The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 45

THE MORNING CALL. SATURDAY, JOLV 4, IfN A45 France; Birazoll advance to semofDimaBs A ft 1 'J I The French top Italy 4-3 on penalty kicks. The defending champions trip Denmark 3-2. By ED OSMOND Of Bloomberg News PARIS Defending champion Brazil and host France both advanced to the semifinals of the 1998 World Cup with victories on Friday. Brazil beat Denmark 3-2 in Nantes, while France defeated Italy 4-3 on penalty kicks as their quarterfinal clash in Saint-Denis finished scoreless after sudden-death overtime.

Midfielder Rivaldo scored two goals and veteran striker Bebeto added another as Brazil rebounded from an early one-goal deficit. The defending champs take on the winner of today's game between Argentina and Holland in Tuesday's semifinal. Italy's Luigi Di Biagio missed the last of five penalty kicks in the shoot-out to put France into the final four. The French will meet the winner of today's quarterfinal between Germany and Croatia. That semifinal game will be played on Wednesday.

"It was a very difficult match but we managed to stick to our game-plan and France really deserved to win. We kept our nerve in the penalty shoot-out," said French coach Aime Jacquet. Italian coach Cesare Maldini was pleased with his team's effort, even in defeat. "We all came out of this game with our heads up. I can't fault any of my players, they gave it all, the team played really well," he said.

In Nantes, Denmark made Brazil work hard for its win and the Danes' coach Bo Johansson paid tribute to his team's effort. "We were fantastic, we were almost as good as the best in the world and we can be proud of the way we played," he said. Denmark scored just two minutes into the match when Brian Laudrup broke free down the left side and passed the ball to Martin Joergensen, who fired a low shot into the back of the net Stunned by the early goal, Brazil pulled even nine minutes later when Ron-aldo found Bebeto with a pass and the veteran beat Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel from about 12 yards out with a low shot that banked in off the goalpost. The Brazilians then went ahead in the 26th minute on a goal set up by Ronaldo. He sent a pass through to Rivaldo, who chipped the ball over Schmeichel into the net.

Denmark tied the game in the first five minutes of the second half as Laudrup picked up a loose ball and drilled it past Brazil keeper Claudio Taffarel from about eight yards away. Brazil then got the game-winner in the 60th minute as Rivaldo beat Schmeichel with a low, 25-yard shot into the corner of the goal. In the day's first quarterfinal, France dominated the match against Italy and just missed on first-half scoring chances from Zinedine Zidane, Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Although outplayed, Italy nearly took the lead just before halftime on two efforts from Christian Vieri. He headed his first chance just wide and was stopped on the second by French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, following a give-and-go with Alessandro Del Piero.

France continued to dominate play in the second half but couldn't get on the scoreboard. Italy had two chances near the end of regulation as Di Biagio headed a Roberto Baggio free-kick wide, then Gianluca Pessotto had a shot saved by Barthez in the final minute, sending game went into sudden-death overtime. Roberto Baggio came close to winning the match for Italy in the first overtime session ijfhen he volleyed a shot through the goalmouth which went wide. That would be as close as either team would come to scoring the rest of the way and the game went into the penalty kick shoot-out. After Zidane and Roberto Baggio were successful with their opening kicks, Bix-ente Lizarazu and Albertini were stopped by the goaltenders.

Each team then converted their next two tries to tie the score 3-3. GAEL CORNIER Associated Press A crowd invades the Champs Elysees to celebrates France's victory over Italy in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Laurent Blanc, who scored the first-ever World Cup "Golden Goal" in France's second-round overtime win over Paraguay, then put the hosts ahead and when Di Biagio hit the cross bar with his shot, the partisan Paris crowd erupted into wild celebrations. It was the second straight World Cup in which Italy has been eliminated in a shoot-out, having dropped the 1994 final to Brazil in Los Angeles. ''5 Few U.S.

fans wowed by hoopla if" Vv, a 1 The excitement of the France-Italy match reminds some of college football. SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) The fans face paint was spread thick, the brass bands were in full force and the crowds in the stadium raised arms high for a topnotch wave. the excitement at the France-Italy quarterfinal World Cup match Friday had all the atmosphere of a major college football game but much bigger and with much more at stake. So said some of the handful of Americans among the 80,000 screaming, whistling partisan fans at the Stade de France outside Paris. "It reminds me of a college game in spirit," said Phil Hubbard, a banker from suburban Chicago.

"I couldn't imagine going to a Bulls game and painting my face. "But for a whole nation to stop for a game this is huge." The game ended in a heartstopping penalty kick shootout after 120 minutes of scoreless play. France won the shootout 4-3. Samba, reggae and New Orleans-style bands played and paraded around the flying-saucer-shaped stadium. Another band featured about 40 musicians pounding African drums to a frenzied beat, while clowns on stilts with full blue and white face niiikeup tottered by.

Many of the fans painted their faces or bodies in the colors of the flag of the World Cup host nation, but" a few sported the green, white and red of Italy's flag. The Americans in the crowd said soccer never generates this type of circuslike atmosphere and excitement in the United States. "Over here they have different types of fans," said Norman Piper, soccer coach of an under-16 team from Wichita, Kansas, in France for a tournament. "The U.S. has football, basketball and baseball.

That's not going to change. "But this is fabulous. It's what sports is all about." As for the low scoring often criticized by U.S. sports fans, 12-year-old Meg Stockton from Wichita has a suggestion: "Those teams should just get a different coach. This is the most exciting game in the world." After the match, the French fans filed out of the stadium more excited than ever: Their team had advanced to the semifinals.

"This is a lot more festive than anything in the States," said Hubbard, who has season tickets to Michael Jordan and the Bulls and knows a thing or two about excitement at sports events. "It's the national game here, and it's all about the nationalistic feeling you get. "It will take us until the next generation to get to that level in the United States." 4 f. RICARDO MAZALAN Associated Press Brazil's Rivaldo celebrates his second goal in the 3-Z quarterfinal.victory over Denmark..