Winning Ugly, Losing Ugly, Just Plain Ugly
LEAD: GOOD thing the television ratings have been so low back in the States. Otherwise, instead of having the World Soccer body worrying about the United States World Cup program for 1994, we might have the opposite problem of some lawmaker trying to ban the World Cup like so much controversial artwork.
GOOD thing the television ratings have been so low back in the States. Otherwise, instead of having the World Soccer body worrying about the United States World Cup program for 1994, we might have the opposite problem of some lawmaker trying to ban the World Cup like so much controversial artwork.
What self-respecting American parent would take Matthew and Pam and all the other 9-year-old soccer players in the United States to a World Cup final like the 1-0 victory by West Germany over Argentina yesterday?
The game ended with the charming tableau of the Argentine coach trying to keep his players from jumping the referee.
Since the Argentine coach, Carlos Bilardo, and the Mexican referee, Edgardo Codesal, are not only both medical doctors but even practice the same specialty, gynecology, one could call this intervention professional courtesy.
But there was nothing courteous about some of the Argentine players swarming around Codesal.
All those United States sports teams that brag about 'winning ugly' have a long way to go before duplicating this game.
West Germany totally outplayed Argentina but still won ugly since it could not score a goal with a moving ball, but needed a somewhat dubious penalty call.
Then again, Argentina lost ugly, since its main strategy seemed to be going for the penalty-kick shootout at the end of 120 minutes, and then having the lights go out and winning the game on the flip of a coin.
The losers had two players kicked out of the game, one for a hard leg tackle, the other for a neck tackle right out of professional wrestling.
The winners scored the only goal on a penalty kick that stemmed from heavy pressure on officials to call fouls that didn't used to be fouls.
All in all, it was one of the drearier final matches in any sport. This was world-wide ugliness, the end of a four-year preparation by Italy, which generally did a fine job as host, and a two-year qualifying tournament.
Still, the right team won. A boxing judge would have noted that the West Germans had 16 separate scoring chances and Argentina had only one.
'We would have kept playing patiently,' said that famous American, Franz Beckenbauer.
'We would have scored a goal in overtime. But we played a full 90 minutes and it is just too bad that Argentina didn't produce anything. It was a non-game, really. They tried to destroy the game. But you cannot choose your opponent.'
Beckenbauer said this without any apparent malice. It was just the truth.
Argentina came into this tournament suspect. Its great player, Diego Armando Maradona, did not have one goal left in him in his final appearance in an Argentine uniform. And the Argentines came into this game with four players already banned for previous infractions.
There were more infractions to come. In the 64th minute, Argentina's Pedro Monzon had the distinction of being the first player in 14 World Cup final games to be ejected via a red card. Monzon's crime was raising his foot during a tackle of Jurgen Klinsmann, not the worst tackle ever perpetrated by humankind, but the wrong foul in the wrong place.
Before this tournament, the referees were warned to enforce the rules. Some officials were sent packing for missing fouls that the high poobahs believed had been committed.
Codesal had to be somewhat of a hard-liner to have escaped the periodic purges by the World Soccer body. So he flashed a red card at Monzon, and Argentina had to play a man down for the duration.
At that, the Argentines seemed quite capable of digging in their heels and hoping for a blackout.
But at the 84th minute, the new hardline came up again when Roberto Sensini jostled Rudi Voller in the penalty area. Surely it was a penalty kick in a suburban soccer league for 9-year-olds, but these are tough guys.
Anyway, Codesal called the penalty kick, and then had to dance away from a mad swarm of Argentine players. His common Spanish language allowed him to know what the Argentines were saying to him, and he flashed a yellow warning card at one of them.
Andreas Brehme made the penalty kick to put everybody out of their misery. But at the final whistle, the Argentine players swarmed the referee again.
'I tried to calm down the players,' said Bilardo, who never criticizes calls on the field. 'Some players got upset. They lost their cool.'
It was exactly the kind of sordid scene that American critics of soccer come to expect. The game is better than that. And the World Soccer body is right in trying to discourage the cheap, cynical foul. The new look may have some consistent results in the next quadrennial, when it is the United States' turn.
And that brings us back to Joe Bob Beckenbauer, that good ole boy from the New York Cosmos. There are reports that Beckenbauer is coming to the United States to lend a level of credibility to either the marketing or development wing of United States soccer. He would be welcome in either. Asked if he is coming to the United States, Beckenbauer controlled his words the way he used to control the entire field as a player. He said he had not been approached, 'officially' being the key word. He said the United States knew his telephone number. And he said he would not coach. He did not deny anything.
There is still some time for the United States to have credibility in soccer, instead of merely trotting out Henry Kissinger to sing for his supper. A big-timer like Beckenbauer, with his poise and experience, would help the United States upgrade its act for 1994. It might also help eradicate the memory of yesterday's bummer, in case anybody was watching.
SPORTS OF THE TIMES