U S Soccer Federation

Ray Liggett Jr. of Cary, Ill., has been hired as comptroller of the U.S. Soccer Federation, after eight years as an executive with Ducks Unlimited.

The U.S. soccer team is enjoying its greatest success in 80 years, but the hunt to bring America the World Cup goes far beyond the next two weeks in South Africa. Even as the national squad prepares to play Ghana on Saturday, U.S. soccer officials are racing to secure the country's bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. Leading the charge is Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation and chairman of the USA Bid Committee. In that role, he coordinates efforts to convince the bigwigs of FIFA that the U.S. and not Japan, Qatar, Russia or eight other countries deserve to get the nod. A final decision will be made Dec. 2. In the meantime, win or lose in Johannesburg, Gulati will be focused on one goal.

Alan Rothenberg, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, held "very fruitful" talks with Franz Beckenbauer in Munich about hiring the former West German team manager, the federation reported.

Bruce Arena's eight-year tenure as U.S. men's soccer coach came to an end Friday, leaving behind a mixed bag of achievement and disappointment that underscored the notion that it's better to be lucky than good only until the luck runs out. Arena, whose contract with U.S.

The contract of Tab Ramos, one of the top American soccer players, was bought for $250,000 from the U.S. Soccer Federation by the Spanish second division club Figueras, the USSF announced.

The Mexican and Argentine national soccer teams drew almost 100,000 fans to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for their 1999 match there--a fine crowd for the Coliseum, which has seen too little of professional sports since the Raiders football team left town in 1995. The game delivered a cool $1 million in revenue, helping to keep the publicly owned stadium from becoming a drain on local tax receipts. Even the U.S.

Miscellany James Lucarelli of Capistrano Beach won the bodyboarding competition this weekend at the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. The competition marked the fourth and final stop of the ShockWave tour. Lucarelli scored 27 points and runner-up Larry McGinn of New Jersey scored 26.50. Joe Grodzen of Lake Forest finished fourth. Mike Todd of Laguna Beach edged Peter Labrador of Fountain Valley to win the juniors competition.

Of all the wonders they have seen during their trips from sea to shining sea, one vision of America remains fixed in the minds of players on China's Women's World Cup team. "We've been in several cities here and we have seen lots of girls playing soccer on fields," said Wang Junsheng, head of the Chinese delegation. "That is incomparable with other countries." Those girls may play in the next Women's World Cup tournament, or the one after that. Or they may play professional basketball.

Nike Corp., which is trying to bolster its share of shoe sales to soccer players, has agreed to pay $120 million to sponsor the U.S. Soccer Federation for eight years. Nike will become the exclusive official supplier and sponsor of products for U.S. national teams through 2006. Nike will also become title sponsor of the annual U.S. Cup series and the U.S. Women's Cup tournament.

Ready or not, Major League Soccer's time has arrived. Today at 5 p.m., before a sellout crowd of 31,000 and a national TV audience, professional soccer returns to the United States after an absence of 12 years. On the same Spartan Stadium field where George Best once wove his magic for the San Jose Earthquakes of the old North American Soccer League, Eric Wynalda and friends will try to conjure some tricks of their own for the San Jose Clash. Opposing the Clash will be Washington D.C.

Decisions, decisions. The Irvine High girls' soccer team--and the rest of the Orange County girls' soccer community--waited for one important decision last week. Katie Roda, a senior midfielder, was considering playing for the Southern California Blues women's team rather than with the Vaqueros this season. Roda could not do both because it is against Southern Section rules. With Roda, the Vaqueros are expected to be among the best five teams in the county.

The 1995-96 English season began over the weekend amid news that the 20 clubs in the Premier League spent a staggering $142.8 million buying new players during the summer, many from overseas. Newcastle United, under the care of former England national team captain and future national team coach Kevin Keegan, was the biggest spender at more than $21.7 million. Liverpool made one of the largest individual purchases, breaking the British record by paying Nottingham Forest $13.

The U.S. Soccer Federation today will announce its most significant television package. The agreement with ABC, ESPN and Prime Sports calls for a minimum of 84 games to be shown over the next four years, including men's and women's national team games and youth games. Included will be all the American games at the Second FIFA Women's World Championship in Sweden in June, as well as American qualifying games for the 1998 World Cup in France.