Thursday, June 20, 2002
World Cup Notebook: Superpowers face off
Brazil's offense, England's defense best of tourney
The Associated Press
TSUNA, Japan — In a World Cup full of upstarts, the Brazil-England quarterfinal is a classic matchup, featuring a whirlwind attack against the tournament's best defense.
“It will be like an early final,” Brazilian midfielder Juninho said.
Brazil-England is a meeting of soccer superpowers and two former champions, with the Brazilians holding a 4-1 lead in that department.
The two teams also have a lot to prove in Friday's game in Shizuoka. Brazil has scored 13 goals in four games at this World Cup, while England hasn't given up a goal in its last three, including a victory against Argentina.
The Brazilians are still hurting from their 3-0 defeat to France in the final four years ago. They last won in 1994, adding to championships in 1958, '62 and '70, all during the Pele era.
That '98 final was particularly upsetting for striker Ronaldo, who was sick on the morning of the game. He played but was ineffective and then was sidelined with knee injuries.
“After two years without playing, this is without a doubt a personal victory,” he said. “Now I'm becoming a normal player again and scoring important goals.”
As for England, it hates being reminded that its lone title came 36 years ago when it was the host, and that it hasn't beaten Brazil in three World Cup meetings — 3-1 and 1-0 losses and a 0-0 tie.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson believes the time is right to end that streak.
“It is always a pleasure to see Brazil play football. If you give them the time and space, they are very good,” he said. “Their attacking is excellent, and they have got a lot of individual skill. But maybe they are not as good at defending as they are at attacking, and hopefully we can use that.
“I guess that maybe it is the best defense in the World Cup against the best attack. It will be a big battle, but I am very optimistic.”
REFEREE CRITICISM: Facing criticism of the officiating in the World Cup, particularly from the Italians, FIFA defended its referees Wednesday. It also acknowledged the refs make mistakes, too.
“It's been said on many occasions that referees are subject to mak ing errors, just as players, coaches and journalists are,” FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said. “That is always going to happen. Every effort is being made to reduce them to a minimum, and the general opinion is that those inaccuracies have been kept to the minimum.”
The Italian team, eliminated Tuesday after a 2-1 loss to South Korea, loudly complained that throughout the World Cup they were stymied by repeated calls against them.
In Tuesday's match, the Italians had one goal disallowed, and in their previous two matches, four goals were disallowed, mostly because of offsides.
“The World Cup started like this for us and kept on in the same direction,” Ital ian coach Giovanni Trapattoni said of the officiating. “We go out with our heads held high but with a lot of recriminations.”
In the Mexico-United States match Monday, American midfielder John O'Brien punched the ball away with his hand while defending a corner kick, but the infringement was not seen by the referee. A penalty kick would have been warranted.
“They showed the replay on the big screen, and we saw it — 40,000 fans saw it,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said after the Americans won 2-0, eliminating Mexico.
O'Brien later admitted he accidentally touched the ball. Cooper said it was highly unlikely the hand ball incident would be reviewed.
Updated World Cup coverage from Associated Press
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World Cup Notebook: Superpowers face off
