Schedule Features Top Teams
Fifty of the world’s 203 national teams, including 15 of the top 20 on FIFA’s worldwide rankings, are playing this week. Four countries already have done so, and 46 others play today.
The United States defeated El Salvador, 2-0, Sunday, a result that will do no harm to its No. 10 ranking. As Coach Bruce Arena said, the new-look American squad “played some good soccer at times.”
On Tuesday, South Africa and Senegal played to a 1-1 tie at Johannesburg.
Of today’s 23 games, a handful are of particular interest. Here they are, with the team’s ranking in parentheses:
Japan (26)
vs. Argentina (5)
Japan will be without its coach, Zico, who flew to Brazil on Sunday after the death of his mother in Rio de Janeiro the day before. Masakuni Yamamoto, Zico’s assistant, will be in charge for the game at Saitama, Japan.
“You cannot think of football at a time like this,” former World Cup standout Zico said before leaving. “Right now, I have to be with my family. Everything I achieved in football and in life is thanks to my parents.”
Argentina will be without the services of two of its most gifted midfielders, Pablo Aimar of Valencia and Juan Roman Riquelme of Barcelona, who were injured while playing in Spain’s La Liga over the weekend.
South Korea (20)
vs. Brazil (1)
South Korea, which said this week that it is looking for a European coach to take charge of the team by March, will be bidding farewell to two retiring veterans: striker Hwang Sun-Hong, who scored 50 goals in 102 games during a 14-year national team career, and Galaxy-bound defender Hong Myng-Bo, who will be playing his 135th and last game for South Korea.
Brazil comes into the game at Seoul as world champion and with most of its top names.
Germany (4)
vs. Netherlands (9)
German Coach Rudi Voeller has stuck with the squad that finished second to Brazil at the World Cup, but injuries have caused him to call in four players who were not at Korea/Japan ‘02: Hertha Berlin defender Arne Friedrich, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Hanno Balitsch, and forwards Fredi Bobic of Hanover 96 and Paul Freier of VfL Bochum.
For Dutch Coach Dick Advocaat, today’s game is a chance to show that the Netherlands belonged in the World Cup although it failed to qualify, and is also a legitimate challenger for the European Championship in 2004.
Italy (11)
vs. Turkey (8)
In an effort to shake up his under-performing team and also preserve his job, Italy Coach Giovanni Trapattoni included seven players on his 23-man roster who have never played for the national team.
Against a team as powerful as Turkey, it could be a move that backfires, even at Pescara, Italy.
Turkey Coach Senol Gunes, who led his team to a surprise third-place finish at the World Cup, is using the game as preparation for a key Euro 2004 qualifier against England in April.
France (2)
vs. Yugoslavia (15)
Former world champion France’s post-World Cup revival faces its first real test when the physically powerful and technically gifted Yugoslavs come calling at Saint-Denis, outside Paris.
Coach Jacques Santini’s plans have been upset because playmaker Zinedine Zidane pulled out with a back injury and temperamental Manchester City striker Nicolas Anelka rejected a call to replace injured forward Sydney Govou. Anelka now faces a ban from FIFA because of it.
