European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 36 the stars and stripes sports saturday july 16, 1994world focuses on Rose bowl by Peter Muello Fullerton Calif. Apr defense used to be a dirty  brazilian soccer. Now its getting cleaner. The country that gave the world Pele is playing a new kind of soccer a new for brazilians anyway. Its scrappy hustling tactically perfect and extremely efficient. And while Romario and Bebco still hold the spotlight it is an unheralded defense that has carried brazils in to coverage of world gup final starts at 9 30 . Get live sunday into the world cup final sunday against Italy in the Rose bowl. Its no Surprise that Brazil is tied for the tournament a scoring Lead with 11 goals. But it also has allowed the fewest goals a three a and has won four of its six games by shutouts. A Brazil now is a very balanced team a assistant coach Mario Zagalo said. A it has a perfect defense plays to win and knows How to make  and the defense has come through despite injuries that have riddled the Back line. Since May half of the original backfire Al is gone. Hepatitis took out Mozur in training Camp. Ricardo Gomes was sent Home with a distended leg muscle on  of the cup and Ricardo Rocha went Down with a Groin put in the first game against Russia. In the second round Leonardo was slapped with a four game suspension for hitting Tab Ramos with an Elbow that fractured the . Midfielders Skull. Leonardo was gone for the cup. Up stepped Aldair Marcio Santos Branco and Ron Aldao. A a we re Lucky that Brazil right now has an exceptional group of defenders a Zagalo said. A we lose one and we have another of equal Caliper to replace  defense traditionally was the weak link in brazilian teams. A. A. A a a its a Bias that starts in the schoolyard where the Best players Are picked for Forward and Midfield. Brazilians like to say that defenders Are the piano movers for the maestros in the Midfield and the concert pianists up front. It was the essence of a show soccer a and a natural crowd please. Brazil was willing to give up three goals to score five and it worked Fine As Long As there were superstars like pole Garr Incha Jai Reinho and Tostato to provide the goals. Then the a Golden Era ended and soccer itself changed. Players were better conditioned marking got tighter and offensive Freedom was restricted Brazil still played its delightful freewheeling soccer but suddenly in was t winning As often. Drudge teams were. A. A a a. A a a in 1982 and 1986, we were close to winning it All but we Only played with the Ball on our feet a said Zagalo. A teams that done to play when they done to have Possession go nowhere.�?�. Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira Learned the lesson. He instilled his players with a sense of team defense. A the defense is the whole team not just the Back line or the Midfield a Ricardo Rocha said. A Brazil now plays collective soccer. Nobody thinks individually.�?�. An Aerial View of the Rose bowl shows the Pasadena Calif., Skyline in the background during wednesday s world cup semifinal Between Brazil and Sweden Brazil won 1-0 and returns to the same held sunday to take on Italy is on by Piero Valsecchi Pasadena Calif. Apr the right leg that got Italy to the world cup final May be out of action when the championship is decided sunday. Italy is keeping a daily watch on the right hamstring of Roberto Baggio who scored five goals in the last three games to almost single hand edly put his team in the final match against Brazil a at the moment his chances to play Are 50 percent. He will be rested for 48 hours. We Hope for a positive solution a or Andrea Fer Retti said. World cup Usa 94 coach Arrigo Sacchi tense Over Baggio a injury and apparently annoyed with the Quick switch of italian Media from bitter criticism to redundant Praise said thursday it was not time for celebrations because the team must concentrate on the final against an extremely Tough opponent a the less you speak the less you Praise before the world cup final the better. We have won nothing. We Are in the running for the title and must not lose our determination our winning charge a Sacchi said. No decision on Baggio would be taken until hours before the Kickoff Sacchi said. He said he was not thinking about a replacement. But Sacchi admitted the absence of Italy Stop striker in the final would be a hard blow. Gianfranco Zola who has served a two game suspension is Baggio a most Likely substitute. A we risk to lose Roberto in the moment we had just recovered him in the moment he had reached his Peak condition Quot Sacchi said. Baggio shut out in the first three games of the tournament and bitterly criticized for his performances tallied two goals against Nigeria in the second round one against Spain in the quarterfinals and two against Bulgaria in the semifinals. All his goals were decisive and some thrilling a two in the dying minutes and one in overtime. A even in the worst games Roberto can come out with something extraordinary. He was extraordinary yesterday. But All players were very very Good a Sacchi said. Italy will miss two key defenders a suspended a Milan teammates Mauro Tassotti and Alessandro Costacurta. Tassotti was Given an eight game suspension for an Elbow that broke the nose of Spanish Forward Luis Enrique during saturdays quarterfinal Costacurta received his second yellow card during wednesdays match with Bulgaria and faces automatic  Sod becomes pieces of history East Rutherford . Apr for the past month the grass Field installed at giants stadium for the world cup had been somewhat sacred. Unless you were either a player world cup Honcho maintenance worker or someone taking part in game ceremonies it was out of Bounds. Either touching or stepping on it was seemingly a criminal offence. All that changed less than 24 hours after the feet of soccer greats Roberto Baggio of Italy and Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria finished running on it one final time in Italy a 2-1 semifinal Victory wednesday. The hallowed Sod was removed from the stadium overnight by work Crews and became grass for Sale. Legally of course. The Bermuda grass went on Sale thursday for $20 a Square foot and there were takers willing to reach into their pockets for a Section of it. Some were soccer fans who wanted a piece of history. Others needed grass for their Yards. Others had their own More personal stories said Don Lockerbie the world cup Usa grass expert who supervised the Sale outside the stadium. The first customer showed up at 6  Edt Lockerbie said a it was an italian gentleman and he had a plane to catch a Lockerbie said. A but he said he had to have a piece of the grass that Roberto Baggio scored goals to gel Italy to the world cup  about 30 minutes later Lockerbie said a woman who did no to identify herself bought a Square foot for a More personal reason. A was soon As she purchased the Square foot she said she was going to go Plant it on the grave of her grandmother a Lockerbie said. A she said her grandmother was an italian who loved being an american with the italian Victory it was a Way to record a piece of italian history on american