Mexico Hears Catcalls Despite Beating Colombia
Mexico was less than impressive in its final World Cup warmup game at home Sunday and was whistled and booed by its fans in Azteca Stadium at Mexico City despite defeating Colombia, 2-1.
Jared Borgetti put the home team ahead in the 52nd minute, but Oscar Restrepo tied the score 13 minutes later. AS Monaco defender Rafael Marquez scored the game-winner in the 75th minute, but Coach Javier Aguirre was left bemoaning his team’s poor performance.
“We may have won, but I wish we had played better,” he said.
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Brazilian forward Ronaldo has made a pilgrimage--by helicopter, not on foot--from his home in Rio de Janeiro to the Sanctuary of Our Lady north of Sao Paulo to give thanks for his recovery from injury after 18 months on the sideline and his inclusion on Brazil’s World Cup roster.
Earlier, the Inter Milan striker and two-time FIFA world player of the year said he wants to make up for Brazil’s 3-0 loss to France in the 1998 World Cup final.
“I would like to knock out France,” he said. “The match in 1998 really stuck in my throat and a chance for revenge would be excellent.”
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American midfielder John O’Brien did not participate the U.S. team’s victory over Uruguay at Washington on Sunday because he was helping Ajax Amsterdam secure the double in the Netherlands by winning the Dutch Cup, 3-2, in overtime, over FC Utrecht.
Europe
What does Blackpool, England, have in common with Vienna, Austria? The number 103, for one thing. Last week, Blackpool, an English second-division team, announced it was re-laying its Bloomfield Road playing surface for the first time in 103 years. At Austria, Rapid Vienna announced that it was firing Lothar Matthaeus as coach after the 1990 World Cup winner and former New York/New Jersey MetroStar couldn’t keep the club from its worst league finish in 103 years.
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England midfielder David Beckham has signed a contract that will keep him at Manchester United until 2005 and, more to the point, will pay him more than $130,000 a week.
Asia
World Cup cohost Japan got a welcome boost when two of its players ended the European season on a winning note. Midfielder Shinji Ono, 22, was part of the Feyenoord team that beat German champion Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Cup final, and midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata helped Parma deny Serie A champion Juventus the double in Italy by winning the Italian Cup. In goal for Parma was Brazil’s 1994 World Cup hero, Claudio Taffarel, still going strong at age 36.
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South Korea’s dog meat restaurants have bowed to government pressure and abandoned plans to set up stalls outside World Cup stadiums where they planned to hand out free samples of their products.
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A second-half hat trick by striker Su Maozheng earned Bora Milutinovic’s China a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Thailand at Kumming, China, Saturday.
Africa
Ghana, which will play Slovenia’s World Cup team at Ljucljana, Slovenia, Friday, has banned the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by police providing security at its stadiums. Several police officers are standing trial in the wake of a riot last year at Accra Stadium that left 130 people dead.
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World Cup-bound South Africa, which defeated Madagascar, 1-0, at Durban on Sunday on a goal by midfielder Thabo Mngomeni, has withdrawn its candidacy to stage the African Nations Cup in 2006. The move is seen as a way of getting support from the other candidates--Algeria, Egypt, the Ivory Coast and Libya--for its effort to play host to the 2010 World Cup.
