Campos expected to be named to Mexico’s World Cup squad. He is one of six remaining from 1994 team.

(Thursday, April 9, 1998) -- Mexico goalkeeper Jorge Campos is expected to be is one of six players from the 1994 team to be named to the 1998 World Cup squad.

Coach Manuel Lapuente announced 23 players Thursday, and few changes are expected before the final roster is set.

Campos was a starter the past two years for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer before being traded to the expansion Chicago Fire, where he has yet to appear due to Mexican First Division committments with UNAM Pumas.

The other five players from the last World Cup squad: defender Claudio Suarez, midfielders Alberto Garcia Aspe, Ramon Ramirez and Marcelino Bernal and forward Luis Garcia.

Not named: forward Carlos Hermosillo, midfielders Benjamin Galindo, Joaquin del Olmo and Alberto Coyote and goalkeeper Adolfo Rios. Only four players who appeared in the three straight losses the past few days to two club teams and a youth team in South America were dropped.

"Games were lost, but we go forward," Lapuente told reporters as the team returned today to Mexico City.

Among the stars selected: forward Luis Hernandez. All of the players are from Mexican professional teams.

The squad at this point:

Goalkeepers: Jorge Campos, Oswaldo Sanchez, Oscar Perez. Defenders: Pavel Pardo, Issac Terrazas, Duilio Davino, Claudio Suarez, Joel Sanchez, David Oteo, Salvador Carmona. Midfielders: Alberto Garcia Aspe, Marcelino Bernal, German Villa, Braulio Luna, Jaime Ordiales, Ramon Ramirez. Forwards: Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Paulo Cesar Chavez, Francisco Palencia, Luis Hernandez, Luis Garcia, Ricardo Pelaez, Jesus Arellano.

Referee Karel Vidlak and his two linesmen have been suspended after several questionable calls in last week's Czech Republic match between Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

A Czech Football Referee's Association commission handed him a four-game suspension, while linesman Petr Petrik was given a nine-match ban, including two from a previous suspension. A second linesman, Jiri Vodicka, was suspended for two games.

"Poor calls (favoring league-leading Sparta Prague) clearly influenced the outcome of the game," the commission said in its ruling.

A handshake has cost Argentine soccer international Jose Antonio Chamot a one-match suspension.

Chamot, who plays in Italy with Lazio (Rome), was punished for the apparent protest against referee Pierluigi Collina at the end of last Sunday's league match against Juventus.

The game was marked by some controversial decisions, and the 1-0 loss dropped Lazio five points behind the first-place team from Turin.

The punishment, made public by the disciplinary commission of the soccer league, read that Chamot "expressed his evident dissent with the referee with an overly firm handshake."

Romania striker Ioan Vladoiu was handed a World Cup lifeline today after ending his dispute with Coach Anghel Iordanescu. The Cologne (Germany) player looked set to miss France '98 following reports of a row with the national boss, but he said relations are now satisfactory.

PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) rejected Manchester United's bid for central defender Jaap Stam, 25, valued by the Dutch club at $25 million. The English champions reportedly are offering $17 million. Recently voted Netherlands' Player of the Year, he is under contract with PSV Eindhoven until 2003.

Iran may allow women to play soccer despite opposition from conservative Islamists. "It is said that women's football will join other sport disciplines (allowed for women) due to the insistence of fans," said the daily Iran newspaper published by Iranian news agency IRNA.

Women athletes in Iran are allowed to take part publicly in a few sports -- such as skiing, shooting, riding, karate and rowing -- which conform with the country's strict Islamic dress code. But moderate officials have advocated allowing women to take part in more sports.

Bayern Munich's Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni announced today he was quitting the German champions at the end of the season. He had come under criticism this year with the club in second place in the Bundesliga and eliminated in the European Champions Cup. Former Borussia Dortmund coach and current general manager Ottmar Hitzfeld might be his replacement.