Brazil an interloper in soccer semis

Press, 27 September 1988, Page 25

Brazil an interloper in soccer semis

NZPA-Reuter Seoul Brazil won the battle of the South American soccer giants on Sunday, beating Argentina 1-0 with a goal from the midfielder Geovani to earn a place in the Olympic semi-finals.

Beaten Olympic finalist four years ago, Brazil is almost an interloper in the last four which features three countries who reached the Euro-

pean championship semifinals in June. West Germany, host of that competition, and the Soviet Union crushed the outsiders, Zambia and Australia, respectively while Italy won a tense extra-time duel against Sweden. Brazil, with the young side it is building for the World Cup in Italy in two years time, put on an impressive performance

but Luis Islas in the Argentinian goal kept them out until 14 minutes from time when Geovani gave the Brazilians their deserved win with a speculative 30-metre effort. West Germany’s hero was Juergen Klinsmann, one of the stars of the European championship, who notched a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over Zambia. Zambia, a shock 4-0 winner over Italy in a

group game, was sunk by half-time when it trailed 3-0. Wolfgang Funkel gave the West Germans the lead with a nineteenth minute penalty and Klinsmann seized on two defensive errors to score in the thirty-fifth and forty-fourth minutes. He completed his hattrick, thanks to another defensive lapse, on the stroke of full-time. Australia, which lost 3-

0, was gunned down almost single-handedly by the tall Soviet midfielder, Alexei Mikhailichenko, like Klinsmann a new talent to emerge in June in West Germany. In the semi-finals, Brazil faces West Germany in Seoul today while in Pusan, Italy plays the Soviet Union, a repeat of': their European champion- < ship clash at the same stage.