The Italian coach asked his players to refrain from sex.
The best player in the world claimed the draw was rigged.
The Colombians have regrouped after their fall season was canceled due to the murder of a referee.
The Romanians are free of the Ceausescu family, which fixed games as well as elections.
The violent British and Dutch fans have been quarantined on the island of Sardinia.
The Americans are making their first appearance in 40 years.
A Kenyan witch doctor has already picked the winner.
Welcome to the 24-team World Cup of soccer, the world's most widely viewed and outrageous sporting event, a month-long spectacle of athleticism and international intrigue that begins this week in Italy.
The United States will play Czechoslovakia in Florence next Sunday, Italy in Rome on June 14 and Austria in Florence on June 19. A win and a tie are probably needed for the United States to advance to the second round. The players are hopeful, but their chances are slim. The chances of the Americans winning the Cup are approximately equal to the chances of Charles Barkley saying "No comment." Odds against it range from 1,500 to 2,500 to 1.
Though the Americans should make an early exit, the rest of the world's couch potatoes will remain in rapt attention, especially in the favored countries of Argentina, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, West Germany and the Soviet Union. From the opening game on Friday to the final on July 8, a total audience of more than 13 billion people worldwide is expected to watch portions of the 52 matches on television. About 650 million viewed the 1986 championship game from Mexico City. More than 700,000 ticket requests were made for this year's final, to be played in 79,500-seat Olympic Stadium in Rome. Finally, something that can outdraw Madonna.
In this country, soccer is played outdoors before sparse audiences and in indoor arenas when tractor pulls and the World Wrestling Federation are out of town. The rest of the world lends the sport a slightly more fanatical devotion.
On May 17, the headquarters of the Florence soccer team was bombarded with rocks and fireworks by angry fans upset over the sale of a star midfielder to a rival club in Turin. The general manager of the Florence team was conked in the head by a bottle.
Earlier in May, Italian coach Azeglio Vicini had instituted a two-month ban on sex for his players.
"Chastity of players prior (to) and during a major competition has been a long-debated and unsolved problem," Vicini explained.
