World Cup Roundup : Scots Lose to West Germany, Near Elimination

Scotland, though playing well, may be the first casualty in the World Cup’s “Group of Death.”

West Germany rallied to beat Scotland, 2-1, at Queretaro, Mexico, Sunday and push the Scots to the brink of elimination.

West Germany, with an excellent chance of advancing, has three points in Group E, the toughest in the tournament, which also includes Denmark and Uruguay. Its remaining opening-round game is against Denmark.

Scotland played without star forward Charlie Nicholas, who tore ankle ligaments in the previous game against Denmark.

The Scots have no points in two games with one to go against Uruguay. It is unlikely they can produce a one-sided victory to stay alive.

Surprisingly, German Coach Franz Beckenbauer was not satisfied with his team’s showing Sunday.

“The most positive thing about the game is that we won,” Beckenbauer said. “We never found our style of play and we lacked the spirit that we had shown during the game against Uruguay (a 1-1 tie).

“The Scots were as strong as we expected them to be. They put up a fight until the last minute. We never had a feeling of complete security.”

Klaus Allofs delivered the winning goal for West Germany in the 51st minute, standing unmarked in the penalty area and beating goalkeeper Jim Leighton from 12 yards.

The Scots jumped ahead when Gordon Strachan sent Roy Aitken’s pass past goalkeeper Toni Schumacher in the 17th minute for their first goal of the tournament.

West Germany tied it about five minutes later when Hans-Peter Briegel sent a pass across the goalmouth for Rudi Voeller to push home.

Scotland, which took the longest of the 24 World Cup teams to qualify, probably will be among the first to go. In the World Cups of 1974, 1978 and 1982 the Scots were unable to last more than a round.

Alex Ferguson, Scotland’s manager, was visibly shaken.

“I am so disappointed, I really do not want to comment,” Ferguson said. “After scoring the first goal, we failed to keep possession and give Germany something to worry about.

“It is hard to beat Germany, not only here but anywhere in the world.”

Belgium 2, Iraq 1--In this crudely played Group B game at Toluca, the Iraqis were practically assured of being eliminated when the first round concludes Friday.

The victory gave Belgium two points in Group B, keeping it in the running for advancing to the second round. Iraq has lost twice and has only a longshot chance of moving on as one of the four best third-place teams.

The hard-tackling Iraqis were issued five yellow cards as well as one red card which went to Basil Hanna.

Belgian Coach Guy Thys refused to criticize Iraq’s tactics, saying only: “They played fairly harshly.”

But he did say that Belgium’s uneven showing resulted from having to force the attack.

“The counter-attack is our game and it goes against our grain to go all out on attack,” he said. “That was the reason for our bad showing.”

Before a crowd of approximately 10,000, Belgium struck for two early goals. Enzo Scifo scored in the 15th minute on taking a pass from Jan Ceulemans.

Nico Claesen added a penalty kick five minutes later, after Frank Vercauteren of Belgium was brought down by Khalil Allawi. Iraq goalkeeper Ra’ad Salman was given a yellow card for dissent. Claesen drove his kick into the left corner of the net.

Ahmed Amaesh replied in the 56th minute for Iraq, which has no points in two games. Its final first-round game against Mexico should be its most difficult. Samir Mahmoud, who received his second yellow card of the tournament, will miss the game against Mexico.