China Opts to Go Dutch for Its National Coach
Taking a leaf out of South Korea’s book, China turned to a Dutch coach on Friday to lead its national team.
Arie Haan, a midfielder on the Netherlands’ teams that reached the World Cup final in 1974 and 1978, was named to replace Bora Milutinovic, who led China to the World Cup for the first time in 2002.
“The reason that Haan has been appointed is that his salary demands were moderate,” the Beijing Evening News reported.
Since retiring as a player, Haan, 54, has coached teams in the Netherlands, Greece, Austria, Germany and Saudi Arabia. He said the China opportunity was too tempting to pass up.
“I did not want to be telling myself in two or three years’ time, ‘You idiot, why didn’t you take up this offer,’ ” Haan told the German newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten.
South Korea reached the World Cup semifinals this year under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink.
Cruz Azul Qualifies
Uruguayan striker Sebastian Abreu headed in three goals in a 13-minute span to lead Cruz Azul to a 4-0 victory over Venezuela’s Nacional Tachira in Mexico City on Thursday night and secure the Mexican team a place in next year’s Copa Libertadores tournament in South America.
Another Mexican club, UNAM, can also qualify by defeating or tying Cruz Azul in its final qualifying game next week.
Wilmots to Retire
Marc Wilmots, the former captain of Belgium’s national team, announced that he will retire at the end of this season, ending an 18-year career that has seen him play in three World Cups and score 28 goals in 70 games for his country.
The 33-year-old forward, currently with Schalke 04 of the German Bundesliga, on Thursday became only the fourth soccer player to win Belgium’s top sporting honor, the Trophee du Merite Sportif.
Manchester United
Manchester United’s proposed tour of the United States next summer moved a step closer to realization when George Zoffinger, chief executive of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, told the Bergen County Record that the English Premier League team will probably play Juventus at Giants Stadium on July 30 or 31.
Matches also are being planned for Seattle, Los Angeles and Foxboro, Mass.
Big Numbers
Television coverage of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea reached 213 countries and totaled 41,100 hours of programming, according to the final report on TV viewing commissioned by FIFA’s television partner, KirchSport in Germany, and compiled by Sports Marketing Surveys, a British research agency.
The cumulative audience for the World Cup’s 64 games was 28.8 billion, making the tournament “the most extensively covered and viewed event in television history,” FIFA said on its Web site.
Celebrate or Sit
An unusual, not to say bizarre, squabble has arisen in Brazil between forward Claudio “Pitbull” Mejolaro and Ricardo Gomes, his coach at Juventude.
Juventude plays Gremio in the quarterfinals of the Brazilian championship on Sunday, and Mejolaro, who is playing at Juventude on loan from Gremio, is refusing to celebrate if he scores a goal.
“I’m not celebrating,” Mejolaro told Reuters. “I know the Gremio supporters like me, and this is my way of showing respect to them.”
Snapped Gomes: “If he doesn’t change his attitude, he won’t play.”
