S.F. Team First to Play in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY -- As the United States and Vietnamese flags waved briskly from the same pole Thursday, the semipro San Francisco Bay Seals became the first American
professional soccer team to play in the unified Vietnam.
Call it soccer diplomacy.
The symbolism-laden match against the Ho Chi Minh City police team was part of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown's trade and culture mission to the Far East.
One of the mission's goals was to generate goodwill, and there was little doubt that at least the sports aspect won fans in soccer-crazy Vietnam. The game was televised live nationally and filled 25,000-seat Thong Nhat Stadium to three-quarters capacity.
The teams, from sister cities, filed onto the field side by side, preceded by four Vietnamese youths carrying a yellow flag that read ``FIFA Fair Play.''
Brown, addressing the crowd through an interpreter, got his biggest applause when he said: ``I look forward to cheering for both sides. The winner will be the friendship developed between us.''
Each player got a bouquet of flowers and shook hands with Brown and counterpart Vo Viet Thanh, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. Advertising signs promoted Pepsi, Kodak and Citibank alongside locally made Tiger Beer.
Players kicked souvenir balls into the stands, then posed for a joint photo, the bleached-blond hair of one American player and shaved heads of two others blending in with the conservatively shorn Vietnamese.
``This is just one of the many factors that develop a sister-city relationship,'' Brown said of the game.
The fans came to see a home victory, and they weren't disappointed. The police team took a 1-0 lead into halftime. After the Seals tied the score, the hosts got two goals in less than a minute, the last on a header off a perfect crossing kick.
Brown, dealing with a whirlwind itinerary, was gone long before the first goal was scored. He flew in hours earlier after a 7 a.m. meeting in Hanoi, the capital, with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
Brown said the meeting went ``very well'' and that the prime minister expressed support for San Francisco to be one of two airports for direct flights if and when Vietnam and the United States work out a civil aviation agreement. Officials from both countries will meet next
month to discuss the subject.
He said the prime minister also offered the reassurances sought by foreign businessmen that investments in Vietnam are safe and that the government is working to remove red tape and provide a stable regime of rules and regulations.
Accompanied by a 40-strong delegation, Brown said progress has been made during the trip on swapping technology, developing Vietnam's infrastructure and health-care delivery systems, and setting up education and cultural exchanges.
Brown was to visit a library, a school and an industrial zone on Friday morning before leaving for home.
By Paul Alexander - Associated Press - February 12, 1998
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