The Sentinel from Carlisle, Pennsylvania • 22

Tuesday June 9, 1998 PagcC6 DieSenrinel World Cup '98 of U. stv fa mi New president a I i LhJ But the method of victory was stunning. On the first ballot, Blatter led 111-80, 17 votes shy of the two-thirds needed to win. With the second ballot requiring only a simple majority, Johansson responded like the manager of a fighter who has seen one jab too many. "The game is over," he conceded.

"I wish Mr. Blatter luck." And thus one of the two most powerful jobs in international sports, perhaps even more powerful than president of the International Olympic Committee, was placed in the hands of a fun-loving divorcee who learned business and economics in the IOC's hometown of Lausanne, Switzerland Blatter appeared to win by holding onto his voting blocs in Asia and the Americas and cutting deeply into Johansson's supposed strongholds of Africa and Europe. Johansson's strategy had been to round up the support of continent-wide soccer groups, but they don't vote. In a globe-girdling campaign swing, Blatter schmoozed the people who hold the ballots, the leaders of national federations. Johansson had promises of votes from African confederation leader Issa Hayatou; Blatter courted votes by virtually promising that the 2006 World Cup would be staged in Africa.

Johansson had the financial and political backing of UEFA. the biggest and most powerful of the regional groups; Blatter attacked that power by arguing that Johansson was a puppet of Antonio Matarese, the ambitious head of the Italian soccer federation. Johansson said he expected about 100 associations to vote for him and was surprised over the number of defections from his camp. "I built my prognosis on talks with the people who voted," he said. If he already has all but awarded the 2006 Cup to Africa, Blatter kept the door open for another World Cup in the United States as soon as 2010, when the global rotation would return the tournament to the Americas.

"There are a lot of contenders. It would not be easy." he said. "Brazil and Argentina are waiting. But U.S. chances also are good." Blatter's election surely will mean a higher profile for Alan Rothenberg, the president of U.S.

Soccer and chief organizer of the 1994 World Cup, who was one of the latecoming winner's earliest and biggest backers. "Europe is currently the most important element of international soccer, but in the future the rest of the world will become more important and Blatter reflects that view," Rothenberg said. With his background as Havelange's lieutenant, Blatter is not expected to radically change FIFA policies toward growth and commercialization, although he is expected to change the way they are run. He said he wants to be a full-time president with direct compensation, rather than the part-time role Havelange took, with monthly meetings of a seven-member cabinet. Like Havelange, he upsets some people, leading a post-World Cup housecleaning in 1994 and earning the label of dictator from his critics.

But his public style is much more outgoing. He speaks five languages, smiles quickly and loves to share center stage with celebrities the bigger the better. PARIS (AP) The first big victory of the World Cup goes to a balding economist who loves the spotlight and isn't afraid to make enemies. Sepp Blatter, elected Monday as president of the international soccer federation FIFA, also is a big fan of the way the United States deals with the world's most popular sport. His triumph could mean another World Cup on American shores sooner than might be expected.

Blatter, general secretary of FIFA for more than 17 years, capped a whirlwind 212 months by beating Lennart Johansson, the president of the European soccer union UEFA, who was unchallenged until the 62-year-old Swiss entered the race March 31. Their contest may have been brief, but it was expensive and nasty, costing more than $1 million and filling the air with mud. It got very personal, and a bitter Johansson indicated afterward he was not going away happily or quietly. "I'm loyal to the president, but I'm not going to obey everything he says," Johansson said. Blatter, who earlier acknowledged he could not serve as No.

2 under Johansson, said the campaign had been rough, but was now in the past. "There may have oeen a few fouls, but we never tackled from behind," he said. "Now we need to think of what is fair." The outcome of the vote was not a major surprise. Both Blatter and Johansson declared in recent days they were confident of victory, and Blatter carried the support of Joao Havelange, the 82-year-old Brazilian industrialist retiring after six four-year presidential terms. Sepp Blatter, new president of FIFA, greets the crowd after his election Monday.

(AP) looking to rock France world cuP Briefs mt mm mmmK mm mm mnm mX mm nedjiik Stewart apologizes for late night Rock star Rod Stewart publicly apologized Monday for taking part in a late-night drinking session with Paul Gascoigne, an incident which may have contributed to the player's axing from England's World Cup squad. Stewart and Gascoigne were photographed leaving a trendy London nightclub May 14 on one of Gascoigne's nights out before he was dropped by England coach Glenn Hoddle. Stewart, an ardent Scottish soccer fan, issued the apology through the Sun newspaper. "Had I known the outcome I would have said, "No drinking for you tonight But try telling Paul Gacoigne he can't have a drink." Stewart said he admired but hardly knew Gascoigne and their meeting at the nightclub, when Gascoigne joined his table and discussed the World Cup, was only their second meeting in 1 1 years. He said they spent two hours together.

"I did, as reported, help Paul to the toilet, as he was a little wobbly on his feet," he said. Stewart said he had given Gascoigne a lift home, and then gone straight home. "In hindsight, if I could turn back the hands of time, I wish there had been another way out of the restaurant, but there wasn't without the photographers following us and having a field day," he said. "I apologize to Glenn and the team and wish them well in the World Cup. This is a man I admire, but hardly know and I'm absolutely devastated for him.

Don't write him off just yet." Team salutes Sanchez Vicario Wearing the red and yellow Spanish soccer team jersey, French Open winner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario said Monday she hoped Spain can take home another trophy from France this year the World Cup. "Hopefully we can all celebrate again in Paris," the tennis star said when she visited the Spanish team hotel outside this chateau town just north of Paris. "This could be Spain's year. Winning the World Cup would be the knockout punch." Sanchez Vicario, who won her third French Open title Saturday by I I hi SAINT-JEAN D'ARDIERES, France (AP) He is a surfer dude, the guy with the wild dance. When the United States beat Austria in April, Frankie Hejduk broke into his reggae two-step, looking somewhat like a lost airplane searching for a runway.

Then his goal was disallowed, making him look a bit like a dork. A little bit later came redemption a goal that counted. "I made up for it the second time around," he said, breaking into a smile. U.S. players are loose as the geese at their camp in the middle of Beau-jolais vineyards, but no player is looser than Hejduk, who in 1989 qualified for the U.S.

Amateur Surfing team. For him it's, like, catch a wave, babe. To get himself ready for next Monday's game against Germany, the 23-year-old midfielder takes walks out into the field next to the 12th century chateau and thinks among the Gamay grapes. "The vineyards, they're in a perfect place," he said after practice Monday. "I'll be out there an hour the night before the game, getting some good French oxygen." Like excellent.

He's played just 12 international games and scored twice, but sat out the last month after pulling his right hamstring May 6. He rejoined practice Sunday and will start at wing midfield if he's healthy. Hejduk missed three exhibition games and wondered whether he'd heal in time. Coach Steve Sampson admitted he was close to dropping him from the roster. But time and deep muscle massages did the trick.

midfield flanks. But in January 1997, the Beach Boy act didn't play so well. Hejduk missed a team flight to China and Sampson seethed, banishing him from the national team. "He's come light years from a year ago," Sampson said. "As far as I'm concerned, at that time he was finished for this World Cup.

But his attitude changed dramatically." Hejduk got married later in the year after proposing to his future wife in knee-deep ocean off San Diego, holding Kim with one arm and his surfboard with the other. She gave birth to a son, Frankie Nesta, on Feb. 25. In the meantime, Sampson stayed in contact with Hejduk's MLS coach on the Tampa Bay Mutiny. "He's become more mature.

It was in clear contrast," Sampson said. "I think his marriage and the fact he has a child has a lot to do with his maturity! He's what I call a true" professional. He's not playing for just himself, but for someone else in his life." If he winds up doing his dance next Monday, it will be the Germans who are embarrassed. They're expected to beat the Americans. But for Hejduk, it's just another game.

"If you look at it any differently," he said, "you start psyching yourself out a little bit. Notes: The U.S. team has a closed-door scrimmage Tuesday against Gueugnon of France's second division. Players sampled some of the Chateau de Pizay's wine on Sunday night. Sampson said all players were able to practice at 100 percent for the first time in more than a month.

34'- beating Monica Seles, posed with the full Spanish squad, wearing a team jersey given to her by striker Juan Pizzi. "I wanted to wish them the best of luck and if my calendar allows me to get to a game, I will," said Sanchez Vicario. She said that the team had greeted her by chanting "Champion, Champion" when she entered the hotel. Spanish defender and friend Miguel Angel Nadal said her victory, together with Carlos Moya's in the men's tournament on Sunday, boosted the team's optimism. "Hopefully all this success is contagious," Nadal said.

Japanese captain questionable The Japanese coach says he may not decide until the last minute whether to allow injured captain Masami Diara to play in the World Cup opener against Argentina. On Monday, Ihara took part in a regular practice with his teammates U.S. defender Frankie Hedjuk, left, gets ointment rubbed on his calf while teammate Marcel Balboa looks on Monday in Trevoux, France. (AP) "That was painful, but they really His speed attracted Sampson's got the kink out of them," Hejduk attention, one of the reasons the said. "It was a pretty good-sized coach switched to a 3-6-1 formation, kink." with Hejduk and Cobi Jones on the TV an iffy market for World Cup World Cup glance NETWORKS: ABC, 14 matches; ESPN 27 matches; ESPN2 23 matches (all live); Univision; 64 matches (56 live).

NUMBER OF HOURS: ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will show more than 230 hours of coverage over 32 days, including all 64 games, a half-hour pregame show for each game, half-hour nightly highlights shows on ESPN2 and a replay of the match of the day on ESPN2. TV VIEWING AUDIENCE: An estimated 37 billion cumulative audience is expected to watch the 64 matches, an average of 578 million per match. The final on July 12 is expected to draw 1.7 billion viewers, or 29 percent of the world's population of 5.9 billion. In 1994, the average audience on ABC was 4.99 million homes per match, ESPN was 1.39 million, ESPN2 was 127,000 and Univision was 788,920. FIRST MATCH: Brazil vs.

Scotland, June 10, 11 a.m. EDT, ESPN. U.S. MATCHES: Germany, June 15, 2:30 p.m., ABC; Iran, June 21, 2:30 p.m.; ABC; Yugoslavia, June 25, 2:30 p.m. ABC.

ANNOUNCERS: ABCESPN, Bob Ley and Seamus Malin; J.P. Dellacamera and Bill McDermott; Roger Twibell and Mike Hill; Derek Rae and Phil Schoen; and Tommy Smyth and Ty Keough; Univision, Andres Cantor and Norberto Longo. EQUIPMENT: The world feed, used by U.S. broadcasters, will utilize 17 cameras, 11 tape machines and three super slo mos on every match. ABC and ESPN will supplement the coverage with additional cameras on U.S.

and other key matches. for the first time since hurting his right knee during training last week. He ran and kicked the ball lightly with his teammates for 15 minutes. Ihara did not play in Japan's two warmup matches, a 1-0 loss to Yugoslavia in Switzerland, and a 1-0 victory over Gueugnon of the French second division on Sunday. Coach Takeshi Okada said hopes were high that Ihara, one of Asia's best defenders, will be ready by June 14 for the Argentina match in Toulouse.

"If I decide at the last minute that he is not ready, I will tell him," Oka-da said after Sunday's game. "But I don't want to pressure him by setting a date for that." Six more for soccer Palestine was among six soccer federations added to the FIFA rolls Monday, bringing total membership to 206. Others approved were Eritrea, Turks and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Mongolia. The Palestine Football Association has been a provisional member of FIFA since 1995, but now has added powers, including voting in FIFA elections.

Bulgarians will stay put The Bulgarian national squad learned Monday it will not have to relocate from its hotel in Coudray-Montceau after a fire damaged the kitchen. Upon arriving at their training headquarters 22 miles south of Paris, the Bulgarians were faced with the possibility of having to search for new accommodations, much as they had at the European Championship two years ago in England. At that time, the team was upset when forced to vacate the base camp in the seaside resort of Scarborough because players said they hated the atmosphere in the hotel chosen by their leadership. But the damage caused by Sunday's blaze proved minimal, and the hotel together with its kitchen will continue to operate normally, management said. When showing a low-scoring sport that many Americans ignore, networks might be expected to pull out all their technical toys to make telecasts more appealing.

But there won't be any glowing soccer balls or streaking comets for the World Cup, tele-vised by Disney-owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. "This is an event where less is more, simple is better," said ABCESPN executive producer Geoff Mason, who will oversee coverage of the World Cup, which will be shown live in its entirety for the first time ever in the United States. "The event speaks for itself. It is the world's largest stage. We will tell stories of players competing in the ultimate tournament." But that's not to say that the coverage will look like television circa 1960.

The world feed will have 17 cameras at each game and ABC and ESPN will supplement that with three additional cameras for U.S. and other key matches. The studio shows before and after the games will feature the only high-tech toy the networks plan to use a computer-generated system that can show a play from any angle. The technology has been used in Europe but never before in the United States. "The perfect example of when to use it would be on a controversial goal, where we can put the camera on the goal line and freeze the video or line it up with the last defender on an offside call," said ESPN coordinating producer Bill Graff.

"This allows us to manipulate video in new and interesting ways." In addition to coverage of all 64 matches, including two on ABC that will preempt the popular soap opera "General Hospital," there also will be a half-hour pregame show and a half-hour highlight show each night on ESPN2 followed by a replay of the match of the day. Throw in 56 live games on the Spanish-language Univision, with Andres Cantor's distinctive "GOOOAAAL" calls, and the breadth of coverage will be a soccer fan's fantasy. all bets are off and we might surpass that rating." While ABCESPN officials are optimistic that the Americans will at least match their second-round performance of 1994, being placed in a group with Germany and Yugoslavia makes that an extremely difficult proposition. So ABC and ESPN announcers know that if they build the story line around the U.S. team, it could be a short story.

"In the best-case scenario, the U.S. will play in five of the 64 matches," said Bob Ley, the lead play-by-play announcer for both networks. "Their success would be a major factor in helping us, but it is hardly the only factor in what would make this a successful World Cup. "We have produced a number of features to personalize these other players in a manner that we hope will get Americans to care about them," he said. But that will be more difficult than it was four years ago, when those players were in the United States and their fans were prancing around U.S.

cities with their faces painted, waving flags and singing songs. "The difference when you have the games in your neighborhood as we did in 1994 is it becomes infectious," said ABCESPN analyst Seamus Malin. "There will simply be less hype about this World Cup because it's not here. You can't expect the same amount of energy when the games are overseas." Even if interest and ratings are down, the Disney-owned networks remain bullish on soccer's future in the United States, having recently signed a six-year deal to broadcast MLS games. But they know MLS' fortunes are tied to those of the U.S.

national team. "We are hopeful that the stories that emerge out of the World Cup will give a lift to MLS this year," Downs said. "Clearly the number of people watching the World Cup will be substantially greater than MLS has enjoyed. The fact that several players in the World Cup will come back to their MLS teams should give a boost to MLS later this summer." Bora this, Bora that But for broadcasters it's doubtful that this World Cup will live up to the 1994 tournament. With the Cup in the United States and the Americans advancing to the second round, ratings were better than expected 5.3 for ABC, 2.2 for ESPN and 0.8 for ESPN2.

"It will take extraordinary circumstances to reach that rating again," said ABC senior vice president David Downs, whose network has eclipsed a 2.0 rating only once in 10 U.S. team matches since 1994. "The event is not taking place in nine huge markets in the United States. That will have some implications. If the improbable happens and the U.S.

manages to get to the semifinals Sampson isn't paying attention to Nigeria's 5-0 loss to the Netherlands and 3-0 loss to Yugoslavia in pre-World Cup exhibition games last week. The U.S. coach was an assistant in 1994 to Bora Mulutinovic, currently Nigeria's coach. "Everyone thinks Nigeria is in such poor form," Sampson said. "He's setting up everyone in his group.

I'm telling you now." Sampson hasn't spoken with Milutinovic since the U.S. team arrived in France last week. "But I can read his mind," Sampson said..