The Tribune...Sports

	S P O R T	Monday , July 13, 1998
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France lift World Cup
PARIS, July 12 — France, playing with 10 men for the last 20 minutes, won the World Cup for the first time tonight as two goals by Zinedine Zidane spurred them to a 3-0 victory over defending champions Brazil...
Soccer fever sweeps France
PARIS, July 12 — Football fever swept France today, hours ahead of the France-Brazil World Cup final.
Thousands of French and Brazilian fans gathered along the Champs Elysee waving a sea of flags, while hundreds more supporters joined forces at the foot of the Eiffel Tower...
Connors inducted into
Hall of Fame
NEWPORT, July 12— Describing himself as a selfish, bad-boy loner, Jimmy Connors was inducted into the international tennis Hall of Fame in front of a sellout crowd at Talbert Stadium court...

Paes advances to
ATP singles final
NEWPORT (Rhode Island), July 12 (AFP) — India’s Leander Paes advanced to the first atp singles final of his career here last night, beating Italy’s Laurence Tieleman 6-3 6-4 at the Hall of Fame Championships.
Paes will go for his first atp singles title and a 39,000-dollar first prize at the 275,000-dollar grass event tonight when he faces South Africa’s Neville Godwin...
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Leander Paes returns a shot from Laurence Tieleman during the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, in Newport, R.I, on Saturday. Paes defeated Tieleman 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the finals. AP/PTI
'Golden boot' for Davor Suker
PARIS, July,12 — Croatian striker Davor Suker emerged as the top scorer in the World Cup finals with his sixth goal of the tournament yesterday and won the golden boot...

Beat them and they bleed
PARIS, July 12 — There’s only one World Cup winning team, so that leaves 31 losers made up of 682 players, not to mention coaches, assistant coaches, and assorted hangers-on...
The biggest flops of the extravaganza
PARIS, July 12 — Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Thuram, Suker, Owen — you can take your pick as to who has been the biggest star of the World Cup. But who have been the biggest flops...?
Hiddink proud of Dutch style
PARIS, July 12 — With echoes of 1974, the Dutch left the World Cup as most neutrals’ favourite team but with a feeling that they had not quite reached their full potential...
Pope John Paul a former goalie
LORENZAGO DI CADORE (Italy), July 12 — Pope John Paul may be away from it all high up in the dolomites but as a former goalkeeper he will be watching the World Cup final today...

"A tricolour flag, a multicoloured crowd"
PARIS, July 12 — If soccer is a metaphor for life then the multi-cultural French team has become a symbol of a France where football fever has suddenly encouraged the races to forget their divisions.
With France taking part in its first ever World Cup final against Brazil today, national media are hailing the team as proof that France can escape from its reputation as a racist country...
Sarikiran, Saravanan best scorers
BENASQUE (Spain), July 12 — International master K. Sarikiran and V. Saravanan were the best scorers among Indians after the 6th round of the international chess tournament here today...
National pride inspired Croats
PARIS, July, 12 — Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic wanted to make quite sure the interpreter translated the four most important words of his post-match news conference...
World Cup craze in Calcutta
CALCUTTA, July 12— Ronaldo fever gripped soccer crazy Calcutta with its denizens waiting with bated breath for the World Cup summit clash at St Dennis...

France dethrone Brazil,
lift World Cup
PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) — France, playing with 10 men for the last 20 minutes, won the World Cup for the first time tonight as two goals by Zinedine Zidane spurred them to a 3-0 victory over defending champions Brazil.
The inspirational midfielder headed in twice from first half corners to become the first player to score two goals in the final since Argentina’s Mario Kempes in 1978. That final was the last time the host nation had won the tournament.
Emmanuel Petit wrapped up victory in the final seconds when he struck home from inside the area.
France totally dominated the game until Marcel Desailly was sent off for his second bookable offence in the 68th minute. But they held out against a disappointing Brazil side, triggering joyous celebrations across the country.
Four-time champions Brazil can have no complaints after being outplayed throughout and France can point to half-a-dozen missed chances in the first hour.
France were rampant in the first 45 minutes and took full advantage of disruption in the Brazil camp.
Ronaldo was omitted from the original teamsheet but was later included after being cleared to play only 45 minutes before kick-off.
Brazil opted not to come out for a pre-match warm-up and it looked a poor decision as they were second best for the entire first half.
Stephane Guivarc’h missed two half chances in the first five minutes while Youri Djorkaeff headed wide from close in.

It was all France with Brazilian strikers Ronaldo and Bebeto barely touching the ball and it was no surprise when the hosts went ahead in the 27th minute as Zidane leaped above Leonardo to head home Emmanuel Petit’s corner.
In a frantic end to the first half France missed two glorious opportunities before Zidane gave them a two-goal cushion.
First, a goal-bound Petit shot was deflected inches wide by Junior Baiano and minutes later Guivarc’h was clear on goal but shot weakly allowing Taffarel to make a good save.
But in injury time, the Brazilian vulnerability in the air was shown up again as Zidane stormed in to head home a Djorkaeff corner, this time from the left.
Brazil coach Mario Zagallo brought on Denilson for Leonardo at the start of the second half and the champions did begin to look more threatening.
Ronaldo had his first sight of goal in the 58th minute but Fabien Barthez stood up well to make a good save from what was probably the Brazilians’ best chance of the game before Denilson hit the bar in the final seconds.
Six minutes later Guivarc’h missed another golden opportunity when he seized on a poor Cafu header but blazed over.
It was his last contribution as he was replaced by Christophe Dugarry.
Desailly was dismissed after a foul on Cafu, having been booked in the first half, becoming the third player to be sent off in a World Cup final after Argentine duo Pedro Monzon and Gustvo Dezotti in 1990.
Desailly’s red card seemed to lift the Stade de France crowd, relatively quiet until then. Desailly’s partner, Laurent Blanc, missed the final after being sent off in the semifinal against Croatia.
Dugarry should have settled it seven minutes from time but dragged his shot wide with Taffarel stranded.
Zagallo was on his feet urging the champions forward but France defended superbly and Petit’s goal was the icing on the cake.
France made a dramatic start with a chance in the opening minute.
Youri Djorkaeff hoofed a long ball downfield and striker Stephane Guivarc’h, meeting it as goalkeeper Taffarel came out flicked it over the bar.

There was a stir before the match when an official team sheet listed world 'player of the year' Ronaldo as a substitute, with his place taken by Edmundo, who had previously played just 18 minutes of the tournament as a substitute.
The team sheet turned out to be wrong and a revised list reinstated Ronaldo. Organisers said the Brazilian, who had not trained properly for the last two days before the final, went to hospital to undergo tests on his left ankle before coming to the Stade de France.
Brazil’s medical team declared him fit to play 45 minutes before kick-off, organisers added in a statement.
Brazil welcomed right back Cafu, who missed Tuesday’s semifinal penalty shoot-out win over the Netherlands in Marseille after collecting bookings in the two previous games. Cafu replaced Ze Carlos, his stand-in in the semifinal.
France were forced to make one change from the line-up which started in the 2-1 win over Croatia in Wednesday’s semifinal here in which central defender Laurent Blanc was sent off in the second half and suspended for the final.
Franck Leboeuf deputised for Blanc, whose dismissal for pushing defender Slaven Bilic angered French fans who felt the Croat had overdone his reaction.
France, playing in their first World Cup final, stayed on the attack. Playmaker Zinedine Zidane played a one-two with Djorkaeff in the fourth minute and tried to set up Guivarc'h again but the striker could not get in a telling shot.
Three minutes later Djorkaeff, making an excellent early impact on the game, headed over the bar from a free kick by Zidane.
Cafu tried to get the Brazil attack going with a run down the right flank but it was soon France again. With Djorkaeff finding space for his raids from midfield.
France captain Didier Deschamps sent Djorkaeff away in the 18th minute but this time Djorkaeff pulled a speculative shot wide.
Brazil, world champions a record four times, made little impact in the first 20 minutes against a French defence which had conceded only two goals in their six World Cup games leading to the final in the Stade de France.
Roberto Carlos sent in a high ball from the left in the 21st minute but it landed on top of the net.
Two minutes later, however, the Real Madrid left back caused greater danger with another high ball which French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez only just managed to grasp without falling back into his net.
France were rewarded for their attacking elan with a goal in the 27th minute by Zidane after they had won a corner on the right.
Emmanuel Petit swung in his corner and Zidane rose above Leonardo to head home past a beaten Taffarel.

France, playing in their first World Cup final, stayed on the attack. Playmaker Zinedine Zidane played a one-two with Djorkaeff in the fourth minute and tried to set up Guivarc'h again but the striker could not get in a telling shot.
Three minutes later Djorkaeff, making an excellent early impact on the game, headed over the bar from a free kick by Zidane.
Cafu tried to get the Brazil attack going with a run down the right flank but it was soon France again. With Djorkaeff finding space for his raids from midfield.
France captain Didier Deschamps sent Djorkaeff away in the 18th minute but this time Djorkaeff pulled a speculative shot wide.
Brazil, world champions a record four times, made little impact in the first 20 minutes against a French defence which had conceded only two goals in their six World Cup games leading to the final in the Stade de France.
Roberto Carlos sent in a high ball from the left in the 21st minute but it landed on top of the net.
Two minutes later, however, the Real Madrid left back caused greater danger with another high ball which French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez only just managed to grasp without falling back into his net.
France were rewarded for their attacking elan with a goal in the 27th minute by Zidane after they had won a corner on the right.
Emmanuel Petit swung in his corner and Zidane rose above Leonardo to head home past a beaten Taffarel.
France came desperately close again after 41 minutes when Arsenal midfielder Petit, on the left in the box, hit a goalbound right-foot shot which took a deflection off defender Junior Baiano and went into the side netting.
But France were not to be denied and Zidane put them 2-0 up in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
Guivarc’h, put through by Thuram, found himself clear in the box with just Taffarel to beat. He fired in a left foot shot which Taffarel brilliantly turned round his post for a corner.
Petit took that corner on the right but a Brazilian defender turned it away for another corner, this time on the French left.
Djorkaeff hoisted the corner across with his right foot and Zidane darted in to head home at the near post.

Soccer fever sweeps France
PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) — Football fever swept France today, hours ahead of the France-Brazil World Cup final.
Thousands of French and Brazilian fans gathered along the Champs Elysee waving a sea of flags, while hundreds more supporters joined forces at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
Cars blared their horns throughout the centre of the capital. French and Brazilian banners fluttering from the windows.
One French supporter wandered around dressed as a giant World Cup trophy while Brazilians, smeared in body paint, danced the Samba. Waiters serving drinks had their hair, faces and T-shirts painted in the colours of France.
"The Blues have a rendez-vous with history. All the nation is behind them," Le Journal Du Dimanche newspaper said on its front page, praising the home side which fought their way to their first World Cup final.
News channels gave over most of their programmes to the big game, with TF1 station flashing up how many hours minutes and seconds remained until the kick-off.
A weather girl on the LCI news channel, normally a picture of Parisian chic, wore a French team T-shirt, the newsreader was wrapped in a French scarf while a reporter on state television news wore a French-tricolor shirt.
Le Journal Du Dimanche published dozens of hand-written letters of encouragement for the French team from France's leading politicians and entertainers."Tonight all of France is behind you." Prime Minister Lionel Jospin wrote. "Dear 'dream team'. To win in the final is the cherry on the cake. You already have the cake," said actor Alain Delon.
Cities around the country have set up huge screens in public areas for fans to watch the match. More than 20 million viewers are expected for the big game — a record for a soccer audience in France.
The sizeable Brazilian community in Paris was also planning its own parties, with one being staged on a boat on the seine.
If France win, the authorities expect an even bigger gathering of fans along the Champs Elysee than last Wednesday when more than 300,000 people celebrated France's semifinal victory over Croatia.
Some 3,500 policemen have been called up to patrol areas around the four giant TV screens in Paris, the metro system and the Champs Elysees. Hundreds more will be at the Stade de France.
The one threat to the fans was the weather, with forecasters predicting gusty winds during the final with heavy rain sweeping in overnight from the Atlantic. By mid-afternoon, however, the sun was out and temperatures were rising.

Beat them and they bleed
PARIS, July 12 (AFP) — There’s only one World Cup winning team, so that leaves 31 losers made up of 682 players, not to mention coaches, assistant coaches, and assorted hangers-on.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Whole nations feel the pain when their teams are beaten in the World Cup. Beat them and they bleed.
And their leaders bleed with them. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was suffering along with an entire nation when Germany lost in the quarter-finals at the hands of Croatia.
Kohl was in the VIP seats that day in Nantes, boasting before the match that Germany had never lost a game he had graced with his presence. Close by sat Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. The two men shook hands after the game.
"It was very sad, it was not to be", commented Kohl after Germany lost 3-0.

Tudjman, an old friend of coach Miroslav Blazevic, adopted the soccer team as his pet ambassadors. He took the team out to lunch on match day and visited their dressing room after the win.
French president Jacques Chirac has hitched his falling star to the national team’s rising fortunes. He was last seen cradling one of the team’s shirts on his lap at the France vs Croatia semifinal.
"Inside every football fan slumbers a voter", commented the satiricial Weekly le Canard Enchaine.
After France beat Croatia in St Denis on Wednesday, Chirac gently removed and pocketed his glasses before leaping up to give a very unpresidential Mexican wave. A sombre Tudjman shot out his hand and left.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II likes horse racing and generally steers clear of football.
But ever she too got in on the act, revealing her refereeing talents during the World Cup.
She questioned Danish referee Kim Nielsen’s decision to disallow big defender Sol Campbell’s goal in the quarter-final against Argentina.
FIFA politely ruled her offside but her loyal subjects no doubt were on her side.
It’s rare for a head of state to intervene in team selections, but at the World Cup it happens.
With his nation facing general elections within days, Colombian president Ernesto Samper was on the telephone to team coach Hernan Dario Gomez entreating him to reinstate Faustino Asprilla, kicked out of the squad for disciplinary breaches.
Asprilla was the team’s best player and a key to their hopes of qualifying for the second round of the tournament.
Samper’s appeal was turned down, the team failed to reach the second round, and Samper’s party blew the elections. Just another World Cup loser.

The biggest flops of
the extravaganza
PARIS, July 12 (AFP) — Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Thuram, Suker, Owen — you can take your pick as to who has been the biggest star of the World Cup. But who have been the biggest flops?
Brazil have achieved their customary place in the final, Holland were unlucky not to make it and Croatia outdid all expectations, while even for England, every man did his duty — bar one.
But forget for a moment the all-star team being compiled. Consider the unofficial "World Cup flops" — players and teams who failed to live up to their billing.
Reputations which had been hyped to bursting point in the run up to the competition were brutally punctured as their owners failed to deliver.
Individuals who failed to emerge with much credit were Holland’s 12-million man Jaap Stam, presumably fairly high up the list of FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s "textile testers" — shirt-pullers in plain English.
Bulgaria’s 1994 joint top scorer Hristo Stoichkov this time fired blanks and Colombia’s Faustino Asprilla lasted 45 minutes before being sent home for bickering.
Even Brazil weren’t immune, with Roberto Carlos moaning his freekicks were ineffective because the ball was too light!

Collectively, there were three major disappointments.
Given their previous records, Germany and Italy wound up in the street of shame, performing adequately in the first phase only to produce a damp squib afterwards.
Italy did what they’ve done so often before — strangling the life out of the match as they crept past Norway by the only goal, before a total lack of attacking ambition sank them against France.
The Germans, who likewise reached the last eight, flattered in likewise reaching the last eight only to deceive desperately against the fired-up Croatians. That game saw Berti Vogts’s failure to regenerate the squad cruelly exposed.
The subtext of the German problem was at the individual level as the old guard — Kopke, Moller to name but two — fell below normal teutonic standards, while the new, such as Jens Jeremies didn’t quite measure up either.
Add to that the customary bickering, a German speciality, and a fourth title was never a serious possibility with only Klinsmann and Bierhoff really looking the part.
But at least German and Italian fans have had plenty to celebrate in the past — not like Spain, who crashed at the first hurdle.
Javier Clemente’s side had waltzed through the qualifiers and for 73 minutes against Nigeria in their opening group match, things were motoring along fine at 2-1.
Enter veteran goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, playing in his fourth World Cup, to spoon a Garba Lawal cross into his own net.
Lawal claimed the goal — the opprobrium was heaped on "Zubi", who retired suitably castigated two weeks later after a goalless draw with Paraguay dumped out Europe’s perennial under-achievers.
If only the World Cup final had been played in Lens on June 4, Spain, who turned on brilliant exhibition showing that night to crush Bulgaria 6-1, might have carried off the trophy.
But it wasn’t and they didn’t.

"A tricolour flag,
a multicololured crowd"
PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) — If soccer is a metaphor for life then the multi-cultural French team has become a symbol of a France where football fever has suddenly encouraged the races to forget their divisions.
With France taking part in its first ever World Cup final against Brazil today, national media are hailing the team as proof that France can escape from its reputation as a racist country.
"A tricolour flag, a multi-coloured crowd," was the headline in the daily 'liberation' yesterday under a photo of fans celebrating France’s semifinal victory against Croatia.
"Since Wednesday evening, France has forgotten a little of its nervous withdrawal, its rigidities, its fault-lines," it said.
The new passion is all-consuming. Every news bulletin since the semifinal has been dominated by reports of what the French team are doing, when and where.
But it’s not just soccer fans who are excited. Sociologists and political commentators are also trying to make sense of a very un-French outburst of euphoria.
"This mixed-race team says so much about who the French are today. These French people, that’s France," Roland Castro, a left-wing activist and architect wrote in liberation.
The jubilation of 300,000 fans on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Wednesday night was a long way from what some had thought to see in France during the World Cup.
"They told me about grumpy French people, demonstrating all the time against everything and nothing, and very introverted. But I’ve discovered a Paris which is partying to the sounds of Copacabana," said one Brazilian journalist.
Centre-right and left-wing politicians have been quick to seize on the team as a positive metaphor for France.
Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said it was wonderful to see how France had united in support for the team.
"Watching those we call blacks and beurs (French-born children of North Africans) rejoicing, waving tricolor flags and singing the Marseillaise...made me feel these were opportune images in the current period," he told one interviewer.
His political opposite number, Gaullist Philippe Seguin, said the past few days suggested France was ready for a new beginning.
"When you see all these French, seemingly so different but in fact so similar, sharing the same enthusiasm...You wonder whether there isn’t a cement, a principle, a solution to all our problems. And that is love of France," he said.
Castro noted that the leader of the extreme-right national front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had been very quiet since the beginning of the competition.
Le Pen, whose party regularly wins about 15 per cent of the vote in national elections, suggested in 1996 the national soccer team was not truly French because it had "foreign" players who did not know the words to the national anthem.
One man who Le Pen might have considered foreign is the team’s unquestioned star, Zinedine Zidane, fondly known to fans as "Zizou". Born to Algerian parents, he grew up in the rough La Castellane suburb near Marseille.
"He is the standard-bearer for a plural France which still does not accept itself as it really is," said Mouloud Aounit, head of the Paris-based anti-racism group.
Lilian Thuram, who was born in French West Indian island of Guadeloupe, has been embraced as a national hero thanks to the two goals he scored in the semifinal.
But it has not always been that way. Black players in the French league are often greeted by crudely worded banners, have bananas thrown at them or are jeered by spectators making monkey noises — and not everyone believes in a new dawn.
"By Monday morning, the evil ferments which are at work in a divided France will be back in place. For the neglected part of the population, the World Cup will have just been a brotherly illusion," wrote Laurent Joffrin in Liberation.
"But these illusions are useful. They change ideas," he added.

Connors inducted into
Hall of Fame
NEWPORT, July 12 (AP) — Describing himself as a selfish, bad-boy loner, Jimmy Connors was inducted into the international tennis Hall of Fame in front of a sellout crowd at Talbert Stadium court.
But Hall of Fame and nominating committee chairman Tony Trabert, who presented Connors with his certificate yesterday, may have best summed up the former world No. 1 by calling him, "one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever seen.’’
Connors, 45, was known for his intensity and longevity, ranking among the top 10 players in the world every year from 1973-88. He holds the record — matched by Pete Sampras this year — of being ranked No. 1 in men’s singles for five straight years (1974-78) won the U.S. Open five times, Wimbledon twice and the Australian Open once.

But he said in news conference after the induction ceremony that his greatest moment came in 1991, when, having just turned 39, he reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open once again.
"My most memorable eleven days in tennis were in ’91," Connors said. "For eleven days, it was pandemonium."
He explained that one of the things that drove him throughout his career was that he wanted his sport to enjoy the same fan excitement as baseball, football and basketball.
Connors’ 109 career titles is a men’s Open-era record, as are the 401 tournaments he played. He was ranked no. 1 in the world for 160 consecutive weeks from 1974-78, bumped by Bjorn Borg for one week, and returned to the top spot for an additional 84 consecutive weeks.
"I make no apologies for the way I played the game,’’ said Connors, admitting that he crossed the line sometimes with his bad-boy tactics,’’ such as making obscene gestures and arguing with linesmen.
Connors still plays tennis professionally — for the Kansas city Monarchs of world team tennis — but was eligible for the Hall of Fame because he has been off the men’s Tour for five years. He said he doesn’t have a timetable for total retirement, but admitted that day is coming soon.
Connors thanked his mother and grandmother, who introduced him to the game growing up in Belleville, Illinois, and his immediate family, including his two children and his wife, Patti, "for allowing him to pursue his selfish tennis goals."
Connors also thanked the fans, who "won me more matches than I can tell you."
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame yesterday — bringing the list to 170 — was the late Herman David who chaired the All-England Lawn Tennis Club from 1959-74, and pioneered open tennis,’’ which allowed amateurs and professionals to compete in the same tournaments.

Paes advances to ATP singles final
NEWPORT (Rhode Island), July 12 (AFP) — India’s Leander Paes advanced to the first atp singles final of his career here last night, beating Italy’s Laurence Tieleman 6-3 6-4 at the Hall of Fame Championships.
Paes will go for his first atp singles title and a 39,000-dollar first prize at the 275,000-dollar grass event tonight when he faces South Africa’s Neville Godwin.
Godwin upset top-seeded Australian Jason Stoltenberg 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7/5).
Godwin, 23, is ranked 170th while Paes, 25, is rated 120th. Both typically fare better in doubles, where Paes and Bhupathi are ranked third in the world.
A service winner up the middle on the first match point sent Paes to the championship match after two earlier semifinal failures here.
"I like playing in Newport," Paes said. "If I just come out and play my tennis, get into my rhythm, it doesn’t matter what the other guy does. I have been playing my best game."
Paes shook off an ankle injury to make his run here and subdue Tieleman, who fell to 8-3 on the year with every triumph having come on grass.
"My ankle was a little sore. But it didn’t slow me down at all, "Paes said. "that was the difference, my movement."
In the second semis, Stoltenberg double faulted in the tie-breaker to lift Godwin to 4-4, but the South African sent. a forehand volley into the net to give 35th-rated Stoltenberg his final point and A 5-4 lead.
Godwin followed with an ace and then reached match point with a backhand volley winner. On the match point, Godwin returned Stoltenberg's serve to the baseline for a winner to take the match.

'Golden boot' for Davor Suker
PARIS, July,12 (Reuters) — Croatian striker Davor Suker emerged as the top scorer in the World Cup finals with his sixth goal of the tournament yesterday and won the golden boot.
Suker, who had been level at the top of the scorer’s list with five goals along with Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina and Christian Vieri of Italy, moved clear with a sweetly struck left-foot drive after 36 minutes.
His angled shot, which swerved past goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar after going through the legs of defender Jaap Stam, proved to be the winning goal in Croatia’s 2-1 victory last night over the Netherlands which gave his team third place in the tournament.
He then went close to adding another in the second half but was just a fraction of a second too slow to turn Robert Prosinecki’s free kick past Van Der Sar.
Suker said: "I am the happiest man in the world tonight. It’s great for a small country like ours to finish third in the World Cup, it’s almost as good as winning it. I am very proud".
Asked about the golden boot, he said: "the most important thing for me is the medal for coming third."
For Suker's total to be overtaken, either a Brazilian or French player had to score at least a hat-trick in today's final, but that was not to be.

Sarikiran, Saravanan best scorers
BENASQUE (Spain), July 12 (UNI) — International master K. Sarikiran and V. Saravanan were the best scorers among Indians after the 6th round of the international chess tournament here today.
While Saravanan held French grandmaster Manuel Apicella to a draw, Sarikiran effectively disposed of lowly-rated Florian Handke of Germany.
Both players thus move on to five points — just half a point behind the tournament leaders.
Neepotpal Das' dazzling run was cut short by Russian grandmaster Alexey Kuzmin, Neelotpal (4.5) chose the exchange variation of the roy Lopez opening and unwisely elected to open up the centre with a pawn thrust to 'D4'. He also weakened the kingside with a capture on 'F3' with his pawn which paved the way for a mating attack from Kuzmin. Faced with irresistible attack, Neelotpal resigned on the 28th move.
Saravanan adopted the najdorf variation of the Sicilian defence which converted into a dragon set-up. Saravanan's accurate handling of the centre even saw him gain a slight advantage in the form of a weak pawn on 'D5' for white. But, Apicella found the accurate defensive moves and a draw was agreed when the game was about to enter a deed drawn minor pieces ending.
Sandipan Chanda and IM P. Konguvel moved on to 4.5 points with smooth wins over Abril Avellanas and Borrego Mata, respectively, but Rahul Shetty (3.5) was held to a draw by lowly-rated Mora Mane.
Grandmasters Granda Zuriga, Georgi Georgadze, Cifuentes Parada, Alexey Kuzmin, Elizbar Ubilava, Milos Pavlovic and Stuart Conquest are on joint lead with 5.5 points.
Other results:
GM Granda Zuniga (5.5) drew GM G. Georgadze (5.5), GM A. Baburin (5) drew GM Cifuentes Parada (5.5), GM E. Ubilava (5.5) beat GM Felix Izeta (4.5), GM M. Pavlonic (5.5) beat IM Ion Cosma (4.5), GM S. Conquest (5.5) beat GM Saltaev (4.5) Roktim Bandyopadhyay (4) beat Horcajada Reales (3).

Hiddink proud of Dutch style
PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) — With echoes of 1974, the Dutch left the World Cup as most neutrals’ favourite team but with a feeling that they had not quite reached their full potential.
Their final placing of fourth was not what coach Guus Hiddink had wanted but he was at least happy with the way it was achieved.
"After the disappointment you have to say that our style has impressed the world and that’s what I’m proud of," Hiddink said.
His comments came after the Dutch lost 2-1 to Croatia in Saturday’s third place playoff, having gone out on penalties to Brazil in the semifinal.
Back in 1974, the Dutch lost 2-1 in the final to West Germany in Munich but were regarded by many as the best team not to have won the World Cup.
If the present Dutch squad lacked a Johan Cruyff or a Johan Neeskens, they had something most of the rest on view in France did not — a unified approach to play and teamwork.
Ironically, it was their very lack of harmony off the pitch that proved the Dutch downfall in the European championship two years ago when Hiddink was also the coach.

This time there were no training camp disputes and few would disagree that the Dutch played attacking, attractive and creative football.
Hiddink said: "It was very important to keep to the philosophy. I don’t know if I’d have been happy with a World Cup won in a bad way. We couldn’t have done that," Hiddink said.
Had they won, of course, things may have been different. Saturday’s parting shot was a disappointing affair and the Dutch have no wish to be remembered as the fourth best.
"We wanted to complete the tournament without a defeat but it did not happen," Hiddink said ruefully.
Few had their minds fully on the task last night.
"We lost our sharpness. It went after Brazil. We were so empty after the semifinal. It’s hard then to play at 100 per cent," said captain Frank de Boer.
The Dutch had an indifferent start to the tournament, an excellent middle and a bitterly disappointing end.
"I’m just looking forward to going home," said Phillip Cocu, echoing the thoughts of many in the squad.
The semifinal was indeed a bitter blow. The Dutch matched Brazil for 120 minutes and had most of the possession but things did not go their way in the penalty shoot-out.
The Dutch can consider themselves unlucky in not having such a key figure as winger Marc Overmars fit until the end but they were not alone in losing a vital element. Brazil made it to the final without Romario, the outstanding player in their 1994 World Cup triumph.
The dice have indeed rolled in their favour at times. Yugoslavia’s Predrag Mijatovic missed a penalty against them in the second round, becoming the first player in eight years to miss a regular spot kick at the finals.
Argentina’s Ariel Ortega foolishly had himself sent off in their quarter-final encounter.
Of those fit to play, Dennis Bergkamp fell a little short of his billing though he had his moments, notably his supreme good goal against Argentina, one of the best of the tournament.
Jaap Stam, who became the world’s most expensive defender when he signed for Manchester United, still has to justify his tag.
Two players though, Frank de Boer and Edgar Davids, can reflect on an exceptional World Cup. Both were rightfully chosen for a national world squad on Friday.
On the whole, things bode well for the future. "The team have gained a lot of experience and will be strong in 2000," said Hiddink.
Perhaps then, the Dutch, joint hosts with Belgium of the 2000 European Championship, will be able to stress the end as well as the means.

National pride inspired Croats
PARIS, July, 12 (Reuters) — Croatia coach Miroslav Blazevic wanted to make quite sure the interpreter translated the four most important words of his post-match news conference.
"We are very proud," he said quietly to her in French after his team had made history with their 2-1 victory over the Dutch in yesterday’s third place play-off.
Croatia’s first appearance at a World Cup finals was inspired by national pride. At home the team will be given a heroes’ welcome by a young nation that feels its standing in the world has been enhanced by the red and whites’ good show.
The Croats may not have played the most exciting football of the tournament but quality ran through the side and they were team, above all, who worked hard for each other.
They had a world-class striker in Davor Suker, who hit six goals to top the World Cup scorers’ list before tonight’s final and a coach who made them believe in themselves.
At times Croatia’s amateur dramatics overshadowed their achievements on the field — Germany accused them of provocation after their 3-0 defeat in the quarter-finals, one of the great surprises of the tournament.
French fans also believe Slaven Bilic got France defender Laurent Blanc sent off in Wednesday’s semifinal for a fall that would not have been out of place in the comedin Francaise.

World Cup craze in Calcutta
CALCUTTA, July 12 (PTI) — Ronaldo fever gripped soccer crazy Calcutta with its denizens waiting with bated breath for the World Cup summit clash at St Dennis.
The eastern metropolis, which has been staying up till the wee hours for the last one month to watch the soccer fiesta on television, fraced itself to spend the night of nights glued to the screen to witness the clash of two distinctive styles — the silken skill of Brazil versus the total football of France.
Majority of the soccer buffs would surely be rooting for Brazil — the eternal favourites of the World Cup.
Brazil’s star striker Ronaldo has emerged the darling of the soccer afficionados. Ronaldo cutouts have come up all over the city which is home of three major Indian teams — East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting — besides other clubs with an equal share in Indian soccer history.
Youngsters with tonsured heads — read Ronaldo haircut —can be seen on the streets.
For Calcuttans, group viewing accentuates the thrill of watching football. Hence, clubs and community centres all over the city have installed TV sets to catch the action live.
It is said the easiest way to Calcuttans’ heart is through soccer. A number of corporate and business houses expectedly decided to make hay ‘after sundown’.
Soft drink giants Coca Cola set up six 70 mm mega screens in the southern part of the city to give football fans a simulated St Dennis atmosphere.
The soft drinks major has splashed advertisements in leading dailies promising exciting contests, pulsating music, Samba and bugles at the six spots to add fizz to the finale.
Other corporate houses have joined the bandwagon announcing prizes, from T-shirts to luxury cars for predicting the winner, the scorers and the player who will draw the first blood.
Several hotels and restaurants have also made arrangements to show the match on giant screens to gourmets in an atmosphere packed with football ambience.
The city is sure to start the week late tomorrow with bleary-eyed office-goers, save the large number who have applied for casual leave in advance.
With people staying up late, police records have shown a remarkable drop in criminal activities since the beginning of the World Cup.

Pope John Paul a former goalie
LORENZAGO DI CADORE (Italy), July 12 (Reuters) — Pope John Paul may be away from it all high up in the dolomites but as a former goalkeeper he will be watching the World Cup final today.
"If you ask me if the Pope will watch the final tonight I say it is possible, then I think it is probable, let's make that almost certain," Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters.
The Pope is on a two-week mountain break in an isolated hamlet at an altitude of some 1,000 metres.
But the television signal arrives just fine.
Just like millions of other soccer fans around the world the leader of the world's nearly one billion Roman Catholics will sit in an armchair and watch the final with a few close friends.
Asked which team the Pope would give his blessing to, Navarro-Valls said: "I don't know. Certainly, since Poland is not playing he feels a bit more free."
"He understands the drama of the goalkeeper. He will feel very close to each goalkeeper — both the French one and the Brazilian one," Navarro-Valls said.
The Pope played in goal for a team when he was a student in his native Poland.