El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 21

3C J- El Paso Timet July 4, 1998 World Cup '98 Saturday, rHAivCToai Deja blue: Italy loses on shootout French supporters into spasms of nightmarish memory from the Ital COMMENTARY French deserving of victory By Mike Ponner Los Angeles Times SAINT-DENIS, France Baggio in '94, Di Biagio in '98. The names have changed, only slightly, but for Italy, the offramp out of the World Cup has resolutely remained the same. FRANCE 4 ITALY 3 Again, a final misfire in a penalty shootout has turned an entire mented on Friday evening after ftis team had played France to a "scoreless draw through 120 minutes, only to be eliminated in the shootout, 4-3. An eight-year curse. Counting its semifinal ouster at the hands of Argentina in 1990, Italy now has been knocked out of the last three World Cups via the same painful route shut down in the shootout.

None was more traumatic than Roberto Baggio's failure to convert the last penalty attempt of the 1994 World Cup. For four years, Italy had been haunted by the forlorn image of Baggio standing alone at the penalty spot, hands dejectedly resting on hips, as he somberly contemplated the shot he had just pummeled over the crossbar. Friday didn't entirely purge that joyous delirium. France moves on to for the third time in the last five World Cup tournaments, to face the winner of today's Germany-Croatia match Wednesday at Saint-Denis. "I feel utterly wiped out," France Coach Aime Jacquet said.

"It's hard, having to go through on penalties. It takes the coolest of heads tb win penalty shootouts. (But) we stuck to our plan and didn't lose our nerve. In the end, the best team work" Offensive surges into French territory by Italy were rare, Italy allowed itself to be outshot, 24-7, and put only three shots on goal in 120. minutes.

Italy's only real threat to score in regulation came on a header Di Biagio flicked just over the bar in the 82nd minute. ian consciousness, it only replaced it with new torment to occupy the country until 2002: the scene of Luigi Di Biagio buckling at the knees and writhing on his back in despair after pounding his penalty try squarely off the center of the crossbar. Di Biagio was the fifth player to step to penalty spot for Italy in the shootout. France's fifth, Laurent Blanc, had just given France a 4-3 advantage, meaning it was convert or bust for Di Biagio, a 27-year-old midfielder. Di Biagio would have beaten French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had his kick been on mark Barthez had already committed himself on a lunge toward his left post.

But Di Biagio banged the ball off the crossbar, sending Barthez, his teammates and 80,000 By Paul Qberjuerge San Bernardino County Sun PARIS Before its match with Italy on Friday, the French team had a special visitor in the locker room. Jacques Chirac, president of the republic, Imagine Bill Clinton turning up to wish the lads well before an Olympic hockey game. A quarterfinal match, mind you. "It's normal for the leader of all France to come out and wish us good luck," Coach Aime lovirtg nation blue. This time, the agony simply took hold earlier and closer to home in the quarterfinals instead of the championship game, in Stade de France instead of the Rose Bowl, against next-door neighbor France instead of Brazil.

"It seems we might be cursed," 'Italy Coach Cesare Maldini la Luct Bruno Associated Press French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez celebrated after his team edged Italy in a penalty shootout Friday in St. Denis. Victory helps to unite Frenchmen of all backgrounds -v v7i v. t- t. r' ious to see Zinedine Zidane wearing any other jersey.

"Zizou," cornerstone of the Blues, grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Marseille, the son of an Algerian night watchman. Thierry Henry, another hero, was born in Paris to parents from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Marcel Desailly is from Ghana. Christian Karembou is from New Caledonia, off the east coast of Australia, and Bernard Lama is Guyanese. Along with Bretons and Basques, there are Armenians and Africans and parts of other cultures.

"This is a great image for France," said Matthieu Wycisk, a fan in blue, white and red on the jammed metro to the stadium. U.S. fans enjoy excitement The excitement at the France-Italy match 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 game this is huge." Briton jailed A 43-year-old English fan was jailed early today after admitting to fatally stabbing a Frenchman after a World Cup match between England and Argentina. Paul Birch confessed to the crime after 10 hours of questioning by an investigating judge that ended in the early hours of Saturday morning, judicial officials said. He was jailed in St-Quentin-Fallavier, in the Isere region. Birch, an engineer from London, was not a known soccer hooligan.

Associated Press PARIS The French team that hopped for joy after beating Italy in the World Cup' on Friday is known as the Blues, and a nation increasingly aware of color hardly noticed that the players were actually black, brown and white. "It's a wonderful reflection of the actual state of France," said Chriraa Abdelmalek, a Moroccan-born French postal worker in Nantes, who joined in nationwide jubilation from the car-choked Champs Elysees to remote village squares. France moved to the semifinals in a game as close as soccer can get, outscoring Italy by a single goal in a tie-breaking shootout of five kicks after two overtime periods. As the first regulation 90 minutes closed to a scoreless tie, the Stade de France rang with a spontaneous "La Marsail-laise." In bars and living rooms from Normandy to Provence, every blocked kick and stolen ball evoked loud cheers. Reaction was especially fervent in working-class suburbs, heavily populated with immigrant families, which ring most French cities.

"Football brings young people together like nothing said Philippe Debarge, a Paris landscape artist from an old French family. "For us, it is the great equalizer." Before the World Cup began, Jean-Marie Le Pen of the right-wing National Front complained of too many black players on the French team. He criticized what he said was undue haste in granting papers to players from Le Pen's party campaigns under a slogan of "The French First" and argues that immigrants should be sent home to their country of origin. The National Front regularly gets up to 20 percent in French elections, and it controls several cities. But hardly anyone seemed anx- Jacquet blithely said.

"He's done this in the past. You have to keep in mind, the entire nation is behind this team, including the president." But, hey, no pressure, guys. The French have been calling this "our" World Cup, and Friday they took another step toward living up to that assertion. They defeated perennial power Italy 4-3 in a penalty shootout gut-check to reach the semifinals, where they probably will play arch-rival Germany. So far, one has to hand it to the French though Italy stubbornly refused to for 120-plus minutes.

"Les bleus," as the French team is known, have attacked from their opening game, going forward in waves. Three goals against South Africa. Four against Saudi Arabia. Two against Denmark. French press attack They have not played the sort of cynical, take-no-risks brand of soccer so popular in some parts of Europe.

Particularly in big tournaments. Particularly in Italy, home of the 0-0 tactical draw. France pressed with such vigor early in the match that it not only created a half-dozen scoring chances against perhaps the best defensive team in the world, its players ran themselves into the ground. Midfielder Zinedine Zidane was the best player on the field until the needle on the tank hit in the second half. One hour into the match, the Frenchmen's adrenaline was spent, and so were they.

The average fan's concern was that Italy might be rewarded for employing play-not-to-lose soccer. That it might score on a counter. Or win a shootout, perhaps Italy's intention all along. France has dealt with this for two games now. Paraguay packed in its defense and counted on goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert to carry it to a shootout.

That strategy was foiled late in overtime when Laurent Blanc scored. Italy is capable of more than it showed, but chose not to try. Its midfield backed off its French counterparts, allowing France to dominate the game. Italy stranded striker Christian Vieri. The World Cup's co-leader in scoring was left to act as a diversion rather than a threat.

Italian defense smothering But Italy succeeded at what it does better than anyone in the world: Playing airtight, aDsorb-all-pressure defense for two hours. One suspects France wouldn't have scored if the two teams played until Bastille Day. "We weren't surprised they played that way," Jacquet said of the Italians. "We expected it." Fortunately, the thoroughly unsatisfying shootout system rewarded the better team, just as it did in the title game in 1994, when Brazil dominated Italy but needed PKs to win the crown. Not only did most of the 80,000 fans at Stade de France go home happy, the better team, the more interesting team, the braver team advanced to the semifinals.

The French are two victories from making France '98 "our" World Cup in every sense. "We've had so much fun during our World Cup," Jacquet said. "That's what we've been working for the last two years, being ready for what we feel is our World Cup." So, who will visit the locker room before the semifinal? Brigitte Bardot? Yves St. Laurent? Whoever it takes to make "Les bleus" keep playing to win. As long as the French figure the tournament is theirs for the taking, as well as the making, they will be "tres magnifique" to watch, vi I Gael Cornier Associated Press Thousands of Parisians and other soccer fans invaded the Champs Elysees to celebrate the French team's World Cup quarterfinal victory on Friday.

WORLD CUP CAPSULES Quarterfinals France 4, Italy 3 Saint-Denis Stade de France I I France i Italy BBOB First half: No goals Second half: No goals First overtime: No goals Second overtime: No goals Shoot out: France 4 (Zidane Lizarazu NG, Trezeguet Henry Blanc G); Italy 3, (Baggio Albertini NG, Costacurta Vieri Di Biagio NG) Shots at goal: France 24, Italy 7 Shofs on goal: France 7, Italy 3 Yellow cards: France, Guivarc'h, 53rd minute; Deschamps, 63rd; Italy, Del Piero, 26th; Bergomi, 28th; Costacurta, 113th Offsides: France 4, Italy 7 Fouls: France 26, Italy 24 Referee: Dallas, Scotland Linesmen: Grigorescu, Romania; Warfen, England Quarterfinals Brazil 3, Denmark 2 Nantes Beaujoire Stadium lit 2nd fl Brazil IS Denmark (XI IS First half: 1 Denmark, Jorgensen 1, 2nd minute; 2, Brazil, Bebeto 3, 11th; 3, Brazil, Rivaldo, Second half: 4, Denmark, Laudrup, Brian, 2, 50th; 5, Brazil, Rivaldo, 3, 61st minute Shots at goal: Brazil 10, Denmark 8 Shots on goal: Brazil 7, Denmark 4 Yellow Cards: Brazil, Roberto Carlos, 12th; AkJair, 37th; Cafu, 82nd; Denmark, Helveg, 20th; CokJing, 39th; Totting, 73rd Offsides: Brazil 9, Denmark 2 Fouls: Brazil 19, Denmark 20 Referee: Ghandour (Egypt) Linesmen: Mansri (Tunisia), Dante (Mali) Germany vs. Croatia Where: Lyon, France. When: 1 p.m. today, Channel 7-KVIA (cable Channel 6); Channel 26-KINT (cable Channel 2). Today's match: "We are irritated by what we-are hearing.

from the German side," Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic said. "The German newspapers have written unflattering things that have upset us." Croatia remembers controversial 2-1 loss to Germany during European Championship in 1996. Germany is unsure about veteran defender Juergen Kohler (calf). Jens Jeremies, a starter the first two games, might replace Thomas Helmer in center midfield. Olaf Thon, displaced by Lothar Mat-thaeus at sweeper, is a possibility there, too.

Germany attack relies on heading prowess of strikers Juergen Klinsmann and Oliver Bierhoff. Da-vor Suker Is brilliant striker for Netherlands vs. Argentina Where: Marseille, France. When: 8:30 a.m. today, Channel 7-KVIA (cable Channel 6); Channel 26 KINT (cable Channel 2).

Today's match: Netherlands is fresh from a dominating performance despite a last-minute goal needed to defeat Yugoslavia, but status of explosive wing Marc Over-mars (hamstring) is causing concern. Argentina is coming off a shootout victory over England in which it failed to score the last 73 minutes despite being a man up. If Overmars is out, forward Patrick Kluivert is likely replacement, with Philip Cocu going back to wing. Argentina must be concerned about' deadly striker Dennis Berg-kamp. Netherlands 'has to worry about spectacular Argentine playmaker Ariel Ortega.

Maybe nearly-as-adept Marcelo Gallardo will get more playing time. Dutch also must stop dangerous striker Gabriel Brazilians Continued from 1C 90 seconds into the match to Marc Rieper's header off the crossbar in the 89th minute, the game flowed in all directions on the Beaujoire Stadium field. It was a testament to what can happen when players of this quality use their skills to attack as much as to defend. "I think the show these teams put on was really excellent," Brazil midfielder Leonardo said. It was a shame Denmark could not force overtime, for the pleasure 30 more minutes of soccer between these two teams might have brought.

"Even if we didn't win, we had a good time," Johanssen said. Brazil feels pressure Brazil could never say the same there is too much pressure on the Brazilians not only to win a fifth world title but to do it in style. The Brazilian fans did not hesitate to whistle their disapproval Friday when their team played the ball backward to catch a few seconds rest or to regroup. They had jeered Bebeto, a hero of Brazil's 1994 World Cup triumph, 20 minutes into the previous match, a 4-1 win over Chile. And the Brazilian press has turned Rival-do's job, the playmaker, into a snakepit of elevated expectations.

"The playmaker always is responsible when Brazil loses," Ri-valdo said, "People are looking for the guilty one, and he is the one who didn't make enough Associated Press Associated Press and suddenly found himself uncovered 18 yards from the Danish goal. He turned and shot just past the fingertips of the diving Schmeicjjel. Denmark had come to life offensively in the final 10 minutes of the first half, and it refused to expire easily. Rieper, a defender, shot wide of the goal from only 5 yards out in the 78th minute before hitting the crossbar in the 89th. ers before feeding the ball left to Rivaldo for a virtual tap-in.

"Ronaldo showed that he is not only about goals," Zagallo said. "His two plays were spectacular." Roberto Carlos' whiff on an attempt at a scissors-kick clear left the loose ball that Denmark's Brian Laudrup turned into a 2-2 tie 5 minutes into the second half. Ten minutes later, Rivaldo took a pass from Dunga 11th minute. Ronaldo assists on goal Bebeto ran to hug Ronaldo, and the Brazilians ran Denmark all over the field until they went ahead 2-1 in the 27th minute. That goal developed when Dun-ga, the Brazil captain, stole the ball from Denmark's Thomas Helveg and played it forward to Ronaldo.

He dribbled down the middle, attracting three defend- good passes to Ronaldo." There could be no recriminations Friday. After Joergensen's quick goal, set up by passes from brothers Michael arid Brian Laudrup on a direct kick, Brazil took command the match. Its advantage in speed at nearly every position showed when Ronaldo passed to Bebeto, and he rolled an 18-yard shot past goalie Peter Schmeichel for a 1-1 tie in the.