World roundup: Inter Milan and Lazio get leg up in UEFA Cup. Leeds safe after plane crash.

(Tuesday, March 31, 1998) -- On the world soccer scene:

Two Italian teams, Inter Milan and Lazio, both won Tuesday in the first leg of UEFA Cup semifinal matches.

Brazilian midfielder Ze Elias scored in the 89th minute to give Inter Milan a 2-1 win against visiting Spartak Moscow (Russia). Lazio won 1-0 at Atletico Madrid (Spain). Second matches will be held April 14.

Dmitri Alenichev had a 48th-minute equalizer for Spartak Moscow, cancelling out Chilean Ivan Zamorano's goal, a header off Ze Elias' free-kick seconds before halftime.

Yugoslav international midfielder Vladimir Jugovic scored with a 20-yard shot in the 34th minute to give Lazio its win, a victory that extended the Rome club's unbeaten record to 24 matches stretching back to last November.

Teams eligible for UEFA Cup are top finishers in leagues not invited to the more prestigious European Champions Cup.

Members of the Leeds United soccer team escaped injury today when their chartered plane crash-landed while trying to leave London after a 3-0 loss to West Ham. The captain of the chartered two-engine British Aerospace 748 aircraft aborted the takeoff after the right engine caught fire. The only member of the Leeds party to be injured was assistant coach David O'Leary, who hurt his shoulder. The plane, operated by Belfast-based Emerald Air, carried a crew of four and 40 passengers, including 18 players. One other passenger suffered superficial cuts.

South Korea's struggling national team meets Japan in a match Wednesday in Seoul. Coach Cha Bum-keun could face calls for his resignation if the Japanese win for the third straight time in this heated rivalry.

South Korea has called in four veteran midfielders and forwards -- Hong Myung-bo, 29, Ha Seok-ju, 30, and Kim Do-hoon, 28 and Seo Jung-won, 28 -- from the Japanese and French leagues.

Hwang Sun-hong, 30, one of the nation's best strikers, has also rejoined the team after a one-year break. He suffered a knee injury in 1996 and has been staying in Germany for treatment.

Japan will be fielding a different team, augmented with three teenagers -- Shinji Ono, 18, Shunsuke Nakamura, 19, and Daisuke Ichikawa, 17.

Two top stars are sitting out. Brazilian-born forward Wagner Lopes, 29, is recuperating from a broken cheekbone. Forward Kazuyoshi Miura, 31, will also stay at home.

Cameroon has named Frenchman Claude Le Roy as coach for the World Cup. Sporting director of French club Paris St. Germain, he coached the Indomitable Lions from 1985-88. He will be assisted by Jean Manga Onguene of Cameroon, who coached the team earlier this year. Youth and Sports Minister Joseph Owona said the priority for the new coaching team was to restore discipline, cohesion and a spirit of patriotism.

Paraguay threatened to axe striker Jose Cardozo from its World Cup squad as problems hit the strife-torn team.

The Paraguayan Football League was upset after he failed to take part in a two-match tour to the United States this month.

He said he could not obtain a U.S. visa in time but a league official said it was believed he had preferred to play for his Mexican club Toluca.

Paraguay also is probing fellow striker Jorge Campos, who plays in China and failed to turn up, saying he had received the call-up too late. Superstar goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who plays for Velez Sarsfield in Argentina, asked to be excluded from the tour and his reserve Ruben Ruiz Diaz stayed behind for family reasons.

Defender Celso Ayala, who plays for River Plate in Argentina, said he was too physically worn out to travel. Meanwhile, Carlos Gamarra flew back to Brazil, where he plays, before Sunday's game with Colombia because of injury. But he recovered in time to play for Corinthians in a local championship match the same weekend.

Chilavert has already said he would not travel to the World Cup if veteran striker Julio Cesar Romero was included in the squad. His warning came after 40-year-old Romero was recalled for a match last month. The fiery goalkeeper said his selection was purely political and the squad was not big enough for both of them.

Cologne (Germany) striker Jean Vladoiu has decided to quit Romania's national soccer team after an argument with Coach Anghel Iordanescu, Romanian newspapers reported Tuesday. He is the third regular to quit. Ionut Lupescu and Florin Raducioiu, who also play in the Bundesliga, have said they won't play under Iordanescu. Whether these defections will stick isn't known. Vladoiu was unhappy that he didn't play in a recent 1-0 loss to Israel, and the two exchanged words afterwards.

Coca-Cola Korea Co. Ltd. said it will send a 777-member South Korean cheering squad to this summer's World Cup soccer finals in France. "We've chosen the number 777 to wish luck to the South Korean team so that they can make it to the second round of the World Cup," said Kim Woo-young, a company spokeswoman. The beneficiaries will be chosen through lottery, newspaper quizzes and other events. Coca-Cola Korea sent a 150-member South Korean cheering squad to the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States.

World soccer governing body FIFA is stepping in to halt the sale of souvenir knives at World Cup stadiums. It said it was unaware that knives were being produced by the Opinel company under a license granted by FIFA's marketing partner ISL Worldwide.