Soccer semis need courage

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 3

Soccer semis need courage

NZPA-Reuter London With the prize of a European Cup soccer final place at stake, pure football skill may not be as important as courage in today’s semifinals in Rome and Bucharest.

The English champions, Liverpool, take a slender 1-0 advantage to Rumania where they will have to face a Dinamo Bucharest side which can best be described as rugged.

The Rumanians had four players cautioned at Anfield and will be without the suspended Andone. They will also be missing the midfielder, Mavila, who trouped off the pitch clutching a broken jaw two weeks ago while his team-mate glowered accusingly at the Liverpool captain, Graeme Souness. Nor can Scotland’s Dundee United expect a warm welcome in laly after their stunning 2-0 first-leg triumph over the glamorous Roma. With the Italian championship seemingly destined for Juventus, the Romans will be doubly determined to reach the European Cup final which will be played in their own Olympic Stadium on May 30. They will be strengthened by the return of the Brazilian World Cup star Paulo Roberto Falcao, who missed the first leg through injury.

Hopes of another all-Brit-ish final in the Cup-winners’ competition in Basle on May 16 dipped two weeks ago when the injury-crip-pled Manchester United was held to a 1-1 draw by Juventus at Old Trafford, leaving the Italians strong favourites to qualify with the holders, Aberdeen.

■ The Scots, who meet Portugal’s Porto, went down by a single goal in the first leg but should have little difficulty in making up the leeway on home soil. The best hope for an allBritish final lies in the U.E.F.A. Cup where Tottenham and Nottingham Forest both appear to have a good chance of surviving tricky assignments.

Forest, twice winners ofs the Champions’ Cup, have to travel to Brussels to face the holders, Anderlecht. But the two precious goals they scored in the last five minutes in the first leg left Forest in the driving seat and Anderlecht’s reign may be nearing its end.

Tottenham has been the most unpredictable team in England this season but returned from Yugoslavia only 2-1 in arrears against the highly talented Hadjuk Split.