Beckham Supporter Is Elected
Joan Laporta, the 40-year-old Spanish lawyer who promised to bring Manchester United midfielder David Beckham to FC Barcelona if he was elected president of the club, Sunday achieved at least half of that goal.
Laporta won 52.5% of the 51,520 votes cast, defeating Lluis Bassatt, who finished second with 31.8%. According to polls, Bassatt had a substantial lead until Laporta brought Beckham into the equation.
He now faces the difficult task of delivering on his promise. Manchester United agreed to sell Beckham to Barcelona for a reported $49.5 million if Laporta won, but Beckham’s agents have been cool to the idea and are said to be negotiating a move to Real Madrid, poised to win the Spanish title.
“I am very happy to win the election,” Laporta said. “Today I am celebrating. We will talk about Beckham later.”
Monterrey’s Title
Two people were killed and almost 200 were arrested in Monterrey, Mexico, early Sunday as more than 15,000 fans celebrated Monterrey’s first Mexican league championship title in 17 years.
One of the deaths occurred when a man was accidentally run over by a taxi, while the other was the result of a stabbing, police said. Neither victim was identified. Most of the arrests were for public drunkenness.
Monterrey, coached by 1978 World Cup winner Daniel Passarella of Argentina, tied Morelia, 0-0, in the second leg of the final late Saturday night at Morelia, thus clinching the series after winning the first game, 3-1, on Wednesday.
Morelia, coached by another Argentine, Ruben Omar Romano, also lost the previous final, to Toluca.
Triple for Porto
FC Porto made Portuguese soccer history Sunday when it defeated UD Leiria, 1-0, on a goal by Brazilian striker Derlei to win the Portuguese Cup for the 12th time.
The victory, in front of 38,000 in Lisbon, completed an unprecedented triple for the team, which earlier won the Portuguese league championship and the UEFA Cup.
Women’s World Cup
Two goals by Homare Sawa helped Japan to a 5-0 victory over Taiwan in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday and clinched the unbeaten Japanese a place in the semifinals of the Asian Women’s Championship, which serves as regional qualifying for the Women’s World Cup.
On Friday, China, which also has a 4-0 record, secured its place in the last four by thrashing Uzbekistan, 11-0, with Teng Wei scoring three of the goals.
Today, North Korea and South Korea, both unbeaten after three games, play each other. Both teams can advance to Wednesday’s semifi- nals.
The schedule for the Women’s World Cup -- tentatively set for Sept. 20-Oct. 12 -- will be announced today by U.S. Soccer at a news conference at RFK Stadium in Washington, the likely site of the opening doubleheader.
Quick Passes
European champion and Italian Cup winner AC Milan and Italian league champion Juventus will play their Italian SuperCup match on Aug. 3 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.... World Cup quarterfinalist Senegal became the first team to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup in Tunisia when it beat Lesotho, 3-0, in Dakar, Senegal, with Henri Camara getting two goals after African player of the year El Hadji Diouf had opened the scoring.... Yegor Titov scored the only goal of the game as Spartak Moscow shut out Rostov, 1-0, to win the Russian Cup final for the first time in six years and the 13th time overall.... Former Trinidad and Tobago national team captain Russell Latapy, 34, has joined Falkirk of the Scottish first division as player/assistant coach.... A crowd of 100,000 watched Pirouzi defeat Esteghlal, 2-1, at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran, in the 54th meeting between the two Tehran rivals.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
