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Bora in Beijing Former MetroStars coach set to lead China
Posted: Tuesday January 11, 2000 01:22 PM
BEIJING (AP) -- Bora Milutinovic, one of two men to coach four different teams at the World Cup, may get a chance with a fifth -- China. Milutinovic and Chinese Football Association officials talked for more than two hours Tuesday, and "finally saw eye to eye with each other in the details of the contract," the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. Despite the sport's wide popularity in China, the country has never qualified for the World Cup. Milutinovic, A Yugoslav who managed Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994) and Nigeria (1998) at the World Cup, would follow two other foreigners as coach of China, German Klaus Schlappner and Briton Bobby Houghton. Carlos Alberto Parreira is the other man to coach four teams at the World Cup: Kuwait (1982), United Arab Emirates (1990), Brazil (1994) and Saudi Arabia (1998). Milutinovic is the only man to take all four teams to the second round. Milutinovic resigned on Oct. 29 as coach of the New York-New Jersey MetroStars in U.S. Major League Soccer after one year with the club, which had the worst single-season record in league history (4-3-25). Xinhua quoted an unidentified source involved in the talks as saying that the two sides reached a consensus and that all that emained was to sign the contract. But it also quoted Milutinovic as saying: "I have not signed on the contract." Xinhua described him as "the biggest catch for China." Milutinovic in August turned down an offer to coach the Paraguayan national team. Houghton, who led the Chinese national and Olympic teams for 18 months, as sacked in December after China failed to qualify for this year's Olympics. Coincidentally, he also coached in MLS, guiding the 1996 Colorado Rapids to a 9-2-21 record, fourth worst record in MLS history.
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