European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday july 7, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 world cup 90 dear editor t am writing this letter in response to Steve Twomey of the Washington Post who berated soccer and soccer fans in a commentary entitled a soccer fans done to know any  obviously or. Twomey has missed the Point entirely on the game. I suppose his narrow mindedness on soccer Competition was meant to be comical but most soccer fans and there Are millions including americans should be insulted. No one watches the game expecting to see blowouts by either Side. A rout to any real sports enthusiast is Boring. The excitement is not in the scoring but in the struggle to get in position to score. There is As much drama and controversy Here in soccer As in any sport. I love football the american kind and baseball As much As any sports fanatic but i enjoy soccer at a much different level. Or. Twomey needs to get Back to Europe and watch a game not in a stadium but in a local pub. Soccer unites whole countries unlike anything the states has seen except in the 1984 Winter olympics. The world cup comes to the United states in 1994. Sure we probably wont win it but anyone who has been to Italy this year to watch a game knows the real meaning of this Competition. It is not just a world cup but a world party. Countries As diverse As the states and Czechoslovakia compete for the ultimate prize in sports in a circus like atmosphere. The world series is great but the world cup is truly worldwide. And 600 million people watching the final is a number even or. Twomey should appreciate. Ralph Sarmiento Mannheim West Germany sour grapes Twomey dear editor i must say the article by Steve Twomey of the Washington Post in mondays stars and stripes was t Worth printing especially not in a newspaper circulated in a european country albeit in English. It was a blatant example of a patriotic american journalists bad Case of sour grapes. Or. Twomey obviously has no understanding of the Fine game of soccer and resorted to belittling the game just because the . Team Wasny to successful m the world cup. Why then did the United states take the trouble and spend the Money in sending a team to Italy if its such an inferior game comparing soccer to baseball which by nature is a sport when chances to score present themselves each time a Batter Steps up to the plate is like comparing wrestling to formation swimming. By the Way american football can be deadly Boring at times a much More so than even a scoreless soccer match. Millions of europeans can to be wrong Kathleen Warren Chi Emsee West German Maradona trains i fill in Dezottis trigor1a, Italy apr Diego Maradona is giving a crash course to Gustavo Dezottis on How take advantage of his penetrating passes for Argentina in sundays world cup final against West Germany. Maradona and Dezottis barely know each other and Are spending Long hours training together to get More familiar with each others style. Dezottis who has played Only twice with Marador is replacing striker Claudio Caniggia who is suspended from the final after receiving two yellow cards. A the idea is for Dezottis to take advantage of the great passes that Maradona always makes Quot Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo said. Caniggia was Maradona a favorite partner in the attack. Their Good understanding produced the winning goal in the second round Victory Over Brazil. A a it a easy to play with Maradona because he does everything so Well and so simply Quot said Dezottis a 25-year-old striker who plays for the italian dub cremonese. Dezottis and Caniggia have similar styles but Caniggia is faster and has More International experience. Argentina has a defensive mid find. Which rarely attacks except Lor occasional moves by Jorge Gurruchaga. Sports letters carry Ball league or Nobl National pass bal yanks pushing for 1994 dear editor tie first game was a defeat but those Young yanks gleamed from it and came Back and in the next two games amp ave their opponents a real run for their Money. No Pushover these yanks the foe had to earn their Points these Young students Post office workers and Guys from other non sport related jobs matched up against the big professionals and the High Bucks and Damn near sent them reeling. Not one of those Young men had to walk off the Field with their head bowed respect  participant i heard said about those p they walked off with their Heads High and earned the nation. The kindest words players were by the English announcer reporting the games on sky sport Channel via satellite. To him i say thanks for the support. A a wait la next year a will no longer be a joke but a bonafide threat to the rest of the soccer world. While congratulations Are in order for the Fine performance displayed by the american soccer team if they Are to become champions in 1994, they will need More than experience and Money they will need our support. Our fans in the stands. Our fans in foldout bleachers at All their games and All the coverage by the Media. Headline stuff not the Back pages. Yanks Start thinking soccer. Well be proud we did in the very near future and we owe it All to the 1990 team. When you see any of them on the streets a simple a thanks for a Job Well done will go a Ping Way. David v. Post is Burg yest Germany it a football dear editor i have just read aft arrive by tic qty Fox which appeared in the May 15 european edition of your paper. I like Bucky Fox. V think he offers a refreshing commentary on topical sporting items but his comments in this article left me wondering if he really knows what he is talking about. I am referring to a couple of comments he made regarding real football. Not the game that bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to football and is peddled by the nil. I am referring to that other kind of football played with the feet the game that americans Call soccer. No one in Europe Calls football soccer. Soccer is an american word. Football was invented Long before the americans bastardized Rugby added a Forward pass and for some reason called it football. In fact football was in existence Long before the United states. Why does no to the nil change its logo to Nobl National. 8u<. League ? Why do americans Call their game football. Only two players on each team am allowed to kick the Ball and then Only half a dozen or so times in a game. Bucky Fox should realize that real football is played by and enjoyed by More people than the american version will Ever be. The world cup makes the super bowl look like a High school scrimmage. One thing i must Point out is that i am not knocking cd. Just think Bucky Fox should be aware that there is the game played in America i love it. I think it is the most exciting sport to hit the . Since real football. I More to the world of sport than the Usa. 1 also think that the Usas soccer team will Start to play like the world class football team they Are when they Start calling themselves a football team and not a soccer team. You done to hear West German dutch argentinian scottish or English football teams calling themselves soccer teams do you Colin Mcquade ecu Bricke West German Gansler the right coach dear editor i have watched every game of the world cup and taped All of the . Team games. Since i grew up with soccer was a contract player in the German Obj Riga in my Days there was no bund Lisa and also played in Chicago in the 60s, 1 feel qualified to talk a bit about the . Team. Primarily because i remember Reading from a sports writer that the . Team needs Beckenbauer or some other High calibre european coach. I want to. Challenge that. There is nothing wrong with Bob Gansler he also knows a lot. I had the pleasure to meet Bob in one of the nations coaches seminars where All state coaches got together in California. Bob Gansler was the head coach and he taught us a lot. 1 was state coach of new Mexico then. One thing Gansler preached was a Ball Possession at All costs a and the . Team showed that they Learned that. Our boys did fight for every Ball and they tried hard. I think every american can be proud of them. There is nothing wrong with the individuals although two of them act a Little  Caligiuri was great. He will be the superstar in. 1994. But the team needs Many More games As a team and More International experience. The most important ingredient our team has is the enthusiastic drive and the desire to win. I Hope they leave Bob Gansler As a head coach he needs All of inc four years to shape the team. They will make it to the semifinals. Good Luck. Bob. Karl Schaftner Wal Ryburg West Germany . Takes heat for �?T94 the trophy within the grasp. Of a Rue Fiji a and m evians Rome apr american organizers of the 1994 world cup received a hostile reception from the International Media Friday when they held a news conference to discuss plans for the tournament. Several Hundred journalists gathered to hear Scott Letellier president of the world cup �?T94 organizing committee Werner Fricker its chairman and also president of the . Soccer federation and Henry Kissinger vice chairman of the organizing committee. Only when Kissinger spoke or was asked questions was the mood one of cooperation. Otherwise most questions carried a confrontational tone. A South american broadcaster asked Fricker and Letellier Why the United states bothered bidding for the world cup when soccer Isnit a sport there. Quot in the United states soccer is a tremendous participation sport a said Letellier. Quot at a time when Many european countries find the number of participants dwindling the contrary is the Case m the United  to support that claim Fricker cited studies that show soccer As the third most popular participation sport among teen agers behind Only basketball and volleyball and ahead of baseball softball football and ice hockey and second in the under-12 category behind basketball. Asked whether empty stadiums could be anticipated in 1994, Fricker said a we will get total commitments make every Eifort in every venue to gel a tremendous amount of enthusiasm generated. We will have other activities planned in communities to supplement the soccer games Quot Letellier said he is confident ethnic comm units will support the world cup. A we have wrestled with efforts How to develop the intense feeling for the sport that is so evident Here in Italy. One unique aspect As americans is that we All came from other countries at some  he said Letellier pointed to the popularity brazilians would have in Miami or Boles in Chicago if their teams qualify. What he did no to say we As that to get every team into areas where they arc most popular would require a setup  runs contrary to the draw fifa uses to determine each grouping. Under the current system Only the seeded teams automatically Aie placed m certain c Mes Letcher said the three time ones wont be a a Tor u cause paired cities m the first round would be m the same time one. In later rounds no team would have to make More than one Cross country trip before the final he said