Local soccer team to get Brazilian influence

Three of Brazil’s top female soccer stars will be in Surf City next

week, giving their expertise to one lucky local girls soccer team.

The North Huntington Beach Futbol Club Under-14 team, consisting of

players from throughout Orange County, will hold a practice on Tuesday,

Dec. 7, at Mile Square Park that will feature the instruction of Brazil’s

top two strikers, Roseli and Pretinha, as well as that country’s top

female coach, Helena Pacheco.

Pacheco is the head coach of C.R. Vasco de Gama, Brazil’s reigning

women’s national champion.

Pacheco is scheduled to lead all the players through a one-hour training

session based around a typical practice day for her professional club,

Vasco de Gama.

Roseli has represented Brazil in every major international competition

since the 1991 Women’s World Cup. She is regarded as the world’s most

skillful striker, but is just returning from a knee injury suffered early

in the 1999 season.

Pretinha, who first played for the Brazilian National Team at the age of

16, has appeared in three World Cups, was the leading scorer for Brazil

at the 1996 Olympic Games, and currently is the leading scorer on the

World All-Star Team.

The pair is representing Brazil, which finished in third-place at the

1999 Women’s World Cup, on the World All-Star team, which currently is

playing the US National Team in a series of indoor soccer exhibitions

throughout the nation.

The “Victory Tour” is a 12-city exhibition tour featuring matches between

the US National Team and a World All-Star squad comprised of players from

Brazil, Canada, Australia, Norway, China, Mexico, Sweden, and Nigeria.

The World All-Star Team holds a 4-2 edge in games won, with six games

remaining to be played in December.