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Soccer

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : JUST WIN TIE, BABY

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Belgian Coach Paul Van Himst, whose team has qualified for the second round, will give a few of his regulars the day off Wednesday when Belgium plays Saudi Arabia at Washington, D.C.

But he’s not tanking the game. Only one or two starters will rest, because Van Himst still wants a tie or victory to clinch the Group F championship. That would ensure Belgium returns to Orlando on July 4 for its first round-of-16 game, against the second-place team in Group E.

“The team is improving, and by (Saturday’s) win over Holland we are in a comfortable position, but we need a point to be first in our group,” he said Sunday. “The players wish to stay here and not to travel. We are doing fine here, and I told them if they want to stay here, they must take a point at least.”

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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