The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 108

LOS ANGELES TIMES 1 0 MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1999 Nigeria Shows Mercy in 2-1 Victory 1 1 Jy 5 I GROUP GROUP A i GF BA Ptl I GF GA Pts United States 1 0 0 3 0 3 Noway 1 0 0 2 1 3 Nigeria 1 0 0 2 1 3 Canada 0 0 1111 North Korea 0 10 12 0 Japan 0 0 1111 Denmark 0 1 0 0 3 0 Russia 0 10 12 0 a- "--if -V score in the 74th minute when Jo Song Ok one-timed Jo Jong Ran's crossing pass right in front of the net. Nigerian Coach Ismaila Mabo professed not to be worried by the 1-1 score. "I still expected to go back and score either one or two more goals," he said. They scored one, when Rita Nwadike took a centering pass from Akide right in front of the net a pass that looked very much like Akide's goal-scoring shot and put it past Kye in the 79th minute for a 2-1 lead. Merci, Mercy.

It wasn't ail Akide. She had four shots on goal, but Nwadike and Florence Omagbemi each had two and Patience Avre made plenty of terrific plays. North Korea put some furious pressure on Nigeria in the final minutes, but couldn't tie the score again. As for Nigeria's offense-first style, Mabo made no apologies. "Football is a game of take-a-risk, especially in championships of this magnitude," Mabo said.

"I believe in attacking football." In the locker room, the Nigerian team celebratednot that the players seem as if they ever have to wait for a reason. "We were praising God because we said we would shout hallelujah if we were able to win," Akide said. "The crowd was waiting to see me because they put me on the front of the program." She gave them a show. Next up, the Americans. "By the grace of God we can do all things," Akide said.

"By the grace of God we are going to be victorious. Soccer: Akide scores unassisted goal and assists on another in opening win over North Korea. By ROBYN NORWOOD TIMES STAFF WRITER Oh, Mercy. Nigeria's Mercy Akide was marvelous as advertised Sunday in a 2-1 victory over North Korea at the Rose Bowl, and she is the leader of a soccer team that could captivate American fans. Except for one little detail.

The Nigerians play America's team next. A crowd of 17,102 at the Rose Bowl was well-rewarded for staying for the second game of the Women's World Cup doubleheader, getting a good look at the spirited, risk-taking team the U.S. will play Thursday in Chicago and perhaps a few scouting notes on Nigeria's drum-beating, dancing fans. Akide, a player so skilled you could pick her out of a crowd even if she wasn't wearing her hair in silver and green ringlets, scored Nigeria's first goal unassisted in the 50th minute from an angle even she called "impossible," off a hard shot from the right side of the net close to the end line. North Korean goalkeeper Kye Yong Sun got her hand on the ball, but it deflected into the net.

"It was a hard shot. That's why she didn't catch the ball and it went into the net," said Akide, who for all her cocky celebrations on the field speaks softly off it. "I say good evening to everyone," she greeted reporters after the game. "I think most of you Saturday at San Jose Canada 1, Japan 1 Sunday at Foxboro, Mass. Norway 2, Russia 1 Wednesday at Landover, Md.

Norway vs. Canada, 3 p.m. At Portland, Ore. Japan vs. Russia, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday at East Rutherford, J. Canada vs. Russia, 9 a.m. At Chicago Norway vs. Japan, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday at East Rutherford, NX United States 3, Denmark 0 Sunday at Rosa Bowl Nigeria 2, North Korea 1 Thursday at Chicago Nigeria at United States, 5:30 p.m. At Portland, Ore. North Korea vs. Denmark, 8:30 p.m. June 27 at Landover, Md.

Nigeria vs. Denmark, 10:30 a.m. At Foxboro, Mass. North Korea vs. United States, 4 p.m.

GROUP GROUP 0 I GF GA Pts I GF GA Pts Brazil 1 0 0 7 1 3 China 1 0 0 2 1 3 Germany 0 0 1111 Australia 0 0 1111 Italy 0 0 1111 Ghana 0 0 1111 Mexico 0 10 17 0 Sweden 0 10 12 0 WALLY SKALD Los Angeles Times North Korea's Kim Sun Hui (4) battles Nigeria's Patience Avre for the ball in first half. know me. My name is Mercy Akide. We took on North Korea tonight and we won." North Korea, a team as nondescript in its all-white uniforms as Nigeria was colorful and full of dazzling offense, nevertheless tied the Saturday at San Jose China 2, Sweden 1 Sunday at Foxboro, Mast. Ghana 1, Australia 1 Wednesday at Landover, Md.

Australia vs. Sweden, 5:30 p.m. At Portland, Ore. China vs. Ghana, 6 p.m.

Saturday at East Rutherford, J. China vs. Australia, 11:30 a.m. At Chicago Ghana vs. Sweden, 2 p.m.

Saturday at East Rutherford, J. Brazil 7, Mexico 1 Sunday at Rose Bowl Germany 1, Italy 1 Thursday at Chicago Brazil vs. Italy, 3 p.m. At Portland, Ore. Germany vs.

Mexico, 6 p.m. June 27 at Landover, Md. Germany vs. Brazil, 1 p.m. At Foxboro, Mass.

Mexico vs. Italy, 1:30 p.m. Germany Avoids Disaster Soccer: Penalty kick by Wiegmann forges 1-1 tie with upset-minded Italy as title hopes retained. SEMIFINALS July 4 At Pale Alto Quarterfinal 3 winner vs. quarterfinal 4 winner, 1:30 p.m.

At Foxboro, Mast. Quarterfinal 1 winner vs. quarterfinal 2 winner, 4:30 p.m. THIRD PLACE Jury 10 At Rose Bowl Semifinal losers, 10:30 a.m. CHAMPIONSHIP July 10 Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.

QUARTERFINALS June 30 Quarterfinal 1 At San Jose Group winner vs. Group second, 5 p.m. Quarterfinal 2 At San Jose Group winner vs. Group second, 7:30 p.m. July 1 Quarterfinals At Landover, Md.

Group A winner vs. Group second, 4 p.m. Quarterfinal 4 At Landover, Md. Group winner vs. Group A second, 6:30 p.m.

mm :U.S. Impresses Opposing Coaches is kept only by the referee on the field. It left the fans looking somewhat sheepish, not to mention baffled, when they completed their countdown and the game continued. If MLS adopted international rules, such embarrassing incidents would not occur. -GRAHAMEL.

JONES 1 i At I 1 1- y-C- From Staff and Wire Reports Tony DICIcco found an unlikely supporter Sunday when Russia's coach, Yurll BystrttzkH, was asked to compare the U.S. team, world champion in 1991, to the reigning world champion Norwegians. "I like the Americans' style of play better than Norway's," Bys-tritzkii said. "I think their combination play and their physical abilities put them ahead of the Norwegians." Also impressed by the U.S. team's opening-game 3-0 victory over Denmark was Greg Brown, Australia's coach.

"I think one thing the United States has got is a lot of good players in the squad," he said, "they've got a lot of depth and they do finish their chances. The goals they scored yesterday weren't probably as easy as our chances were in a 1-1 tie with Ghana. They were sort of half-chances, a bit of a turn, a good strike of the ball and the ball went in. "We had more clear-cut chances today and didn't finish them off, so I think the strength with the United States is that they can take half-chances, they're very well organized and have excellent players. "I think China has shown us in a 2-1 win over Sweden that they're the best technical team here in the World Cup, but the United States has a lot more strengths, I feel." KIRKMcKOY Los Angeles Times Nigeria's Mercy Akide, nicknamed "Marvelous," celebrates with sparse crowd after giving her team 1-0 lead.

DiCicco says he wants "personality players." In Mia Hamm, he has the most personable of all. "I think a personality player is like what Mia was today," DiCicco said after Hamm scored 17 minutes in the United States' opening victory Saturday. "She wanted the responsibility. She wanted the ball. She wanted the responsibility of feeding the players in the best area for a shot, or taking the shot herself.

"That's the quality of player and person Mia is. As a coach, you can't measure how important it is for your star player to be such a leader and a character person." While most of her teammates appeared nervous before the record crowd, Hamm was dominant. On her second touch of the game, she accepted a long pass from Brandl Chastaln with her right foot. Immediately, Hamm tapped the ball around defender Katrine Pedersen and onto her left foot for a blast into the top of the net. Hamm's teammates anticipate she will perform well, but they also issued a warning.

"Expecting her to score three goals a game is not realistic," Chas-tain said. "Expecting her to score a goal a game is realistic because she's that good. The only pressure Mia feels is to be the best player she can be. Mia knows if the team is a success, it's because she's part of it." Associated Press SOCCER By ROBYN NORWOOD TIMES STAFF WRITER After a slow start and a slew of wasted chances, Germany looked as if it might need a sure thing to avoid being upset by Italy on Sunday at the Rose Bowl. A penalty kick by Bettina Wiegmann, a veteran of three World Cups, filled the bill.

Germany managed a 1-1 tie in its opening match of the Women's World Cup in front of a crowd of 17,102 after Wiegmann put the ball past goalkeeper Giorgia Brenzan just inside the right post on a penalty kick in the 61st minute. Germany was awarded the kick after Italy's Roberta Stefanelli fouled Birgit Prinz in the box. "We went into the game only to win. At the end of it all, I can live with one point," said German Coach Tina Theune-Meyer, whose team is attempting to return to the championship game after losing to Norway in 1995. "One thing we were very unhappy with was our finishing.

We kept getting position, but we were not putting it away." Italy, less experienced internationally than Germany, picked up a valuable point in Group play with the tie, and might have pulled an upset had the Germans not picked up their play considerably in the second half. "The first half, I believed Italy could win," said the Italians' rising star, Patrizia Panico, whose goal in the 36th minute gave Italy a 1-0 lead. Panico scored on a header off a cross from Italian captain Antonel-la Carta, beating German goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg to the near post. The offensive chances generated by the play of Italy's Panico and Rita Guarino in the first half gave way to a defensive game plan in the second, and Germany finally showed some life. "In the second half, the German team pushed us," Panico said.

"They are very strong, physically. Yes, we were tired. They are more strong physically than the Jtalian team." Italian Coach Carlo Facchin said his team "demonstrated certain limits in our game" in the $econd half. "We appeared to have some fear, some doubts," he said. "We didn't express ourselves the same way.

Therefore we succumbed to their pressure. "The end result, I'm very satisfied. This was one point against Germany. This wasn't against Mexico." Mexico lost to Brazil, 7-1, in its opener. Italy, in effect, stayed alive in its quest to be one of the two teams to advance from the group, hough Germany and Brazil are favored.

Panico, who broke an. Italian League record with 51 goals last season and is hailed as the heir to retired Italian star Carolina Morace, called her World Cup goal her most important yet. "Yes. But it's not the importance of the goal itself," she said. "It's the point." Major League Soccer's bad influence on American fans was brought into sharp focus at Giants Stadium on Saturday when the crowd of 78,972 began chanting down the seconds to the final whistle.

"10. .9. .8. Unfortunately, in the rest of the world, and certainly in international play, there is no clock and the time How do the Falcons, previously winless in two other trips to the Women's World Cup, feel about that? "I know the USA has been one of the favorites to win the championship, but I am still in the race," Mabo said. "I will not be intimidated.

June 24 will be a fight to the finish." Akide gingerly went one step further. "By the grace of God," she said, "we are going to be victorious." They are a colorful side, from the tops of their newly dyed haircuts to the soles of their fleet feet. They have scoring stars named Marvelous and Patience, they have hair tinted most shades of the rainbow, they have a goalie named Ann Chiejine who hides her locks under a neon-orange bandanna and has a Campos-like tendency to turn routine aerial lobs by the opposition into highlight-ready sprawling "saves." Wholly unnecessary, but as they say back in Lagos, it makes for good television. "What I enjoy is the personality and flair they have in almost every position," Gregg said. "They are playing with a lot of confidence right now.

They have relatively little experience in the World Cup when compared to teams like the U.S. and China, but clearly, they are here to make an impact. They are here to win." As China discovered, much to its surprise, during a June 12 pre-tournament tuneup against the Falcons at West Los Angeles College. China is the only team to beat the United States in 1999 and the Chinese did it twice and is generally regarded as the World Cup's second favorite behind the host Americans. But China lost to Nigeria in that exhibition match, scoring three goals while the Falcons countered with four.

"I believe that victory has psyched my girls," Mabo said. "It has been a big morale boost for them." And now they are 1-0 in the World Cup and tied for top of the group and approaching their match with the mighty Americans with not so much as an ounce of trepidation. "We believe in attacking football," Mabo said, "and we will always play that way we don't care who we play. If we play the Brazilian male team, if we play the American male team, we would play exactly the same. We don't believe in negative football." That should come as a pleasant departure for Soldier Field.

Lots of negative football played there every September, October, November and December. .0 1-1 .1 1-2 Russia Norway Continued from Page 1 running around dizzy North Korean defenders during their first-round Women's World Cup match. "They're an exciting team. What makes them exciting is their commitment to the attack. They're tremendous athletes.

They look like they can run all day." As Gregg spoke, Nigeria's star forward, the well-nicknamed "Marvelous" Mercy Akide, burst down the right flank, slid the ball between the legs of a flummoxed Korean fullback and drilled a shot across the goal mouth with such force that the ball caromed off a startled Kye Yong Sun, the Korean goalkeeper, and flew into the back of the net. Nigeria 1, North Korea 0. Gregg, in Pasadena to scout Nigeria, next up on Team USA's schedule Thursday night in Chicago, nodded. "I love their commitment to attack," she said. "They remind me a little of the U.S.

in that respect. But they put so many players into the attack, they're a little loose in defense. Against a team with more offensive organization than North Korea, they could be vulnerable." Within minutes, as if on cue, Nigeria's backline was caught flat-footed by a Korean counter-attack, with a long ball pounded into the Nigerian penalty area and pounced upon by Jo Jong Ran. Jo chested the ball down and crossed it hard in front of the net just in time for a sliding Sol Yong Suk to bang it into the net. Nigeria 1, North Korea 1.

Yes, Nigeria could be vulnerable in the back. But was Coach Ismaila Mabo worried? "It didn't bother me at all," Mabo said with a shrug. "I still had confidence we would score one or two more goals." Barely five minutes after Korea's equalizer, Akide struck again, this time with a splendidly delivered cross that found Rita Nwadike alone near the far post for a quick strike past a helpless Kye. Just like that: Nigeria 2, North Korea 1. And that is how it ended, sending Nigeria to Soldier Field with three points and a share of the Group A lead with the United States.

Flnt half 1. Norway, Sandaune 1 (Pettersen), 28th minute. Second half-2, Norway, Pettersen 1 (Sandaune), 68th. 3, Russia, Komarova 1 (Baibachina), 78th. Shots-Norway 28, Russia 6.

Shots on Goal-Norway 15, Russia 2. Fouls-Norway 7, Russia 3. Geallet-Noiway, Nordby; Russia, Petko. Rahree-Zuo, China. Unasman-Peron-Labbe, France; Lu, China; Ogston, Australia.

North Korea 0 1-1 Nigeria 0 2-i First half-No scoring. Sound half-1, Nigeria, Akide 1 (unassisted), 50th minute. 2. North Korea, SJo 1 (JJo), 74th. 3, Nigeria, Nwadike 1 (Akide), 79th.

Yellow Carts-North Korea 3, Nigeria 3. Shots-North Korea 14, Nigeria 17. Shots on Goal-North Korea 5, Nigeria 9. Foub-Noith Korea 15, Nigeria 28. Goalie North Korea, Kye; Nigeria, Chiejine.

Releree-Lovirta, Finland. Unesmen-Cofie, Ghana; Rodriguez, Mexico; Im, Korea. Germany 0 1-1 Hair 10-1 Flnt half 1. Italy, Panico 1 (Carta), 36th minute. Second half 2, Germany, Wiegmann 1 (penalty kick), 61st Tallow Card-Italy 1.

Shots-Germany 23, Italy 10. Shots on Goal-Germany 14, Italy 6. Fouls-Germany 16, Italy 19. Goalies-Germany, Rottenberg; Italy, Brenzan. Rtfereo-Abidoye, Nigeria.

UMsnwn-Adeyemi, Nigeria; Saez Blanquice, Panama; Im, Korea. 1-1 1-1 Ghana Australia First half-No scoring. Second half 1, Australia, Murray 1, 74th minute. 2, Ghana, Gyamfua 1, 76th. Yellow Cards-Australia 2, Ghana 4.

Red Card-Ghana 1. Snots-Australia 26, Ghana 13. Shots on Goal-Australia 13, Ghana 11. Foult Australia 11, Ghana 13. Goalta-Ghana, Sulemana; Australia, Wheeler.

Refereo-Seitz, United States. Unesmn-Kleven, Norway; Ri, North Korea; Gaye, SEN..