else,” Shalimov told Russian television. “It’s nonsense when you have two of Russia’s best players omitted from the national team for whatever reason.”
Asia
Japan made up deficits three times before eventually settling for a 3-3 tie with Honduras in a warmup game played in front of 38,130 at Kobe, Japan.
Shunsuke Nakamura scored twice for Japan in a five-goal first half, partially offsetting a pair of goals by Honduras’ Carlos Pavon and one by Jose Luis Pineda.
Japan earned the tie and extended its unbeaten streak to seven games when Brazilian-born Alessandro Santos scored on a penalty kick in the 76th minute.
Africa
Tunisia’s World Cup plans were dealt a blow when veteran goalkeeper and national team captain Chokri El Ouaer announced his retirement for undisclosed health reasons.
El Ouaer, 35, said he would explain later.
