The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 72

WORLD CUP '98 G6 THE OTTAWA CITIZEN FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1998 HAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE 7f1irrT Mv 1 If i ir 1 hi I V- vS. 't'sw THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Dutch players Frank Rijkaard, left, and Edgar Davids won't be playing in the World Cup final after a loss to Brazil in the semifinals, but they still got in some practice because their tournament isn't over just yet. Third place will be on the line tomorrow when the Netherlands and Croatia play. It's all just an act It's really too bad this large collection of fakers so often takes centre stage at the Cup, says George Vecsey. There were no noticeable welts or cuts or gashes or bruises above his shirt line.

He seemed fine. "He hit me, I reacted," Bilic said. "That's part of the game, to react." Reacting is surely part of modern soccer. The Argentines were falling on the ground during their anthem. The Italians were flailing when they got off the bus.

The Bulgarians were calling, their concierge to complain about enemy cleats. There are allegedly yellow cards for diving, but the players know the tactic pays. By the way, the French Said Belqola of Morocco will referee the World Cup final between Brazil and France. The assistants for Sunday's match will be Mark Warren of England and Achmat Salie of South Africa Abdul Rahman AlZeid of Saudi Arabia is the alternate. For tomorrow's third-place game between the Netherlands and Croatia, the referee will be Paraguay's Epifano Gonzalez.

The assistants will be Emanuel Zammit of Malta and Lencie Fred of Vanuatu. Urs Meier of Switzerland is the alternate. Brazil is the odds-on favourite of bookies to win a fifth World Cup against France. The defending cham-pions were set at 4-to-6 picks yester-. day by Ladbroke's, the largest of Britain's legal betting houses.

France is ranked a 6-5 chance to win its first Cup. Ladbrokes said odds for the team winning in normal time were 5-4 for Brazil, 2-1 for France and 15-8 for a draw. Ladbrokes spokesman Sean Boyce said Brazil and France had been favorites in the betting since 1994. "For many, this is the dream final of the hosts playing the defending champions as it is, we'll be facing a big payout come Sunday," he said. Whatever you do, don't get up to get a beer during the 75th minute of Sunday's championship.

You'll miss the best chance of seeing a goal. FIFA said twice as many goals 35 have been scored in the 75th minute of World Cup than at any other time in the matches. There have been 1,749 goals in World Cup games since 1930, and a lot of them came late in the games. FIFA statistics showed 20.1 per cent of all scoring occurred in the last 15 minutes play. Dutch trainer Guus Hiddink has been fined $9,933 for unsportsmanlike behaviour during the World Cup semifinal against Brazil on Tuesday.

FIFA, announcing the decision yester- day, said Hiddink had gone out of the technical zone near the bench too often during the semifinal loss and had caused problems for officials. L'Equipe, the leading French sports newspaper that has loudly criticized Aime Jacquet, admitted yesterday the coach had proved his point by taking France to the World Cup final. "We doubted his ability to take this ex-, ceptional team to the highest level and yet he has done it, in his own way," the newspaper said in a front-page editorial. "We continue not to share his basic tactical options and to regret deeply -certain choices, but, in sporting mat-" ters, there is no doubt that it is the result that counts. And the result is that Jacquet and his men have done what nobody had managed to do before them, following their own path without flinching.

Bravo." Berti Vogts will definitely carry on as Germany coach despite coming under fire at home for his country's disappointing performances at the World Cup finals, Germany's top soccer official said yesterday. Egidius Buan, German soccer federation (DFB) president, said he had had an important talk with Vogts following the 3-0 quarterfinal losst to Croatia last Saturday and said the coach would not be quitting. Germany's top soccer magazine suggested yesterday that Johan Cruyff should take over from Vogts. Kicker named the former Barcelona coach in a list of possible alternatives to Vogts. Chile and Cameroon came out worst in World Cup disciplinary records released yesterday.

The fig-ures showed that proportionally fewer yellow cards were handed out in France compared to the last ment in the United States in 1994, but more reds were shown. Iran were the ti cleanest side at the finals. Chile, beat-, en 4-1 by Brazil in the second round, had the highest number of cautions 13 and the highest average per match with a figure of 3.3. Cameroon was unrivalled when it came to send-Z ings off, with three from three es. Iran, which also went out after the first round, had just three cautions from its three games.

The Netherlands was second-best with 1.2 followed by Belgium, England, Jamaica, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Scotland and the United States on an average of 1.3. With two matches yet to be played, a total of 241 yellow cards were handed out in 62 matches, making an average of 3.9. This compared to 228 issued in 52 matches of USA 94, an average of 4.4 that stands as the highest in World Cup history. By comparison, just 66 yellow cards were given out in 52 matches at the 1982 finals in Spain, an average of 1.3. But in red-card statistics, a record 21 players were sent off in the 62 matches.

Tottenham Hotspur appears poised to win the bidding war to lure Dutch World Cup star Patrick Kluivert to England. It was reported that Kluivert's Italian club, AC Milan, had negotiated an fee with Tottenham and the deal hinged on the striker's consent. Kluivert, who scored two goals in the Netherlands' last two Cup games against Argentina and Brazil, is expected to finalize terms with Spurs. Earlier this week, the 22-year-old strik-; er was reportedly close to signing with Arsenal However, it was reported that Arsenal's interest cooled because of his likely wage damands. Citizen news services -H 1 An? Paris I once met a man who had died 100 times.

He lived in Rome and was a writer or a waiter, something like that. To supplement his income, he specialized in dying. He had tumbled down the Spanish steps, he had drowned in the Trevi Fountain, he had been shot in the Piazza Navona (a terribly painful place to be shot). Whenever they needed a victim, Italian film directors would ring him up and tell him to start flopping. He could quiver, he could gasp, he could moan, he could groan.

He was a kindred soul to the World Cup soccer players, the greatest collection of fakers, con-men and whiners I have ever seen. Take Slaven Bilic, for example. This Croatian defender will never win an Academy Award for subtlety (whoever did, come to think of but he is the reason Laurent Blanc, one of France's most sportsmanlike players, has been suspended for Sunday's World Cup final against Brazil. So convincingly did Bilic grab his chest, his eyes, his throat, searching for the source of his inner pain, that Jose Manuel Garcia Arranda, the fascinated Spanish referee, promptly waved a red card. France had to play nearly 20 minutes of Wednesday's semifinal a man short, preserving its 2-1 lead, and now must play Sunday's final without its steady defender.

Indeed, Blanc had waved a handful of knuckles in the general direction of Bilic, but the Croatian did such a gross impersonation of a man fighting off invisible demons that Blanc is automatically suspended, with no recourse to appeal. Not only have the friendly folks from FIFA, the world soccer body, not yet evolved to civilized smoking controls at stadiums, they have not dis- are not slouches at faking it. My personal favourite is Emmanuel Petit, with the blond ponytail and the elaborate mannerisms from a remake of the Three Musketeers. Remember when Athos or Porthos, or maybe it was Harpo, fell to the ground with an enemy sword clattering on both sides of his poor punctured body? Kind of scary. But then he would jump back into the fray, shouting, "Eet ees only a flesh wound." In soccer, it is almost always less than a flesh wound.

I keep imagining Michael Jordan going into convulsions every time somebody came near him. (Michael doesn't have to, you say, he's got the refs looking out for him. Good point.) I'd like to have seen good old Lawrence Taylor performing the DelPiero gainer, or good old Mark Messier doing the Ortega double spasm, or good old Cal Ripken doing the Stoichkov death rattle. Come to think of it, the American soccer players can't dive, either. Yesterday, Laurent Blanc recalled the moment he got pulled into somebody else's sidewalk art performance.

He's a 33-year-old pro with Olympic of Marseille, one of the first French players to toughen himself in the Italian and Spanish leagues. "There was a free kick for us, so I don't see why I would hit him," Blanc said of Bilic. "I threw no elbow, no feet. He played his game to get me thrown out. He came up to me afterward and said he feels sorry he got me thrown out of the final.

I guess I should have hit him right there." Fact is, there's no fighting in soccer, just a lot of wholesale flopping. I haven't seen that guy from Rome in years. I hope he is making a living coaching these actors. The New York Times -war. 1 8 1: f.

1 Slaven Bilic goes through the motions after an incident with Laurent Blanc on Wednesday. The ref bought Bilic's performance, and as a result Blanc will miss France's game against Brazil in the World Cup. the roguish smile of a young Donald Sutherland, backed up with muscles. "I think he is a great player," Bilic said. "He hit me, I tried to defend myself." Where exactly did Bilic get hit? "He hit me somewhere around here," Bilic said, gesturing in the general direction of his chin.

"It's hard to remember." covered contemporary film review to undo injustices. The ref got suckered. That's it. "I feel terrible about it," Bilic said afterward. "If I could do something about it, I would." Bilic is a thorough professional, 30 years old, currently with Everton in the English league.

He has a thick mop of curly hair, wears an earring, and has Soccer must act now on hooliganism, official says Despite Schmidt's largely pessimistic view, Dominique Spinosi, the CFO official in charge of security, said she was satisfied the Cup had been a success from a security point of view. She said information provided by English police had helped identify serious trouble-makers, as had the use of "spotter" police from England and Germany. "We wanted a party, a big celebration of football. We did not want be tough to control "international hooliganism." The Schengen Treaty, which allows an open border policy between France, Beglium, the Netherlands and other countries, is one problem inhibiting action against hooligans. "Looking into the future," he said, "I fear the growth of hooliganism as an international movement.

The signals are that these people are beginning to organize themselves not only on a national basis, but an international one. "It is evident that we will face simil-iar problems in the European Championships in 2000 as we faced here. I believe the EU has carefully monitored what happened here and reaUze they--have to act quickly. I believe those responsible have v.okcn v.p." usually do to change their legislation to prevent these trouble-makers travelling across open European borders," he said. "The security forces and the CFO (the World Cup organizing committee), did their best to prevent trouble here, but it was not good enough." The most serious disturbances during the finals came in Marseille where English fans rioted and in Lens where German hooligans clashed with police.

One police officer is still in a coma after being attacked by German thugs who, police said, were using mobile phones to co-ordinate their violence. Schmidt said authorities must introduce tougher legislation including border controls and passport restrictions, but agreed different 'egislation and judicial systems made it very by Mike collett PARIS Governments and the European Union need to act quickly to prevent a rising tide of international hooliganism blighting future events such as the World Cup, a leading FIFA security official said yesterday. Horst R. Schmidt, general secretary of the German Football Association (DFB), painted a bleak picture of hooligans using mobile phones and modern communication tools such as the Internet to plan and cause trouble across international boundaries. "With the 2000 European Championship just two years away, the European Union and European governments, working with the football authorities, need to act faster than they sieged cities.

We couldn't turn the cities into bunkers without joyand music. We could Jjaveprevented the incidents, but that would have peen a failed mission because we" didn't want -trjspoil thelun," she said. Reuters.