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Tuesday 26 May 1998
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 News 5 
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WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN
Only 15 Days To Go!
HARKES FACING HEARTBREAK
JOHN HARKES was stunned by his exclusion from the USA's preliminary World Cup squad, but he defiantly insists he isn't giving up quite yet. Adamant he belongs on the Yanks' plane jetting off to France 98, Harkes is hoping to change coach Steve Sampson's mind before the final 22 names are announced on Monday.
Although trying to book a third successive appearance at the finals would seem futile, the former Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and West Ham midfielder insists: I'm one of the best 22 players in the country and should be in that team going to the World Cup. That's how it is. That's how I feel. An international for 11 years and national captain before his shock expulsion last month, the DC United skipper has even flown from Washington to California for face to face talks with Sampson - but 24 hours later, the coach selected 20 ‘certainties' for France with Harkes' name still absent. It went pretty well, was the player's assessment of last week's chat. I got a lot of answers, we talked about the process, how it was handled and, at the end, it seemed like the door was a bit open and the chance is there to get in again.
Dream on, pal. That optimism was shattered later when Sampson confirmed it was virtually impossible for Harkes to secure one of the remaining two places: To his credit, he is doing all the right things and being very professional but, be honest, it's very unlikely he will make the team. As if to emphasise the point, Sampson's team warmed up for France by beating Kuwait 2-0 on Sunday even though three likely World Cup starters - Cobi Jones, Brian McBride and Frankie Hejduk were missing through injury. New US citizen David Regis made his debut, but the goals came from veterans Tab Ramos and Ernie Stewart while Leicester's Kasey Keller kept his third straight clean sheet.
Sampson might sound patronising when he talks about Harkes, who has won Major League Soccer's Player of the Season award three times, but you can't argue with his results. And as players of far higher quality have discovered, it never pays to question a manager and his tactics - whether your name is David Ginola, Chris Sutton or John Harkes.
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‘WE'RE GOING TO WIN THE WORLD CUP',
‘OH NO YOU'RE NOT, WE ARE'
TWO South American World Cup winners have predicted victory in France this summer - but at least one of them must be wrong. Ahead of their meeting with South Africa in the early hours of Tuesday, Argentina coach Daniel Passarella predicted: We can go all the way to the final in Paris. The team are on a high after last month's win in Brazil and home victories over Bosnia and Chile and Passarella, his country's winning captain in 1978, thinks he has hit on a formula that can repeat the glory of that tournament and Mexico in 1986.
However, Brazil striker Romario, a winner four years ago, predicts a successful defence of the title in spite of that defeat to Passarella's men and reports that relationships within the camp are a touch strained because some players have been fleeced by their teammates in high stakes card schools. We don't have an easy group, but then we don't have a difficult one either, he said. Our team is full of brilliant individuals who can definitely make the quarter-finals and, from there, go on and win it.
FRIENDLIES
ROUND-UP
GOALS from Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas put Chile 2-0 up inside 24 minutes against Uruguay, and a winning send-off seemed assured when opposing midfielder Federico Magallanes got a red card in the 54th minute.
But the Chileans, 2-0 winners at Wembley in February, then committed two defensive howlers. Nicolas Olivera forced Pedro Reyes into giving away a penalty on the hour that he converted himself, then pounced on a wayward pass from Javier Margas to put Marcelo Zalayeta through for an 81st minute equaliser. "We just lost concentration and discipline," said coach Nelson Acosta.
Holland cruised to a 4-1 win over Swiss club side Lausanne, Leeds striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scoring his first goal for his country.
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‘ONE LAST HURRAH
FOR KLINSMANN'
TONY WOODCOCK, the former England striker who played for FC Cologne in the early 80s and is now coaching in Germany, believes Jurgen Klinsmann is on a personal mission to silence those who say he is finished at the highest level. The ex-Arsenal and Nottingham Forest star warns that Klinsmann could still be one of the stars of France 98.
Jurgen has played some great football over the last five years and, whatever you say about him, he never gives anything less than 100% every time he goes on the pitch, said Woodcock. I think he will do well in this World Cup. He's fired up - judging by his final games for Tottenham - ready to ram the critics' words back down their throats and prove people wrong one last time.
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