Six players expected to take part in the World Cup final on Sunday, four from Brazil and two from Italy, were named today to the first-ever all-star team of the tournament.
The star strikers Romario and Roberto Baggio led the attack of the World Cup’s best 11 as selected by a panel of FIFA experts, including the former champions Pele and Bobby Charlton. They chose three defenders, instead of the customary four, and gave the team an extra attacking midfielder.
The team was as follows:
Goalkeeper: Michel Preud’homme (Belgium); Defenders: Jorginho (Brazil), Marcio Santos (Brazil) and Paolo Maldini (Italy); Midfielders: Tomas Brolin (Sweden), Dunga (Brazil), Gheorghe Hagi (Romania) and Krasimir Balakov (Bulgaria); Attackers: Roberto Baggio (Italy), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) and Romario (Brazil).
The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Bulgarian midfielder Balakov, a relative unknown at the start of the tournament.
“He burst on the scene,” Charlton said. “He was the springboard from midfield into attack.”
Each of the players chosen was given $3,000 by a sponsor to award to the charity of his choice and an extra $10,000 was donated to Unicef. Hungarian Referee Gets the Call
PASADENA, Calif., July 15 (Reuters) — Referee Sandor Puhl of Hungary will take charge of the World Cup final Sunday between Brazil and Italy, FIFA, the sport’s governing body, announced today. The linesmen will be Venancio Zarate of Paraguay and Mohammed Fanaei of Iran.
FIFA said Puhl, who was the referee for the quarterfinal game between Italy and Spain, was the unanimous choice of their referee committee. Vote of Confidence for Vogts
FRANKFURT, July 15 (Reuters) — Germany’s soccer coach, Berti Vogts, under pressure after the World Cup quarterfinal defeat by Bulgaria, will keep his job, soccer authorities said today.
The decision came in a telephone conversation between Vogts, on vacation in the United States, and the president of the German soccer federation, Egidius Braun, according to the sports news agency SID. Honor for Bulgarian Team
SOFIA, Bulgaria, July 15 (Reuters) — Bulgaria’s Parliament amended a decree today to allow the national soccer team to be awarded the highest state honor for their World Cup performance. The Stara Planina order — named after a mountain range running through Bulgaria — had been available only to foreign heads of state and other prominent figures for service to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria, which had never won a match in the finals until this year, beat Greece, Mexico, Argentina and Germany before losing to Italy, 2-1, in the quarterfinals on Sunday. But We Don’t Want To Play!
PASADENA, Calif., July 15 (AP) — The players hate it. The game has little significance, except that it brings extra revenue for soccer authorities. On the eve of the title match, the playoff for third place is the most anticlimatic game of the World Cup.
This time, the coaches of Sweden and Bulgaria, the two losing semifinalists who will contest Saturday’s match for third place at the Rose Bowl, see some value in the game. They are having a tough time convincing their players.
“We could be looking at the early edition of the 1996 European Championship final,” Coach Tommy Svensson of Sweden said.
Bulgaria’s coach, Dimitar Penev, said, “The match is a ‘little final’ for us and we want to win it.”
GRAN FUTBOLISTA 