The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 67

y.mj yf if" fT' LOS ANGELES TIMES SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 1999 D15 Mexico Kicked Into Dreamland Women's World Cup: Sissi, Pretinha each score three goals in Brazil's 7-1 rout. AS If' it 1 change things and make our game a more technical style of soccer." What on earth for? With the Brazilians dancing through the Mexican defense almost at will, Sissi scored her third goal in the 50th minute and Pretinha completed the rout and her hat trick in the 90th. "Once Sissi got three goals, I got jealous and had to match her," she joked. Mexico was not prepared for such an onslaught, and Cuellar, the men's and women's coach at Cal State Los Angeles and a World Cup player himself in 1978, empathized with his players. "I hope they don't get too disenchanted," he said.

"We were baptized today by one of the most powerful countries in soccer. I see a bright future for Mexico, taking into consideration that the team is young." It won't get bright any time soon. Mexico's next opponent is Germany, in Portland, on Thursday. "We don't expect the level of competition to drop," Cuellar said. "We know that Germany was a contender at the last World Cup it finished second to Norway.

We definitely need to play better to be in the game." The games Brazil is hoping to be in take place next year in Sydney. "Our main objective is to qualify for the Olympics," Rica said. "I also want to get out of the ninth place we have had in the past two World Cups. That is our goal for the tournament." So far, the start has been more than promising, and the U.S. will have to take note.

By GRAHAMEL. JONES TIMES STAFF WRITER EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-Should the United States and Brazil meet in the quarterfinals or semifinals of World Cup '99, the Americans might want to keep tabs on Sissi's dreams. The Brazilian, who, like her teammates, goes by one name, said she had foreknowledge of how she would play Saturday. "I had a dream last night that I was going to score two goals," Sissi said after she had netted three in a 7-1 demolition of Mexico in the nightcap of a Giants Stadium doubleheader that also featured the United States and Denmark. "So I guess the third one meant the most since it outreached my dream." Dreams for some, of course, are nightmares for others, and the Mexican team, making its world championship debut, must have thought it was caught in the worst kind of twilight zone.

Mexico was down, 1-0, after three minutes, thanks to Pretinha's goal off a Sissi assist. Hope flickered briefly for Coach Leonardo Cuellar's side when forward Maribel Dominguez tied the score in the 10th minute, but after that the roof caved in. Pretinha scored her second in the 12th minute off an Elane assist. Sissi started on her hat trick by making it 3-1 in the 29th. Katia scored on a penalty kick six minutes later and Sissi tallied again in the 42nd to give Brazil a 5-1 advantage by the half.

"In a lot of ways, it was samba soccer," Brazil Coach Wilson de Oliveira Rica said. "We will try to Ff Associated Press Miami catcher Greg Lovelady celebrates on his knees while his teammates react in a heap to their 6-5 victory over Florida State. Hurricanes Become National Champions -a Rimini 7 4 ANACLETO RAPPING Los Angeles Times Brazil's Formiga, right, applies severe pressure to Mexico's Andrea Rodebaugh as they battle for the ball during the second half. Rose Bowl Not So Full of Itself for Return Tigers to a 9-8 victory. On Saturday, with Florida State (57-14) leading, 2-1, Marcus Nettles led off the fifth with a bloop single to left, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Kris Clute's single to right.

Bobby Hill singled up the middle and Clute went to third. Brian Seever grounded to shortstop Brett Groves for the second out, but rather than throw home to try and get Clute, Groves opted for the force. After Blair Varnes walked the next two batters, loading the bases, Brown doubled up the gap in right. Neu, meanwhile, worked the last two innings, retiring the side in the ninth for his 16th save. Florida State made it 6-5 in the eighth.

Ryan Barthelemy led off with a triple and scored on John-Ford Griffin's sacrifice fly. Marshall McDougall then flied to left, with Mike Rodriguez making the catch on the warning track. Miami's victory denied Seminole Coach Mike Martin his first title in 11 trips to Orhaha in 20 seasons. College World Series: Brown supplies power as Miami edges Florida State, 6-5, to give coach first title in six visits. From Associated Press OMAHA For all his trips to the College World Series, Miami Coach Jim Morris never had a national title.

Kevin Brown and Michael Neu took care of that. Brown homered in the second inning and hit a three-run double in Miami's five-run fifth, leading the Hurricanes to a 6-5 victory over Florida State on Saturday in the championship game of the College World Series. It was the third national championship for Miami (50-13) but the first for Morris, the only coach in NCAA history to bring his team to Omaha each of his first six seasons. "It was a great win for all of us," Brown said. "Coach has been here the last six years.

It's great to finally get it out of the way." Since he arrived in Coral Gables, Morris has lived in the shadow of former coach Ron Fraser, who won titles in 1982 and 1985. Morris also has been haunted for three years by the memory of a ninth-inning homer by Louisiana State's Warren Morris. The Hurricanes were one out away from the 1996 title when Morris lifted the size will be. "The fact there will be 20,000 people for teams that have not been written about as much as contenders for the Cup says a lot for how deep this has taken hold," said Donna de Varona, the former Olympic swimmer and former president of the Women's Sports Foundation who serves as chair of the Women's World Cup organizing committee. "What's great about that is, the draw is not the U.S.: It's the game, and the experience.

We find that once people feel they might miss out on something historic, they want to be part of it." The average crowd for first-round games other than the doubleheader Saturday that featured the stars of this show, Mia Hamm and is expected to be 19,000. In 1994, a first-round game between Colombia and Romania at the Rose Bowl drew more than 91,000. But of course that was part of what is often called the world's greatest sporting event, and this, after all, is only the third World Cup for women. "I know a lot of people will look at it as 20,000 in the Rose Bowl but as early as a month ago, 20,000 would have been a record for the U.S. team in a stand-alone match a match that wasn't an Olympic match or a doubleheader with an MLS team," said Steve Vanderpool, vice president for communications of the Women's World Cup.

Many people at the Rose Bowl today might not realize that Germany is among the handful of teams given any shot at the title, or have any idea what marvels to expect from Nigeria's "Marvelous" Mercy Akide. But they know a lot about the Americans who may be on their way, and they remember the images of 1994. "One reason people buy tickets is they want to be part of something," said Vanderpool, adding that many among the crowd probably purchased the tickets in packages to make sure they had a ticket for the final. "A lot of people who may have been shut out in '94 don't want to be shut out again." De Varona, a member of the board of directors for the '94 World Cup, predicts a different scene and one with a different voice. "I think the crowd will be more youthful and high-pitched, I really do," she said.

"I think the '94 experience is much different than this one. In many ways we lent a stage to bring the World Cup to America. "What's unique about this is, we own it." Women's World Cup: Crowd of 20,000 expected for Germany-Italy, North Korea-Nigeria doubleheader. By ROBYN NORWOOD TIMES STAFF WRITER The World Cup returns to the Rose Bowl today. And, no, it won't look quite the way it did in 1994, when more than 94,000 watched the Brazilian men defeat Italy on penalty kicks in the final.

Not today, anyway. A crowd of about 20,000 is expected in Pasadena for the Women's World Cup first-round doubleheader featuring Germany and Italy followed by North Korea and Nigeria a far cry from the sold-out Giants Stadium crowd for the American women's debut Saturday. The Rose Bowl might be full July 10 if the U.S. women reach the championship game. As for today, everyone knows what 20,000 probably will look like in the vastness of the famed stadium, but organizers hope people will realize just how extraordinary even a crowd that Free Vacation e.

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Some restrictions apply to quality for offering. WORLD CUP SAN JOSE China Too Much for Sweden, 2-1 Prostate without Surgery Do you suffer from the frequent or urgent need to urinate? Are you waking at night to urinate? Are you experiencing weak or incomplete stream? These are a few of the symptoms of BPH, a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, which can now be safely and easily treated using an advanced, non-surgical process. i I A Tamaki Uchiyama took a long shot with her left foot that slammed off the crossbar and ricocheted in front of the net. Canadian goalie Nicci Wright had no time to recover before Otake slid the ball into the net in the 64th minute. Otake, who scored seven goals in qualifying matches for the World Cup, had two other excellent scoring chances.

In the first half, her long shot deflected off the crossbar. In the second half, just seven minutes before her goal, she had a shot smothered by Wright at the side of the Canadian net. Burtini scored midway through the first half, forcing her way past a Japanese defender and flicking the ball with her right foot past goalie Nozomi Yamago. Burtini scored 14 goals in five games during the qualifying tournament, including eight goals in Canada's 21-0 win over Puerto Rico, to more than double her career international scoring total to 27 goals. By becoming so adept at scoring, she gave Canada an offensive threat to complement leading goal scorer Charmaine Hooper who got an assist on Burtini's goal but otherwise had a quiet night after getting an early yellow card.

Hooper headed the ball near midfield and it bounced high down the field. Burtini sped toward the ball and pushed her way past defender To-moe Sakai to get free for the shot. A crowd of 23,289 about 3,000 under capacity attended the game. Some of those fans unfurled a huge Japanese flag that covered several rows of the stands in the second half. From Associated Press SAN JOSE-Tight play, sharp passing and superb goalkeeping led China to a 2-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday, the opening day of the Women's World Cup.

Swedish midfielder Kristen Bengtsson, the oldest player on the team at 29, scored the first goal two minutes into the game cracking a hard, high ball into the upper left corner of the net. China's goalie, Gao Hong, got her hand on it but the ball slid in. The second-fastest goal in Women's World Cup history-Sweden scored in the first minute in 1991 against Japan was also Sweden's only goal of the game. Fifteen minutes later, China came back when Liu Ying knocked a sweeping corner kick across the front of Sweden's goal and Jin Yan headed it down into the corner, just past the fingertips of diving goalie Ulrika Karlsson. China's decisive goal came in 68th minute when Liu Ailing kicked a low, fast shot into the middle of the net.

Her goal, assisted by Liu Ying, came at the end of a string of seven passes all the way down the field by China. Coordinated, neat play distinguished China, contrasting with Sweden's faster, more aggressive style. Gao, one of the top goalies in women's soccer, recovered after her initial miss to stop several tough shots. Sweden beat China, 1-0, in the 1991 World Cup quarterfinals. In the 1995 World Cup, China won, 4-3, on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.

Japan 1, Canada 1 Nami Otake scored on a rebound midway through the second half to give I 'J At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Prostatron thermotherapy, the revolutionary, outpatient procedure for BPH, offers significant lasting relief and preserves sexual function through a single treatment that is covered by most insurance plans. For more information or a referral to a Urologist who performs the Prostatron procedure, call 1 -800-CEDARS-1 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Prostatron Now.There's a Choice Agence France-Presse Jin Yan of China tries to control ball during 2-1 win over Sweden. Japan the tie.

Silvana Burtini scored in the first half for Canada. Japan came out of its defensive shell in the second half, scoring the tying goal minutes after Burtini left the field with a reaggravated left hamstring injury. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center..