1994_10 The Daily Collegian October 1994

              Page 6 •
Friday, October 7, 1994
49ers fall hard
in Philadelphia
Football upsets continued
as the NFL concluded another
week of America's only un-
striking sport. And for those
of you who think we had seen
enough upsets and feel it was
time to get back to the NFL
we all were accustomed to, I
got news for you. The NFL
will continue to be loaded
will upsets probably
thoughout the season and
into the playoffs.
After the Pallas Cowboys
got bounced by the detrok
Lions in .Week 3, and the
Kansas City Chiefs were shut
but in Week 4 by the Los
Angeles Rams, it was the
49ers who were caught off
guard by the Philadelphia
Eagles this past week in
Candlestick when they lost
40-8.
After four weeks of foot¬
ball, the New York Giants and
the San Diego Chargers were
the only two teams that had,
remained undefeated. But
Week 5 and the New Orleans
Saints got the best of the Gi¬
ants, leaving the Chargers as
the only team with "a zero in
the loss column.
The Chargers (4-0), who
had a bye last week, will pick
up the action this week with
the Kansas City Chiefs (3-1)
atJackMurphyStadii n. The
Chargers are led by OB Stan
Humphries who has thrown
six touchdowns and c lytwo
interceptions, includ g a 99-
yard TD this year.
Humphries -has ni been
alone. Natrone Me. ns has
rushed for 341 yards and four
touchdowns this seas* n and
continues to be a thre. u in the
AFC. In comparison, Joe
Montana has thro n six
touchdowns ind fi\ inter¬
ceptions but has completed
63.6 percent of his pa' esthis
year, (best in the \FC).
Marcus Allen continues to
show his age with ( ly 22i
rushing yards and j u t two
touchdowns.
The Los Angeles Raiders
h-3) will also resume action
this week irt New England
(3-2). The Raiders, who have
struggled all year long, can
only hope th^t a week off is
all they neecf. The Patriots,
who won anail-biter to Green
Bay las^week at home, will
be looking for an easy game
with the Raiders. The Patri¬
ots'success has been sparked
"by the^ outstanding play of
Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe con¬
tinues to lead all of the NFL
•in passing yardage with 1,751
and has throw 11 touch
downs (2nd most in the NFL).
See NFL, Page 7
'Dogs go for record 10 straight wins
Bulldogs aim far
best start in FSU
soccer history, this
weekend
By Robbie Miner
In 1980, Jose Elgorriaga took
over a Fresno State soccer team
that had never won more than
11 games in the program's his¬
tory. In just his first season, the
rookie coach led the Bulldogs to
a 14-4 record and over the next
ten years would accumulate 170
wins and a .726 winning per¬
centage at Fresno State.
In 1991, Elgorriaga stepped
down and John Bluem, an assis¬
tant under Elgorriaga for seven
years at FSU, took over the
healm and began a new tradi¬
tion of Bulldog soccer. The
former Hartwick College and
professional soccer player com¬
piled a .700 winning percentage
in his first three seasons, lead¬
ing the Bulldogs to two NCAA'
appearances. But it is now in his
fourth season, the 25th anniver¬
sary of Bulldog soccer, that
Bluem is engineering perhaps
the best season in Fresno State's
history.
A win today against Oregon
State would tie a school record
for consecutive wins in a season
at FSU and another victory Sun¬
day at Washington would break
the old mark set in_1985r
For theKo. 4 Bulldogs, two
conference wins on the road
would mean more in terms of
league standings than records,
but establishing such a
ores tigous mark is definitely an
important goal for Bluem'sclub.
• A win Friday would also
equal the best start in Fresno
State history, matching
Elgorriaga's 10-Lstart in 1982.
The Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation and the nation took
noticeof the Bulldogs' early sea¬
son achievements this week, by
recognizing the team and fresh¬
man Steve Patterson.
The Bulldog team moved up
one spot in the ISAA national
soccer poll to No. 4 and
Patterson was named to Soccer
America's national men's soc¬
cer team of the week. Patterson,
a member of the 1994 U.S. Un-'
der-20 National team that com¬
peted in the CONCACAF tour¬
nament in Honduras oyer the
summer, joined goalkeeper
David Kramer as Fresno State
players to be named to Soccer
America's team of the week.
The 18-year old also was
named MPSF player of the
week, for scoring the only and
game-winning goal against No.
15 Santa Clara and scoring an-
gJaJaaW^t'^CSal            \\\\*1      \*\*[f^***\
IV      M
t, '
***r       J**\-J*W*\***********m. m    ^*m
1 '* • w                     ""
Todd Warshaw photo-Sports Information
Junior Mark Foster leads the 9-1 Bulldog^wSth
four assists; he's also scored four goals.
other in the Bulldogs' MPSF
opening 2-1 wirragainst San Jose
State. Patterson leads the MPS?
Mountain Division in goals (7)
and points (17) and is fifth in
the Far West Region in points.
Patterson's    nomination
marked the, third straight week a
Fresno State player has received
MPSF Mountain Division player
'of £ie week honors. Last week
Kramer won the award and the
week befpre that it was junior
forward Eric Farfan.
My Left Foot
With...
Paulo Albuquerque
'Dogs resemble
Brazilian soccer
A very interesting article by
Ron Orozco appeared in the
Fresno Bee yesterday about the
Fresno State soccer team. It is a
great pleasure to see soccer re¬
ceiving the_reconigtion and
space it deserves in the Bee.
Moreover, the focus of the ar¬
ticle is indeed very acoirateand
valuable.
The article deals with the ,
resemblence of the Fresno
State soccer team, tdiat so far
has displayed a very success¬
ful season, with the Selecao
Canarinha, in other words, the
champion of the world : The
Brazilian national team.
The similarities begin in the
goal. Claudio Taffarel is most
definitely the best goalkeeper
that Brazil has ever had. De¬
spite the fact that older nostal -
gic folks would claim that the
late Carlos Castilho, or the ,
presumptious Leao would bet¬
ter fit this spot, Taffarel is the
keeper with the most shut-oats
for the Brazilian nation. As
well as Da vid Kramer, Taffarel
displays great leadership and
is capable of making tremen¬
dous saves for his teams.
Kramer resembles the Brazil-
ian keeper even in his physi-
cal attributes. They are both tall
keepers. Despite their great
height and quick reflexes both
find some difficulties to clear
crosses, as I observed in the sec¬
ond goal of the Netherlands-
Brazil World Cup matchup and
the last goal suffered by Kramer
against the Spartans.
In the midfield, there is an
evident intention of coach Bluem
to use some of the Brazilian strat¬
egies. Brazil played with two very.
unselfish, physical, non-flashy,
defensivemidfielders. This stjat-
egy used by P^arreira in the last
Cup, was actually initiated by
Lazarony, though not so success¬
fully in the prior Cup played in
Italy in 1990. Lazaroni suffered
great criticism from the press
for using two Cabecas ae Area,
(head of the area, in other
words), two defensive
midfielders playing together. I
»likeit Brazilian soccerstruggled
for almost twenty years to re¬
gain control of international soc¬
cer. One of the reasons for that
was the fact that the defensive
midfield (Cabeca de *Ajea) was
always overloaded with mark¬
ing tasks, while the two remain¬
ing midfielders would display
their great flashy skills without
covering anyone else. Follow¬
ing the, Brazilian example,
Bluem adopted this strategy,
quite intelligently by having
Brian Johnson and Mario
Sanchez assume the roles
played by Mauro Silva and
Dunga for the Canarinhos.
Jdhnson fits the task per¬
fectly. Mauro Silva and Johnson
ate both very well prepared to
cover every inch"of-lhe field.
Both are capable to perform very
accurate passes and always
strive for simplicity.
Sanchez, however, faces a
more difficult role. Dimga is a
very strong man. Sanchez is
much smaller than him. Dunga
uses his gifted body to push
opponents away. Sanchez has
problems doing so. Dunga on
other hand, is not the typical
Brazilian player. His skills are
very limited. He does-well what
he can. Sanchez has more cre¬
ative skills that could be better
explored. He could probably/as¬
sume the role of Zinho, a more
offensive midfielder, who al¬
though did not perform well in
the Cup, has great Work ethics
as well as Sanchez and can also
make things happen. Therefore,
this columnist believes that
Sanchez should play a little bit
more free in the field in order to
use his fine skills. So far he has
been sacrificed for the tactics.
On the other, hand, Kyle
Berger,'as I have mentinoed be¬
fore, fits more the Dunga style.
Berger, like Dunga, has great
marking abilities. They are both
very strong players who know
how to use their bodies to push
and intimidate their opponents.
Steve Patterson would be the
perfect man to fullfil Rai's spot.
Rai\ was a tremendous
dissapointment for the team.
Everybody expected that he
would make the transition from
the midfield to the forward po¬
sition, but he did not fulfill Bra¬
zilian hopes. Patterson, like Rai
is a versatile player who can
play anywhere on the field. He
is also much faster than the two-
time World Champion Rai,'
that ended up being substi-
- tuted by Mazinho. Patterson
has played -exteremeUy well
for the Bulldogs. He has how¬
ever created a problem for
coach Bluem. It is Very diffi¬
cult to find a perfect position
for him. He should make a
great midfielder. He can de¬
fend and attack very well, also.
Unfortunatelly he appears a
to a bit unconf ortable playing
in the middle. Bluem has at¬
tempted to have him in there,
but the team did not perform
as welL Patterson is a fine de¬
fender.. He definitely adds
height to the Bulldogs' defen¬
sive line. The only problem with
that is that his presence at f for¬
ward is crucial for the Bulldogs
to score goals. I think he can
make that fourth mari of the
midfield, otherwise he should
assume the role of Roinario,
plavingas a forward and giving
his opponents great headaches.
The forward line, generally
formed by different combinations
of two players, used by Bluem,
also resembles Parrcira's Brazil¬
ian World Cup team. While
'Parreira used the famous duo* of
Be be to and Romario, Bluem has
had a mixture of lethatl talent up
front. Eric Farfan. Mark Foster,
Brian Taylor, Mike Matson and
Patterson have all displayed great
speed and skills, tormenting their
opponents.Whereas Parreira
rarely substitutes up front,
BJuem's constant changes pro¬
vides the FSU offense with fresh
legs up front at all rimes.
See Brazil, Page 7
' r
-