Three More Qualify for Gold Cup
Former United States World Cup coach Steve Sampson earned his first title as coach of Costa Rica on Sunday when the Ticos defeated El Salvador, 1-0, to win the UNCAF Copa de Naciones in Panama City, Panama.
Meanwhile, Guatemala edged Honduras, 2-1, to clinch second place in the six-nation Central American championship and qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the U.S. in July, along with Costa Rica and El Salvador, which finished third.
Honduras still has a chance to reach the Gold Cup. Its fourth-place finish -- achieved only because of host Panama’s surprise 1-0 loss to Nicaragua on Saturday -- will put it in a three-way playoff with two still-to-be-determined Caribbean teams.
A goal off a free kick by Alonso Solis in the 75th minute was all Costa Rica needed to gain its fourth UNCAF title.
Guatemala’s Guillermo Ramirez gave his team the lead against Honduras with an early goal, and Carlos Figueroa made it 2-0 in the 56th minute. Honduras stormed back, with Amado Guevara scoring in the 75th and then banging a shot off the crossbar, but Guatemala held on to win.
USA-Japan Back On
Japan, which nine days ago pulled out of a two-game tour of the United States, citing what it claimed was the risk involved in traveling at a time when the U.S. might be engaged in a war with Iraq, has agreed to make the trip after all.
Unless the situation changes again, Japan will play Uruguay in San Jose on March 26 and the U.S. in Seattle on March 29.
The change of heart came after Bob Contiguglia, the president of U.S. Soccer, met with Takeo Hirata, general secretary of the Japanese Football Assn., in Los Angeles Friday, and was able to satisfy him regarding security arrangements for the tour.
“We took the [initial] decision for the security of the players, but we might have done so too hastily,” Saburo Kawabuchi, the JFA chairman, told Reuters in Tokyo. “We canceled the tour perhaps without consulting U.S. officials sufficiently.
“But if there is a risk of war or a terrorist attack, we will think about it again.”
Referees on Strike
The start of Ecuador’s 2003 league season had to be postponed over the weekend because the country’s referees went on strike demanding a 40% raise in the $200 a game they are paid as well as full payment of salaries and bonuses still owed from last season.
“We’ve been very clear about our position and we are standing firm,” Mauricio Reinoso, president of the Ecuador Referees Assn., told Reuters.
Ecuador’s soccer federation has threatened officials with a five-match suspension and Patricio Viteri, a member of the federation’s refereeing commission, said the federation “doesn’t have the resources” to meet the referees’ demands.
Romario to Qatar?
Romario, whose goals propelled Brazil to its 1994 World Cup victory in the U.S., scored three more on Sunday for what might soon be his former Brazilian team, Fluminense.
According to wire service reports out of Brazil and the Middle East, the 37-year-old striker has been offered $1.5 million to play for the Qatar club, Al Saad, for three months and bolster its challenge for the Asian Club Championship, now in the quarterfinal stage.
Red Card Record
Borussia Dortmund’s Jens Lehmann, backup to Oliver Kahn on the Germany national team, set a record over the weekend by becoming the first Bundesliga goalkeeper to be ejected four times in his career.
Even more strange, Lehmann’s latest red card came because of an argument and shoving match not with an opponent but with one of his own teammates, Brazilian defender Marcio Amoroso.
“It doesn’t matter if its a rival player or a teammate,” referee Herbert Fandel said.
