FC Porto, Celtic in Cup Final
Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored the only goal of the night, but it was a huge one, giving Celtic of Scotland a 1-0 victory over Boavista of Portugal Thursday and a place in the UEFA Cup final, the defending Scottish champions’ first European final since 1970.
Celtic’s opponent in the title game May 21 in Seville, Spain, will be Portuguese league leader FC Porto, which was content to tie Lazio, 0-0, in Thursday night’s other semifinal in Rome after winning the first leg of the series, 4-1, in Porto.
Boavista, hoping that its 1-1 first-leg tie in Glasgow would be enough to see it through on away goals if it could keep Celtic scoreless, played a defensive match, a tactic that was blasted afterward by Martin O’Neill, Celtic’s Irish coach.
“Over the two games, we deserve it,” he told BBC2. “They [Boavista’s players] were so negative with their diving and time wasting, and it came back to haunt them eventually.”
Celtic was not in inspired form either, but Larsson, who earlier missed a gilt-edged chance, pounced in the 79th minute when a pass by teammate Chris Sutton bounced off a Boavista defender and Larsson was on hand to fire the ball past goalkeeper Ricardo.
Mexico’s Team
Coach Ricardo Lavolpe named his roster for Mexico’s game against world champion Brazil in Guadalajara on Wednesday, including only two European-based players and once again omitting forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Lavolpe said he wanted to use the friendly “to see the level of our players against an opponent like Brazil,” and especially to evaluate his defense.
“Against Brazil, we cannot give their players a chance to attack because they have a strong offensive front line of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho,” he told reporters in Mexico City.
With that in mind, Lavolpe added AS Monaco defender Rafael Marquez and Sevilla defensive midfielder Gerardo Torrado to his squad of Mexico-based players.
After playing Brazil, Mexico’s next game is on May 8 against the United States in Houston.
U.S. Countdown
The defending world champion U.S. women’s national team has only four games left before Coach April Heinrichs selects her 20-player roster for the fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup in September.
Heinrichs said she would name her World Cup team after a game against Brazil in New Orleans on July 13. Before that, the U.S. will play Canada on Saturday in Washington, D.C.; England on May 17 in Birmingham, Ala., and South Korea on June 14 in Salt Lake City.
Saturday’s game at RFK Stadium was supposed to have been against Nigeria, but the African champion failed to obtain travel visas in time to make the trip.
The World Cup is scheduled Sept. 23-Oct. 11 in China, but the SARS outbreak has put the dates and location of the tournament in doubt. China postponed the start of its league season Thursday, amid growing concerns about severe acute respiratory syndrome.
FIFA Rankings
Costa Rica, coached by former U.S. World Cup coach Steve Sampson, broke into the top 20 of FIFA’s world rankings for the first time, appearing at No. 18 when the monthly rankings were released this week.
Cuba made the biggest gain, climbing 18 places to No. 55 on the strength of qualifying for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Argentina dropped two places and England climbed two places in the top 10, which featured, in order, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina, England, Turkey, Mexico and the U.S.
