Tragedy Hits Close to Home For 2 Players

Jerry Trecker, Liam McHugh

September 16, 2001

The horrific events that transpired Tuesday hit close to home for the Carlos Llamosa and Jim Rooney of Major League Soccer's Miami Fusion.

That morning, while Llamosa's car was being serviced, he watched the tragic moments unfold on the repair shop's TV, and was reminded of a day that he will always remember as one of the luckiest and saddest of his life.

Llamosa was working as a janitor in the World Trade Center in 1993. On Feb. 26, 1993, he decided to go out for Chinese food instead of eating at work. He returned to find that six were dead, and 1,000 wounded, and that his cleaning company's office in the basement of the building had been destroyed by a terrorist bombing.

"The worst part was watching the building collapse," Llamosa said of Tuesday's tragedy. "I kept thinking of the people I used to work with. A couple of the guys are still there. I don't know if they're alive or dead."

Rooney grew up in one of those old-school, blue-collar Bronx communities where it seemed everyone's father was either a firefighter or police officer. Two of his closest pals in the neighborhood were the son's of New York City fire chief Ray Downey. Sadly, Downey, who lived in Deer Park, was among the first wave of rescuers that arrived at the scene, and lost his life trying to save others when the World Trade Center collapsed.

- Liam McHugh

UEFA Postpones Matches

The impact of Tuesday's tragic events in the United States was felt across the globe.

The European Football Union (UEFA) postponed a full round of Cup matches that had been scheduled for Thursday and half of the opening round of the Champions League. However, eight Champions League games were played Tuesday because UEFA said that some of the games had started before the attacks began.

The eight postponed Champions League games, including the debut of Manchester United and defending champion Bayern Munich, will be played Oct. 10 while the UEFA Cup first-round games will be played Thursday.

The eight Champions League games that were played included Real Madrid's 2-1 victory over AS Roma in Rome, a match that Roma manager Fabio Capello later said should not have been played, given the circumstances.

The attack on the United States did not stop FIFA World Cup qualifiers, scheduled for this weekend in the Asian Zone, nor did it halt the World Under-17 Championship, which includes the American team, in Trinidad & Tobago. However, security was increased for the Under-17 event and a moment of silence was to be observed before all World Cup qualifying matches.

Austria, due to play a decisive qualifying game against Israel in Tel Aviv on Oct. 7, asked FIFA to reassign the match to a neutral site because Austrian officials have concerns about security in the Middle East. The world soccer organization has yet to respond to that request.

Many European leagues observed memorial remembrances for those killed in Tuesday's attacks. English Premiership games were to have its players wearing black armbands and Germany's Bundesliga ordered its teams to cancel all "entertainment related" activities at this weekend's games. It was expected that other leagues would take similar actions in response to the tragedy.