THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Roundup : Halftime Fight Mars Soccer Match
Brazil’s Ricardo Raimundo suffered a broken rib Tuesday night during a halftime scuffle between his team and Mexico in a wild soccer semifinal at the Pan American Games.
The game also ended in controversy. With Brazil leading, 1-0, with about a minute left in overtime, the match was stopped when a member of the Mexican coaching staff ran onto the field to confront the referee and tripped Brazil’s Nelson Kerchner.
The Mexican offender, who wasn’t identified, went after Kerchner, who had decked Mexico’s Raul Servin moments earlier.
FIFA, governing body of world soccer, will meet today to determine if the final minute will be completed or if the result will stand.
Brazil Coach Carlos Silva said the halftime fighting started when a Mexican player kicked the ball into the Brazilians’ bench.
“He didn’t show too much discipline for doing that,” said Silva, who said he was struck in the nose.
The teams exchanged angry words as they left the field at halftime, and there were unconfirmed reports that some fans threw rocks at the Brazilian players.
More than 40 security officers rushed to the north end of the stadium, where the walkway to the locker rooms enters the stands.
There were 13 penalties called during the game, eight against Mexico and five against Brazil. There were two ejections.
In the other semifinal, Chile upset Argentina, 3-2.
The U.S. baseball team routed Aruba, 15-2, as Jim Abbott pitched perfect ball for three innings.
Tino Martinez of Tampa, boosting his batting average to a tournament-high .609, hit his fourth homer in the third inning. Don Guillot of Port Isabel, Tex., hit a three-run homer and Larry Gonzales of West Covina added a two-run shot.
Abbott, a 19-year-old left-hander from Flint, Mich., retired all nine batters he faced, striking out four of them. Joe Slusarski, Springfield, Ill., allowed two unearned runs in three innings to boost his record to 3-0.
The United States has a 6-0 record and are assured of a berth in the medal round. It plays Puerto Rico (5-1) tonight.
In yachting competition at Michigan City, Ind., the United States battled back from mistakes and bad breaks to win six gold medals--one shared with Canada.
Canada’s Donald B. MacDonald shared the gold in the 22-foot Star class with Vince Brun of San Diego.
Race officials disqualified Canada’s first-place finish after Brun alleged he was bumped by MacDonald’s craft. Even though Canada was disqualified, it still had enough points to tie for a gold.
The Olympic yachting point-scoring system left the two crews with identical scores of 14.70. Yachting medals are awarded according to points accumulated during the week of racing, with the worst score eliminated for each competitor.
In the largest class of boats, the 26-foot Soling, helmsman John Kostecki of San Francisco won his final race, bumping Canadian Hans Fogh from first place. Fogh, who took the silver, finished fourth Tuesday after his boat was slowed by an equipment failure.
Michael Gebhardt of San Diego won the men’s sailboard with a fifth-place finish, two places higher than he needed to guarantee a gold medal.
Three U.S. sailors, including David Chapin of Orange, won gold medals even though they stayed ashore the final day, having already secured a mathematical lock on the top award. The other two were Chris Larson of Charleston, S.C., and Kathy Steele of Fort Pierce, Fla.
Heavy rains and winds forced officials to shorten the seventh and final race.
In women’s volleyball, Brazil scored five straight points in the final game behind the strong serve of Regina Uchoa to hold off a U.S. comeback and beat the Americans, 15-9, 15-11, 8-15, 15-8.
“We have not sustained one good game here,” said U.S. Coach Terry Liskevych, who saw his club battle from a 5-1 deficit to tie the final game before losing for the third time in four-round robin games.
Tuesday night’s game wrapped up women’s round robin competition. The United States plays Cuba, and Brazil meets Peru in the semifinals of the medal round Thursday.
In an earlier game, Cuba defeated Peru, 15-10, 11-15, 15-7, 15-3, in a showdown of teams that had won their three previous games.
The men’s round robin, a six-team affair, ends today. Argentina (2-2) plays Canada (1-1) in the opening game, then Brazil (2-2) meets the Dominican Republic (0-4), and Cuba (4-0) faces the United States (3-1) in the final game.
MEDAL STANDINGS
G S B Tot United States 156 105 72 333 Canada 28 55 69 152 Cuba 61 47 42 150 Brazil 10 13 26 49 Argentina 11 9 19 39 Mexico 8 10 17 35 Colombia 3 7 12 22 Venezuela 3 9 9 21 Puerto Rico 2 3 12 17 Jamaica 2 3 7 12 Costa Rica 3 4 3 10 Dom. Republic 0 2 7 9 Ecuador 0 1 5 6 Chile 1 1 3 5 Bahamas 0 2 3 5 Peru 0 2 3 5 Uruguay 2 2 0 4 Panama 0 3 0 3 Nicaragua 0 0 3 3 Suriname 0 0 1 2 Trinidad 0 1 1 2 U.S. Virgin Is. 0 1 1 2 Net. Antilles 0 0 1 1 Bermuda 0 0 1 1 Guatemala 0 0 1 1 Paraguay 0 0 1 1
