International Soccer

Chris Chueden of the Lazers is one of four soccer players charged with accepting bribes while playing with the Canadian national team during an international soccer tournament. Paul James, who also played on the national team, will not be charged but will be called as a Crown witness to testify against his former teammates, according to Inspector Claude Lemay of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Iceland makes its 1993 international soccer debut tonight at 7:30 in a match against the U.S. national team at Orange Coast College. The United States, which defeated Saudi Arabia, 2-0, on April 9 for its first victory of the year, will be without the country's all-time goal leader, midfielder Bruce Murray. Murray, who has started in more U.S. games (81) than any other player, suffered a concussion 30 seconds into the game against Saudi Arabia. He has scored 24 goals in his national team career.

With the expansion Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League making its home at Cal State Fullerton, soccer fans in Orange County won't need to travel far to see quality matches. But the truth is they never really had to. For years, international soccer teams have played at Santa Ana Stadium, sometimes in important matches with plenty at stake. In January, Mexico's Club America defeated Costa Rica's Club Alajuelense, 1 to 0, before a capacity crowd at the stadium to win the club championship of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football.

Two goals by forward Luis Flores earned Mexico a 2-1 victory over South Korea Tuesday night in an international soccer match played in front of 24,500 fans at the Coliseum. The match between the World Cup teams was one of the more entertaining seen at the Coliseum this year, with both sides playing a wide-open style of attacking soccer. The victory kept intact Mexico's record of not having lost a game in Los Angeles since February, 1980, when South Korea won, 1-0.

When Marcelo Balboa was growing up in Cerritos, he and older brother Claudio would pretend to be famous soccer stars playing in important games all over the world. "We used to take penalty kicks against each other," he recalled recently. "One guy would be the goalie and the other guy would kick the ball. Then we would switch off." Balboa doesn't have to pretend to be an international soccer player anymore. The 21-year-old Latino is a defender on the U.S. national soccer squad that is trying to qualify for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy.

What really happened at the FIFA meetings in New York last week? On the surface, all seemed to go smoothly, and the leaders of international soccer's governing body said as much at their closing news conference. "There was no rivalry between the confederations," said FIFA President Joao Havelange. "There was a discussion (on allocating World Cup '98 places) and a final decision was reached. It was unanimously adopted, so there was no rivalry."

I have lived exactly half my life in these United States of America. The other part was spent in Canada, Britain, Israel, Germany and Japan. As such, I can say with more authority than most that this country is the finest place a person can choose to live. However, if soccer were to become part of the American national heritage, it would be an even better place.

Costa Rica's players and coach were none too happy with a 1-0 loss to the United States in a World Cup qualifier Friday night that was mainly played in a snowstorm in Commerce City, Colo. “You couldn't see the lines. You couldn't see the ball. You couldn't play,” Costa Rica midfielder Michael Barrantes said. Costa Rican Coach Jorge Luis Pinto was outraged that the game was played. “I asked them to stop," he said after the game. "They should suspend the ref.  It was an embarrassment.

A decision by the world soccer body FIFA to ban international matches at altitudes above 8,200 feet to protect players' health and ensure competitiveness has drawn fierce protests from soccer-crazed Andean nations. The decision dealt a particular blow to the international soccer aspirations of Bolivia, whose administrative capital, La Paz, sits at almost 12,000 feet.

He is autocratic. He is boastful. He is cunning. But what Joao Havelange, the 78-year-old Brazilian who has ruled international soccer for the past 20 years, also might be is unbeatable. For the past few weeks, an intense, behind-the-scenes struggle has been going on within soccer's corridors of power in Zurich, Switzerland, to see whether Havelange could either be tempted to step down or tossed out as president of FIFA, international soccer's governing body.