Parreira Takes Another Turn as Brazil Coach
Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached Brazil to victory at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and spent the 1997 season as coach of Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey MetroStars, Wednesday was appointed Brazil’s national coach for the third time.
Parreira, 59, inherits the reigning world champion from former coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led the team to its fifth title at Korea/Japan ’02 before resigning and later becoming Portugal’s coach.
With a new crop of exceptionally talented and motivated players such as Santos teenagers Diego and Robinho and the Corinthians duo of Gil and Kleber, Parreira, who also coached Brazil in 1983 and 1984, will be expected to field a more exciting team than the one he built for USA ‘94, Romario’s and Bebeto’s flair in that tournament notwithstanding.
“The period between 1991 and 1994 was very out of the ordinary,” Parreira told Reuters. “Brazil had not won a World Cup for more than 20 years and the pressure was unbearable for everyone. It was 24 hours-a-day suffering.
“But the situation now is different. Brazil has been to the last three World Cup finals and won two of them. No other team has done anything close to that. Today, the pressure is still there, and it always will be, but the environment is different, it’s much lighter.”
McBride Arrives
United States national team striker Brian McBride arrived in Liverpool, England, to begin a three-month loan spell with Everton, currently fifth in the English Premier League.
The Columbus Crew forward probably won’t be an immediate starter because there are four forwards ahead of him, including teenager Wayne Rooney, who is being billed as England’s next Michael Owen.
“I hope that, first of all, I bring some depth,” McBride said. “They’ve had some injuries, and that’s probably why I was brought in. As a player, I’m more of a striker who can hold the ball and bring the guys into play. Hopefully, I can get in the box a bit and help the team out.”
Coach David Moyes pointed to McBride’s World Cup goals in 1998 and 2002 as an indication of his ability.
“He will certainly bring us plenty of honesty, which is what you get with the American boys,” Moyes said. “I think everybody will have seen what he has done at the World Cup, and he’ll give us a target up front.”
Voeller’s Escape
Rudi Voeller, who coached Germany to second place at the 2002 World Cup, escaped injury when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle on an ice-covered highway near Nuremberg, Germany, and slammed into the back of a truck.
“It was the worst accident I have ever had,” Voeller said of Tuesday’s mishap. “It was icy and I didn’t pay attention for a split second.”
Voeller and his two children were going to a skiing holiday in Austria. All escaped injury.
Korea’s Lee Signs
South Korean midfielder Lee Young-Pyo, 25, has agreed to leave his K-League team, the Anyang Cheetahs, and join PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands on what a Cheetah spokesman said was “a 3 1/2-year contract worth $500,000 a year.”
Lee will be reunited with Dutch Coach Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea to fourth place at the World Cup, and with Korean teammate Park Ji-Sung, 21, who last month joined PSV from the Kyoto Purple Sanga of Japan’s J-League on a similar contract.
Quick Passes
Mike Jeffries signed a two-year contract to remain as coach of the Dallas Burn. The former Chicago Fire assistant compiled a 22-20-12 regular-season record in his first two years in Dallas and the Burn qualified for the MLS playoffs both times.... Schalke 04 midfielder Andreas Moeller, who played 85 games for Germany and helped it win the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championship, announced he will retire at the end of this season at age 35.
