Faustino Asprilla

Colombian Coach Hernan Dario Gomez, under siege from soccer officials and journalists in his country and pressured by powerful club owners, said he will resign after the tournament. "I was happy until I arrived [in France], but it has made the World Cup with Colombia a punishment, suffering instead of a happy time," he said.

SITE: Montpellier TIME: 8:30 a.m. TV: ESPN, Channel 34 RADIO: KWKW (1330, Spanish) * ABOUT COLOMBIA: Lost its opener to Romania, 1-0. It will be without Faustino Asprilla, whose pleas to be reinstated after being sent home because of comments he made to a Colombian journalist are being ignored by Coach Hernan Dario Gomez. * ABOUT TUNISIA: Lost its opener to England, 2-0. Must be more aggressive and take more offensive chances than in its opener.

SITE: Montpellier TIME: 8:30 a.m. TV: ESPN, Channel 34 RADIO: KWKW (1330, Spanish) * ABOUT COLOMBIA: Lost its opener to Romania, 1-0. It will be without Faustino Asprilla, whose pleas to be reinstated after being sent home because of comments he made to a Colombian journalist are being ignored by Coach Hernan Dario Gomez. * ABOUT TUNISIA: Lost its opener to England, 2-0. Must be more aggressive and take more offensive chances than in its opener.

Colombian Coach Hernan Dario Gomez, under siege from soccer officials and journalists in his country and pressured by powerful club owners, said he will resign after the tournament. "I was happy until I arrived [in France], but it has made the World Cup with Colombia a punishment, suffering instead of a happy time," he said.

Star forward Faustino Asprilla was kicked off the Colombian World Cup team for the rest of the tournament Wednesday, his punishment for publicly criticizing Coach Hernan Dario Gomez. "He took himself out of the team with his behavior," Gomez said. Gomez said he took the drastic step because Asprilla "broke the rules we had established" when he criticized the coach and some teammates in a radio interview.

Try as he might--and the extent and sincerity of his effort must be seriously questioned--Faustino Asprilla can't seem to adopt the attitude of a European soccer professional. The 24-year-old Colombian lives his life with a wink and a shrug. His success as a forward on Parma's first division team has the citizens of this tidy town in Italy's breadbasket chanting "Tino, Tino" at games with every feint and daring dribble.

* COACH: Francisco Maturana. * KEY PLAYERS: Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincon, Oscar Cordoba. * STRENGTHS: Colombia comes into the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the world. It has been beaten only once in the last year and is scoring goals with ease. Striker Faustino Asprilla is said to be destined for World Cup stardom, but it was the more dependable Rincon who scored the most goals in qualifying play.

GROUP A at Rose Bowl Colombia vs. Romania * TIME: 4:30 p.m. PDT. * TV: ESPN, Univision. * KEY MATCHUPS: Colombia has been picked by Pele as the favorite in the tournament and plays a wide-open style that was favored by Brazil during Pele's era. The game will turn on how well Romanian defenders handle the multifaceted Colombian offense with the best playmaker in the world, Carlos Valderrama, trying to set up forward Faustino Asprilla and midfielder Freddy Rincon.

Pele wasn't much kinder to his former team. According to the Brazilian great, Colombia is the best team going into the World Cup. "Colombia has a good team. They have (Faustino) Asprilla. Colombia has a very organized team," Pele said at an awards ceremony in New York. "Win? I don't know. But they will be one of the four finalists. "For me Colombia is the best team. It doesn't mean they are going to win it. Italy, going into the 1982 finals, had the worst team."

Sparked by a new coach and by two goals by forward Ali Daei, Iran beat UEFA Cup champion Internazionale of Milan, 4-1, Saturday in a soccer exhibition game in Como, Italy. In its first game since Jalal Talebi replaced Tomislav Ivic as coach on Wednesday, Iran fell behind when Uruguayan forward Alvaro Recoba scored in the 41st minute.

Star forward Faustino Asprilla was kicked off the Colombian World Cup team for the rest of the tournament Wednesday, his punishment for publicly criticizing Coach Hernan Dario Gomez. "He took himself out of the team with his behavior," Gomez said. Gomez said he took the drastic step because Asprilla "broke the rules we had established" when he criticized the coach and some teammates in a radio interview.

Try as he might--and the extent and sincerity of his effort must be seriously questioned--Faustino Asprilla can't seem to adopt the attitude of a European soccer professional. The 24-year-old Colombian lives his life with a wink and a shrug. His success as a forward on Parma's first division team has the citizens of this tidy town in Italy's breadbasket chanting "Tino, Tino" at games with every feint and daring dribble.

GROUP A at Rose Bowl Romania: 3 Colombia: 1 SCORING SUMMARY Colombia: 1 0--1 Romania: 2 1--3 First half scoring--1. Romania, Raducioiu 1 (16th minute); 2. Romania, Hagi 1 (34th minute); 3. Colombia, Valencia 1, (43rd minute). Second half scoring--4. Romania, Raducioiu 2 (87th minute). Shots on goal--Colombia: 19 (Asprilla 5, Valencia 5, Perez 5, Rincon 4). Romania: 10 (Hagi 4, Raducioiu 4, Popescu, Dumitrescu).