World Cup '90;   Support for Maradona From an Opponent
LEAD: In the four games Argentina has played to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Diego Maradona has become the most abused player in the tournament. Opponents have fouled him at the appalling rate of almost 10 times a game, or once every nine minutes.
In the four games Argentina has played to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Diego Maradona has become the most abused player in the tournament. Opponents have fouled him at the appalling rate of almost 10 times a game, or once every nine minutes.
Refik Sabanadzovic thinks that is hardly necessary, and certainly not a tactic he intends to use Saturday, when Yugoslavia plays the defending champions in Florence. Later in the day, Italy plays Ireland in Rome, and on Sunday West Germany and Czechoslovakia play in Milan, and Cameroon plays England in Naples.
The winners advance to semifinal matches in Naples on Tuesday and Turin on Wednesday, with the final to follow the next Sunday in Rome.
Defender Disapproves
In Florence, the responsibility of marking Maradona will fall chiefly to Sabanadzovic, a 24-year-old defensive midfielder on one of the surprise teams of the tournament. In an interview today at the team's hotel, about 30 miles northwest of Florence, he expressed disapproval at the way some teams have marked Maradona, with flying elbows, pushing, shoving and vicious tackling to disengage him from the ball.
'I will do everything I can to stop him correctly,' Sabanadzovic said through an interpreter. 'I was covering Emilio Butragueno in our game with Spain and found no need to foul him. It is possible to be a defensive player without fouling. I didn't receive a yellow card against Spain, so why should I receive one against Argentina?'
Yugoslavia is one of several teams whose presence this far into the tournament has raised a few eyebrows. After an opening loss to West Germany, Yugoslavia has steadily played better, beating Colombia, a weak United Arab Emirates team and then, in the second round, Spain on two goals by Dragan Stojkovic, the second in extra time.
Coach Criticized
Yugoslavia's success has become a vindication, of sorts, for its coach, Ivica Osim, who has endured unmerciful criticism from Yugoslav journalists who objected to most of the players Osim selected for the team.
Rather than satisfy parochial interests by picking the stars of the Yugoslav club league, players well known to the local journalists, Osim sought the best players available. He found nine of them under contract to club teams in Western Europe, and seven of them became starters.
'The problem was, the journalists never travel, so the only players they knew were the local ones,' said Dan Tana, a restaurateur in Los Angeles, a soccer club director in London and, during the World Cup, an aide to the team from his native country.
While the criticism has stung the coach, it has had a different effect on the players.
'With the Yugoslavian press attacking me, the players, everybody, there was big pressure on them for each match,' Osim said today. 'They felt they had to prove themselves as players. Their individual play became more important than the team. Now that they have proved themselves, they have improved the team. They are playing much better and have only the pressure of the importance of each match.
'Of course, if we lose on Saturday, the journalists will turn against me again. I expect that.'
Argentina should provide the Yugoslavs a better measure of their improvement. The defending champions are beginning to find the form they appeared to have misplaced earlier in the tournament, when they lost to Cameroon and tied Romania. In their second-round game, they were outplayed by Brazil until late in the contest, when Maradona beat three defenders and sent a brilliant pass to Claudio Caniggia, who kicked the ball in for the game's only score.
After the game, the Argentine players spoke of being suddenly rejuvenated, more expectant than ever of becoming the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win a second consecutive world championship.
Alive and Dangerous
'We're not dead,' Maradona said. 'We're very much alive, and when we're alive, we're dangerous.'
And nobody is potentially more dangerous than Maradona.
'Maybe he's not so fast as years ago,' Sabanadzovic said. 'But he knows more than he did years ago. What he can do with the ball is magic. He's still the best.' The most emotional game of the weekend is likely to be the one that follows, Ireland against Italy in Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Like the Yugoslavs, the Irish were not expected to be playing this late in the month. After all, in 12 previous attempts to reach even the final 24 they failed. Yet, throughout the month, they have demonstrated a remarkable tenacity, forging a style predicated on disrupting the flow and rhythm of their opponents.
This could be scary for the Italians, who with speed and quickness superior to all their opponents, are the only team that has not given up a goal. Yet the Irish consume speed and blunt quickness with disguised zone defenses that seem to invite offensive thrusts. Then, the Irish players seem to be everywhere at once, forcing mistakes and intercepting passes.
It was suggested to Jack Charlton, the cigar-smoking Englishman who coaches the Irish, that the team might alter its strategy against Italy in deference to all the Italian speed.
'Why should we?' he said after Ireland beat Romania to reach the quarterfinal, the 17th consecutive match his team had not lost. 'We have to impose our game on them, and let them work out what to do about us.'
Problems for Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, the darlings of the tournament, have run into a critical problem with England next. Four starters are ineligible because of an accumulation of yellow cards: Andre Kana Biyik, Victor Ndip Akem, Emile Mbouh Mbouh and Jules Denis Onana.
'I don't know how we can overcome this,' said Valery Nepomniachi, the Cameroon coach. 'We don't have that many talented players.'
One player who is available, as a substitute as always, is Roger Milla, whose two goals beat Colombia in the last game.
No matter what Cameroon does, the team's success has alredy had a profound impact on African soccer. Joao Havelange, the president of FIFA, soccer's world governing body, said earlier this week that Africa would gain a third team for the 1994 tournament, to be staged in the United States.
The English, who advanced by defeating Belgium on David Platt's 119th-minute goal, do not expect to have Bryan Robson, their playmaker, back for the game. He returned home early in the week to receive treatment for an injured Achilles' tendon.
West Germany, which is widely seen as an almost certain finalist, will also be without a key player against Czechoslovakia. FIFA denied an appeal by Rudi Voller to invalidate the red card he received during West Germany's 2-1 victory over the Netherlands.