Lavolpe Puts Together His First Roster
Mexico Coach Ricardo Lavolpe on Wednesday named his roster for the Feb. 4 match against Argentina at the Coliseum and included eight players who never have played for the national team.
The game will be Mexico’s first since June 17, when it was knocked out of the World Cup in the second round by the United States, and also will mark Lavolpe’s debut as national coach.
The eight new players are goalkeeper Moises Munoz (Morelia); defenders Raul Salinas (Club America) and Hector Atlamirano (Santos Laguna); midfielders Israel Lopez (Toluca), Jose Antonio Castro (Club America), Eduardo Rergis (Atlante) and Diego Martinez (Necaxa), and forward Fernando Arce (Veracruz).
Also headed for Los Angeles are goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez (Guadalajara); defenders Salvador Carmona (Toluca), Duilio Davino (Club America), Joel Sanchez (Guadalajara), Pavel Pardo (Club America) and Carlos Morales (Morelia); midfielders Ramon Morales (Guadalajara), Jesus Arellano (Monterrey), Luis Ernesto Perez (Monterrey) and Juan Pablo Rodriquez (Atlas), and forwards Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Club America), Jared Borgetti (Santos Laguna), Jesus Olalde (UNL) and Braulio Luna (Necaxa).
Later in February, with the dates and venues still to be finalized, Mexico will play Spain and the U.S.
Chivas Incentive
Businessman Jorge Vergara, the new owner of Chivas of Guadalajara, offered the team a $1-million bonus if it wins the Mexican league’s championship, a feat the club has not accomplished since 1997.
Korea Picks Coelho
After being led to fourth place in the 2002 World Cup by a Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, South Korea turned to a Portuguese coach, Humberto Coelho, to match or improve on that effort.
The Korean Football Assn. confirmed that it had signed Coelho, 53, to an 18-month contract starting in March and running through August 2004. The pact could be extended depending on how South Korea does at the 2004 Asian Cup in China.
Coelho, who played 64 times for his country, coached Portugal for three years, leading it to the semifinals of the European Championship in 2000, and later coached Morocco for two years. His first game for South Korea will be against Colombia on March 29 in Seoul.
Olmos for Chile
Chile’s soccer federation named Juvenal Olmos as the country’s national coach, giving the former Universidad Catolica coach a three-year contract that will run through the end of South American qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Olmos, 40, has been coaching for only three years but led Catolica to the 2002 Apertura championship and to the runner-up spot behind Colo Colo in the Clausura championship.
Bolivia Gets Trucco
Carlos Trucco, Bolivia’s goalkeeper in the 1994 World Cup, was named caretaker coach of the national team for four months and will be in charge for road games against Mexico in March and the U.S. in May, the Bolivian Football Federation said. Trucco had been coaching Atletico Celaya in the Mexican league until the team relocated to Cuernavaca and became Colibries.
U.S. Women
The world champion U.S. women’s national team leaves California today for China, where it will play Olympic gold medalist Norway on Jan. 23 in Yiwu, host China on Jan. 26 in Wuhan, and European champion Germany on Jan. 29 in Shanghai during the Four Nations Cup.
Coach April Heinrichs Wednesday named a 20-player roster that does not include veterans Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Kristine Lilly, who are resting, but does include defender Christie Pearce, who is recovering from a torn knee ligament.
