Sampson Will Coach Costa Rica
Steve Sampson, who coached the United States to the 1998 World Cup in France, made soccer history Wednesday by becoming the first American to take charge of a foreign national team when he was named Costa Rica’s coach.
Sampson, 45, from Agoura Hills, agreed to a $1.4-million contract that will run through the end of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Costa Rica’s soccer federation got in touch with Sampson last month after it failed to reach agreement with Alexandre Guimaraes, who had coached the team to the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, where it defeated China, tied Turkey and lost to eventual champion Brazil.
“They contacted me about three weeks ago and I immediately told them yes,” Sampson told the Associated Press. He said he would move to San Jose, Costa Rica, next month, with his family following the end of the school year.
Sampson, who coached Santa Clara to the NCAA co-championship in 1989, was an assistant under Bora Milutinovic on the 1994 U.S. World Cup team before becoming national coach in 1995. He had a 26-22-14 record as U.S. coach, leaving after the U.S. team lost all three games at the France ’98 World Cup.
“I’m enthusiastic about the opportunity,” he said, “because Costa Rica has enough talent to qualify for the World Cup in Germany.”
Inter Milan Falls
Arsenal and Valencia maintained their perfect records in Champions League play Wednesday, but Ronaldo’s former and current teams, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, both suffered setbacks.
Inter Milan was shocked, 2-1, at home by Olympique Lyon, which got goals from Sidney Govou and Sonny Anderson before Fabio Cannavaro scored for Inter. It was the Italian team’s first loss at home in European competition in 39 years, ending a 33-game unbeaten streak.
“No, it is not one step back, it is more two or three steps back,” said Argentine Coach Hector Cuper.
Defending champion Real Madrid, meanwhile, had to battle back to tie AEK Athens, 3-3, in Greece, relying on two first-half goals from Zinedine Zidane to keep pace with AEK, which scored three times in an adventurous first 45 minutes through Vassilis Tsartas, Christos Maladenis and Demis Nikolaidis.
The only goal of the second half came from Guti, who scored on the hour off a pass from Roberto Carlos, whose fellow Brazilian, Ronaldo, has yet to make his Real Madrid debut after his $46.3-million transfer from Inter Milan.
English champion Arsenal improved to 3-0 in the Champions League with a 1-0 victory in France over Auxerre. Brazil’s Gilberto Silva scored the only goal in the 48th minute to virtually assure Arsenal a place in the second round.
Valencia also stayed perfect, routing Basel, 6-2, in Switzerland, with four of the Spanish champion’s goals coming in the first half-hour. Elsewhere, PSV Eindhoven was upset, 3-1, in the Netherlands by German champion Borussia Dortmund; Liverpool hammered Spartak Moscow, 5-0, in England; AS Roma beat Genk, 1-0, in Belgium, and Rosenberg Trondheim held Ajax Amsterdam to a scoreless tie in Norway.
