North Korea Women in World Cup
North Korea on Thursday qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States this fall when it defeated Japan, 3-0, in the semifinals of the Asian Women’s Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
“We will do our best to improve over the coming months so that we can show the full strength of Asian football to the world,” North Korea Coach Ri Song-Gun said after the victory, achieved on two goals by Ri Kum-Suk and a late own goal by Japan’s Yayoi Kobayashi.
In the other semifinal, China, which already has qualified as the former host nation, defeated South Korea, 3-1, on two goals by Bai Jie and one by Sun Wen. Kim Ji-Eun scored South Korea’s goal.
“The difference was, they played cleverly and we played hard,” South Korea Coach An Jong-Goan said.
China’s victory means that the winner of Saturday’s third-place game between Japan and South Korea will qualify for the Sept. 20-Oct. 12 world championship, while the loser will go into a playoff with Mexico for a place in the tournament.
FIFA on Thursday announced that the first playoff game will take place in Mexico on July 5 and the second will be played in Japan or South Korea on July 12.
Juventus Coup
Italian champion and European Champions League runner-up Juventus beefed up its already powerful defense when the club signed Italy national team central defender Nicola Legrottaglie from Chievo for $8.1 million.
Legrottaglie, 26, had also been pursued by AS Roma and Inter Milan but opted to join the Turin-based club on a five-year contract. As part of the deal, Juventus gave three young players to Chievo, including Italy under-21 international Giuseppe Sculli.
Thailand Gift
Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who made his fortune in telecommunications, has said he will act as the sponsor for the national team and pay its player and coach salaries while it tries to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
“He promised to give bonuses to players at every level if they succeed,” Vijit Ketkaew, president of the Football Assn. of Thailand, told the Nation newspaper in Bangkok. “The players will get enough money so they don’t have to earn outside funds.”
No Dutch Treat
Rejected by England midfielder David Beckham earlier in the week, Barcelona received another setback when two of the Netherlands’ top coaches, Guus Hiddink of Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven and Ronald Koeman of 2002 champion Ajax Amsterdam, said they are not interested in becoming Barcelona’s next coach.
“I am a man whose word is worth something, and a contract is a contract,” Koeman said. “So I will certainly stay at Ajax until the summer of 2004 and will do my job as coach with as much pleasure as when I started it.”
Quick Passes
Romania’s most famous and successful player, former Real Madrid and Barcelona striker Gheorghe Hagi, agreed to a two-year, $1.2-million contract to coach Bursaspor of the Turkish league, the Romanian sports daily Pro- Sport reported. ... AS Monaco, which finished second in the French league this season but was relegated to a lower division because it is more than $58 million in debt, successfully appealed against the decision and will remain in the top flight. ... Former Italian World Cup standout Roberto Baggio, 36, denied that he will leave Brescia of the Italian league and move to Saudi Arabian champion Al Ittihad. ... Spartak Moscow will replace Oleg Romantsev as coach at the end of the month and move the former Russia national team coach to an administrative position after he criticized club management, team President Andrei Chervichenko said.
*
Times wire services contributed to this report.
