Russians need not make Sydney travel plans

LANDOVER, Md. - The Russians were odd women out of next year's Olympic field as the unlucky quarterfinal losers. Since the host Australians are guaranteed one of the eight spots, only seven Cup teams were going to get Sydney tickets. Though the Russians and Swedes were both beaten by two goals Wednesday, the Swedes advanced because they had scored (in the 91st minute against Norway) and the Russians hadn't. So the Sydney field will be the defending champion United States, China, Norway, Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Nigeria, and the Aussies.

Some take longer road

Once the World Cup group survivors were playing for medals and Olympic berths, they began griping about the inequities in travel and scheduling. The Chinese have gone from San Jose to Portland, Ore., to East Rutherford, N.J., to San Jose and will play their semifinal Sunday in Foxborough, Mass., against the Norwegians. If they survive, it's back to the Left Coast again to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The Americans, who haven't been west of the Mississippi, could have traveled to their first four matches by Amtrak.

''It's difficult to put on a World Cup in the United States because the country is so big,'' conceded organizing committee president Marla Messing. ''We set the schedule before we knew where any particular team was going to fall in the draw. It was equitable to the extent that it was a blind schedule.'' Except, of course, for the hosts. The Americans knew more than a year before the draw exactly where they'd be all the way to the final.

But the stickier issue was the doubleheader system that helped or hurt teams depending on when they were scheduled. With Olympic berths riding on the results of the quarterfinals, the four who played last night (US, Germany, Brazil, Nigeria) had a decided advantage over the Wednesday quarterfinalists, since they knew exactly what they needed do to qualify for Sydney. ''There are unsaid golden rules you don't break,'' said Willi Hink, Germany's technical director. ''They forgot about the sport.''

Presidential address

What did President Clinton tell the star-spangled victors in their locker room last night? ''He said, `You played an excellent game. You showed a lot of heart and pride,''' said keeper Briana Scurry. The first family arrived fashionably late (just before halftime) and the US squad wasn't aware they were on the premises until they saw them on the big screen ... A huge late sale added more than 10,000 spectators to last night's crowd of 54,642; only 41,000 seats had been sold by Tuesday. It was the first time anything except a football game or Rolling Stones concert had been held at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium ... There's nowhere near the mania in Germany for its Frauen-Mannschaft that there is for the US women here, but last night's match still was telecast live there at 1 a.m. and estimates were that 25 percent of those watching TV at that hour (an estimated 500,000) would tune in.

This story ran on page E08 of the Boston Globe on 07/02/99.
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