The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 40

D8 MONDAY, JULY 5, 1999 LOS ANGELES TIMES China Has No Trouble With Norway I QUARTERFINALS Jum 30 THIRD PIACE Saturday China SEMIFINALS rrr1 It At Rose Bowl 1 1 10:15 a.m., ESPNf Today 7 J' SHI Soccer: Overall superiority is evident in 5-0 semifinal victory. Sun and Uu score two goals each. By HELENE ELLIOTT TIMES STAFF WRITER FOXBORO, a coach's critical eye, Ma Yuanan insisted his Chinese team can play even better than it did Sunday in its stunning 5-0 semifinal rout of defending Women's World Cup champion Norway at Foxboro Stadium. "After the lead was 2-0, some of the team's players are still making constant errors and mistakes," Ma said. "According to my standards, those errors must be reduced." Those miscues were invisible to everyone else who witnessed the shockingly easy victory that thrust China into Saturday's final against the U.S.

at the Rose Bowl. Norway, which took a 10-game World Cup winning streak into Sunday's game, will face Brazil in the third-place game Saturday morning. CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday I "33 Noway 0 July 1 AtRoseBowl" 1 p.m., Channel 7 United States I ifel United States 3 U.S. 2 kick that Monica Knudsen deflected, and the ball came back to Liu Ailing for a blistering shot in the penalty arc. "The solidarity of the team and the united effort, the team spirit and teamwork have been the most motivating factors in our success so far," Liu Ailing said.

She scored her second goal in the 51st minute. Liu Ying delivered another dangerous corner kick into the area, but it was headed out by Goril Kringen. However, the ball bounced to Liu Ailing, who volleyed it up and over Nordby for her third tournament goal. "Lu Ailing was the best player today," Norway captain Linda Med-alen said. "She was the game-maker.

She made all the others good." Fan Yunjie made it 4-0 in the 65th minute, and Sun added the final flourish in the 72nd minute when she outguessed Nordby on a penalty kick China was awarded after a Norwegian defender inadvertently handled the ball in the penalty box. Nordby lunged to the right and Sun booted the ball to the left. "I have never thought about that," Sun said of the goal-scoring title. "My whole concentration is on playing with the team." Playing, perhaps, with the winning team. However, she insisted Sunday's game is neither a blueprint for the final nor an indication of how China will fare.

"The Norway team and the American teams are very different in their way of playing," she said. "The Norwegian team seems always to play long passes and the American team is not like that. The U.S. team is almost the same like the China team, making short passes. "It will be a very wonderful game between the U.S.

and China." jJ Germany 2 Reuters rk r'if! Brazil 0 fgj Brazil (0T)4 Norway couldn't contain China's Sun Wen (9), who scored twice Sunday to tie for the tournament lead in scoring with seven goals. 3 All times Pacific 3 China is 5-11-5 against the U.S. but has won two of the teams' last three meetings, all of which have been 2-1 decisions. "If China plays like they did today, with as much speed up front and always looking for No. 9 Sun Wen and having people come inside the box, I think China can beat the U.S.," three-time World Cup veteran Helge Riise said after her team's reign ended in a loss Norwegian soccer officials believe matched its worst margin of defeat in history.

"I think they can get many chances against the U.S. team because its defense is sometimes shaky," Riise added. "No. 9 is a good player. Maybe we were really bad today, but I think not.

They were very good." Sun scored two goals, matching Brazil's Sissi for the tournament lead with seven, and Liu Ailing scored twice to vault China close to the pinnacle of women's soccer. Norway failed to take a shot in the first half and didn't muster a shot on goal until the 63rd minute, when goalkeeper Gao Hong parried a long shot by Solveig Gulbrandsen. "When we looked at China's last three matches, I didn't think they would be so strong today," Norway Coach Per-Mathias Hogmo said. "They impressed me a lot. They have a strong defense, they play good attacking football and have good individual players with great skills and speed.

China has beaten the USA twice already this year, so I think they will be a favorite in the final, but they will face a very enthusiastic U.S. team." Buoyed by loud cheers from flag-waving supporters in the crowd of 28,986, China asserted its dominance with two quick goals. Sun, China's field general, scored in the third minute. Liu Ailing began the play with a long service to Jin Yan, who shot as she lunged. Goalkeeper Bente Nordby stopped that shot with her feet but was helpless on the rebound, allowing Sun time to turn and take a left-footed shot that found the net.

Playing a smart game that resembled the "total football" espoused by Holland's men's teams in the 1970s, China created many chances before scoring again, in the 14th minute. Liu Ying took a corner After Akers' Kick Comes a Kiss After Michelle Akers scored the game-clinching penalty kick against Brazil, she ran over to the U.S. bench, wrapped her arms around Dalnls Kalnlns and kissed him on the forehead. Why? Because Kalnins, the American team's equipment manager, is the one who stands in the nets after every U.S. practice, playing goalkeeper as Akers fires penalty shot after penalty shot at and usually past him.

"She probably takes like 10 to 15 penalty kicks at the end of each practice and all the hard work paid off," said Kalnins, from Des Moines, Iowa. "She was just kind of saying thank you. "It surprised me, but it felt so good. It was the warmest thing I've felt in a long, long time." Mia Hamm might be the world's all-time leading goal scorer with 111 goals, but don't ask her to take penalty kicks. "I've gotten better at them, but I think Mish Akers and Brand! Chastain are two of our best PK takers," she said.

"Penalty kicks are all about technique, but it's more about confidence. "You have this one opportunity to put your team ahead or tie. You have to be completely focused and completely confident. I'm still not at that level with my penalty kicks." One of the many dignitaries seated among the FIFA officials was Franz Beckenbauer, Germany's former World Cup-winning captain and coach. Asked whether Germany could stage as successful a Women's World Cup, with crowds as large as Sunday's 73,123, "Der Kaiser" said no.

"Maybe 10,000 or 15,000," he said. "But this big? No." Australia is the early front-runner to stage the 2003 Women's World Championship, but Germany also is a possible future candidate. Alan Rothenberg, during whose term as U.S. Soccer's president the 1994 World Cup was successfully staged, said that FIFA has been equally impressed by this tournament. "They love coming to the United States," he said.

"They know what kind of job we can do. But they have to move these things world championships around from a geopolitical standpoint. So it's very difficult for us to predict when we'll get it back. "We want the men's World Cup back in 2010. Realistically, I don't see how we have a prayer before 2014.

"But from the women's standpoint, we've raised the bar quite a bit, so we'll wait and see. In some ways, I can envision them coming back with the Women's World Cup sooner than the men's." -GRAHAMEL. JONES G1NA FEKAZZI Los Angeles Tlmei Brazil's Maravilha didn't come close to stopping Michelle Akers' penalty kick in the 80th minute, set up by a controversial foul on Mia Hamm. U.S. goalkeeper Brlana Scurry was asked if she had any empathy for her Brazilian counterpart, Maravllha, who mishandled a cross in the game's fifth minute and had the ball to skip out of her hands, setting up Cindy Parlow for an easy, uncontested goal.

"I do," Scurry said. "There's a lot of pressure, playing goalkeeper in a game like this, and that was only her first or second touch. The ball came right out of her hands. "That can happen to anybody, believe me. It has happened to me." Scurry paused and grinned.

"I'm just glad it happened to her," she said. SOCCER if, i After the game, Scurry took a jubilant run toward the stands, waved to where her parents were sitting and then threw her gloves into the crowd. Someone asked Scurry if she made a mistake "throwing her lucky gloves to the crowd." "They're not lucky gloves," Scurry said. "Just the hands that wear them." -MIKEPENNER is (7 37 vC Despite China's convincing victory over Norway Sunday, Coach Ma Yuarvan declined to declare his team the favorite in Saturday's final against the U.S. at the Rose Bowl.

"This is probably the best team we've had in the past few years. Next Saturday the team we play will be stronger than tonight," he said. "I wish they would play to the performance level they did April That was a 2-1 victory by China at Giants Stadium. China's goalkeeper, Gao Hong, has recorded three shutouts and given up only two goals in five games. Asked if her team can play better, she hesitated.

"I don't speak English," she said in English. Through a translator, she said the players' teamwork has improved and she personally did better Sunday with high crosses. 'That was very, very good," she said. "People were worried about air balls." shot from Nene over the bar. She flung herself down to palm away another shot by Pretinha.

She smothered low line drives on the goal line. In short, she was unbeatable. But it was Akers' defensive play against Sissi, who had scored seven goals and assisted on five others in Brazil's five previous games, that kept the Americans in control of the match. "I was determined not to let her score," Akers said. With the U.S.

leading, 1-0, and the clock moving all too slowly for American fans, it was Hamm who finally ended the suspense by drawing a penalty kick in the 80th minute. Sprinting into the penalty area, she was taken down by Brazil's captain, Elane, and referee Katriina Elovirta of Finland immediately pointed to the 12-yard spot. "The ball was played in by Kristine Lilly," Hamm said. "I thought I got a step on her Elane and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. So I really don't know what happened." Akers stepped up to take the kick, just as she had done in the U.S.-Norway semifinal in the 1996 Olympic Games.

"I was like, 'Yeah, baby. Gimme Akers said. "Those are the moments you live for in this sport and at this level. Seconds later, the ball was in the net and the U.S., ahead, 2-0, could breathe easy the rest of the way. "That's something I've been practicing every single day for the past couple of months," Akers said.

"So the only thing running through my mind was where to put it. Once I'd decided, it was just a matter of focusing on the ball and sticking it in the back of the net." As for the knocks she took, Akers shrugged. Her head, she said, felt OK. "It's pretty much a dull ache right now," she said. "I've got a nice little knot on the back of my head and I haven't even looked at my face yet." Was it worth it? No question.

"This is what it's all about, this day," Akers said. "I mean, the battle of the game, the fact that there was a high cost to win, the feeling afterwards, the performance of the team and the unity, and then the final that's approaching so quickly. "Every second, every drop of blood, every scrape, everything has been worth it Akers paused, then continued. up to this point." China awaits. Continued from Page 1 field for us.

I can't say enough about the way she played today. She was such a force. You couldn't take the ball away from her. She was all over the field." "She's tremendous," defender Joy Fawcett said. "She's just got so much desire and heart.

She lays it out there every time she plays. I wish I could do that." "She's a hero of mine," Mia Hamm said. "We were walking off the field and I kept saying, 'I'm so glad you play for the It's an honor to play alongside her. She's a warrior." Akers twice was injured during the game, but both times she got back up and renewed the fight. "I think maybe you get to the point where you're so beat up, another little ding is not going to stop you," she said, laughing.

"I've learned to play through pain and with a chronic illness now for a long time, so I just kind of put it behind me and get on with the job at hand." The U.S. came out prepared to carry the fight to the Brazilians and grabbed the lead in the fifth minute when Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Parlow combined to pry open the Brazilian defense. The goal was more due to an error by Brazilian goalkeeper Maravilha and some opportunism by Parlow, however, than by any especially creative play. With the fans still settling in their seats, Chastain, playing in her 100th international game, passed the ball to Foudy down the left flank. Foudy floated a deep cross into the goalmouth and Maravilha leaped to catch the ball.

To her horror, it slipped from her fingertips and Parlow, rushing in, headed it into the back of the open net for her second goal of the tournament. "I could see that she Maravilha was going to have difficulty getting to it," Parlow said. "I was very fortunate that she dropped it." That firecracker start promised much, but the rest of the first half provided little. The only player who stood out was Akers, who was tireless, despite twice being hammered to the ground. The first time occurred in the 25th minute Uu Ailing, who scored twice in China's 5-0 victory, scored once with each foot.

Asked which she favors, she smiled. "I usually play with my right foot, but my left foot is actually not too bad," she said. HELENE ELLIOTT SI Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Michelle Akers; Mia Hamm (Lorrie Fair 85th), Tiffeny Milbrett (Danielle Fotopoulos 88th), Cindy Parlow (Shannon MacMillan 62nd). ANACLETO HAPPING Los Angeles Times Akers was surrounded by teammates after her goal gave the U.S. some breathing room.

when she clashed heads with Brazilian forward Katia da Silva. Both players were shaken but needed only brief treatment before continuing. "I had my bell rung," Akers said. "I was a little bit wobbly, but I had the time to take a couple of breaths and gather myself and get some water in me and I was ready to rock." The second occasion looked more serious. It came in the 41st minute when Akers bent low to head the ball at midfield at the same time that Sissi, the tournament's leading goal scorer, stuck out a leg to reach the ball.

The Brazilian's boot met the American's face and Akers, who had her cheekbone crushed in a game collision as recently as Feb. 14, crumpled to the turf. Again, however, she required only a minute or two to recover and continue. "I can't remember the play exactly, but it was a ball in the air," she said. "I bent down to get it and her foot came and caught me in the face and on the hand, and I went down." The U.S.

took a 1-0 lead into the locker room, but Brazil came out firing in the second 45 minutes and Scurry was forced to use every ounce of her athletic skill to keep them at bay. She backpedaled furiously to tip a long-range Brazil 0 0-0 United State 1 1-2 First-half scoring 1, U.S., Parlow 2 (Fou-dy), 5th minute. Second-halt scoring 2, U.S., Akers 2 (penalty kick), 80th. 10, Brazil 13. Shot on Brazil 6.

Offside Brazil 2. 14, Brazil 13. Yellow card Brazil, Tania 13th, Slssi 41st, Katia 90th. U.S., Akers 90th. Red card None Referee Elovirta, Finland.

Linesmen Yoshizawa, Japan; Labbe, France. Attendance 73,123. LINEUPS Brazil Maravllha; Nene, Elane, Tania, Suzana (Maicon 70th); Cidinha, Formiga, Sis-si, Juliana; Pretinha, Katia. U.S. Briana Scurry; Caria Overbeck, Kate Sobrero, Joy Fawcett, Brandi Chastain; Julie China 2 3 Norway 0 00 Flrat-haH (coring 1, China, Sun 6, 3rd minute.

2, China, Liu 2, 14th. Second-half (coring 3, China, Liu 3, 51st. 4, China, Fan 1 (Sun), 65th. 5, China, Sun 7 (penalty kick), 72nd. Shot Norway 12, China 20.

Shot on goal Norway 9, China 15. Foul Norway 13, China 4. Yellow card None. Red canto None. Goalie China, Gao; Norway, Nordby.

Referee Denoncourt, Canada. Linesmen Rodriguez Roman, Mexico; Perez As-sante, Peru. Attendance 28,986.