FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

They say you have to be a little mad to be a goalkeeper and in his technicolor outfits Mexico’s eccentric Jorge Campos certainly looks like a paid-up member of the Rene Higuita school of clowns.

Yet that’s not all Campos has in common with Colombia’s vastly experienced Higuita, having been virtually a fixture between the Mexican sticks since making his debut almost seven years ago. By 1993, FIFA had nominated him as the third best keeper in the world and the man who divides his time between UNAM Pumas in the Mexican league and Chicago Fire in US Major League Soccer recently completed a century of international caps.

Acapulco-born Campos, 31, who recently moved to Chicago from the Los Angeles Galaxy, has excellent positional sense and is a good shot-stopper if his handling of crosses is rather suspect. He is short for a goalkeeper at just 1m78 (5ft 10in) but his experience will prove vital as the Mexicans prepare to face South Korea, Belgium and Holland in Group E, hoping to do better than in USA 94, when they reached the second round before losing on penalties to semi-finalists Bulgaria.

Campos, who as a youngster was a striker, played in only eight out of 16 qualifiers in total as former coach Bora Milutinovic swapped the team around at will, albeit in between times winning the 1996 Gold Cup and the US Cup during a turbulent reign.

But the poor form of reserve Osvaldo Sanchez in the Confederations Cup last December suggests that, barring injury, Campos’ place in the squad is as good as guaranteed despite new coach Manuel Lapuente curiously having left him on the sidelines so far this year.