The excitement in his voice was unmistakeable.

Milciades Viera called the NEWS sports desk Tuesday evening, hoping to learn the outcome of the World Cup soccer semifinal between Argentina and Italy. Argentina won 4-3, landing the defending world champions in the title game for the third time in the last four World Cup tournaments.

Viera, an Argentine, has not been able to follow his team’s progress in the World Cup as closely as he would like. He is spending the summer serving as the tennis director at Camp Kippewa for Girls in East Monmouth, a position he has held for four of the last five summers.

Viera, thrilled to hear that Diego Maradona and Argentina would again play for the world championship, expressed his desire to see Sunday’s final on television. He listened to the 1986 title game on the radio at Camp Kippewa when Argentina won the World Cup.

“My day off is Thursday, but I’m going to try to change it to Sunday and find some place to watch,” Viera said Tuesday in a telephone interview conducted in his native Spanish. “There isn’t any place that I know of, but I’m going to try.”

Despite having won World Cup championships in 1978 and ’86, Argentina was not expected to reach the finals this time around.

“I have to be sincere,” Viera said, “I didn’t think, I didn’t believe, that Argentina was going to get past the second round. The team has been having many human relations problems. Knowing about all the problems, we (the Argentines) knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Argentina, which also lost starting goalie Nery Pumpido to a broken leg in the second World Cup game, has continued its drive toward another title.

The 53-year-old Viera is a high school physical education instructor in his home city of Formosa, which is located near the border of Paraguay in northeastern Argentina. He finds it difficult to be so far removed from the excitement which has gripped his countrymen.

“I read the daily (paper) and they don’t have much about (the World Cup),” Viera said. “On Sunday, I spoke with my wife on the telephone. She said when Argentina plays, there is no one in the streets. The whole world is lost in their televisions. I imagine it was like that today.”

Soccer is more than just a game in many countries, including Argentina. It is a vital part of national pride and an appearance in the World Cup consumes most of its citizens.

Viera used Argentina’s 1978 World Cup victory as an example.

“I remember in ’78 when Argentina won the world championship,” Viera recalled. “We went out of the house and into the streets. All that could be heard was the shout of `Argentina, Argentina.’

“In ’78 we were under a military dictatorship, but everybody forgot about the political ideology and all the economic, political, and social problems in Argentina. The people lived a moment of democracy in the streets. Soccer brought them together.”

Maradona, the man whose incredible talent sparked Argentina to victory four years ago, has been an ambassador of soccer for his country. Even as a boy, it was obvious Maradona was destined for greatness.

Viera was teaching tennis, volleyball, and basketball in 1972 when he attended a game involving the Argentinas Juniors at a soccer tournament in the province of Cordova.

“There was a boy, `Morochito’ they called him, who played for that team, which won the championship that year,” Viera said. “He was only 11 years old and very small, but with great ability.

“He did marvelous things with the ball. He used his foot, his heel, his head, his shoulder. The ball never touched the ground. That’s how I had the opportunity to first see Maradona.”

Viera would desperately like to watch as Maradona leads Argentina into Sunday’s World Cup final against the winner of Wednesday’s game between West Germany and England. He asks that anyone who knows where the game will be shown publicly call and leave a message at 933-2993.

To Viera, it is more than just another soccer game.

By Pete Warner Of the NEWS Staff

The excitement in his voice was unmistakeable.

Milciades Viera called the NEWS sports desk Tuesday evening, hoping to learn the outcome of the World Cup soccer semifinal between Argentina and Italy. Argentina won 4-3, landing the defending world champions in the title game for the third time in the last four World Cup tournaments.

Viera, an Argentine, has not been able to follow his team’s progress in the World Cup as closely as he would like. He is spending the summer serving as the tennis director at Camp Kippewa for Girls in East Monmouth, a position he has held for four of the last five summers.

Viera, thrilled to hear that Diego Maradona and Argentina would again play for the world championship, expressed his desire to see Sunday’s final on television. He listened to the 1986 title game on the radio at Camp Kippewa when Argentina won the World Cup.

“My day off is Thursday, but I’m going to try to change it to Sunday and find some place to watch,” Viera said Tuesday in a telephone interview conducted in his native Spanish. “There isn’t any place that I know of, but I’m going to try.”

Despite having won World Cup championships in 1978 and ’86, Argentina was not expected to reach the finals this time around.

“I have to be sincere,” Viera said, “I didn’t think, I didn’t believe, that Argentina was going to get past the second round. The team has been having many human relations problems. Knowing about all the problems, we (the Argentines) knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Argentina, which also lost starting goalie Nery Pumpido to a broken leg in the second World Cup game, has continued its drive toward another title.

The 53-year-old Viera is a high school physical education instructor in his home city of Formosa, which is located near the border of Paraguay in northeastern Argentina. He finds it difficult to be so far removed from the excitement which has gripped his countrymen.

“I read the daily (paper) and they don’t have much about (the World Cup),” Viera said. “On Sunday, I spoke with my wife on the telephone. She said when Argentina plays, there is no one in the streets. The whole world is lost in their televisions. I imagine it was like that today.”

Soccer is more than just a game in many countries, including Argentina. It is a vital part of national pride and an appearance in the World Cup consumes most of its citizens.

Viera used Argentina’s 1978 World Cup victory as an example.

“I remember in ’78 when Argentina won the world championship,” Viera recalled. “We went out of the house and into the streets. All that could be heard was the shout of `Argentina, Argentina.’

“In ’78 we were under a military dictatorship, but everybody forgot about the political ideology and all the economic, political, and social problems in Argentina. The people lived a moment of democracy in the streets. Soccer brought them together.”

Maradona, the man whose incredible talent sparked Argentina to victory four years ago, has been an ambassador of soccer for his country. Even as a boy, it was obvious Maradona was destined for greatness.

Viera was teaching tennis, volleyball, and basketball in 1972 when he attended a game involving the Argentinas Juniors at a soccer tournament in the province of Cordova.

“There was a boy, `Morochito’ they called him, who played for that team, which won the championship that year,” Viera said. “He was only 11 years old and very small, but with great ability.

“He did marvelous things with the ball. He used his foot, his heel, his head, his shoulder. The ball never touched the ground. That’s how I had the opportunity to first see Maradona.”

Viera would desperately like to watch as Maradona leads Argentina into Sunday’s World Cup final against the winner of Wednesday’s game between West Germany and England. He asks that anyone who knows where the game will be shown publicly call and leave a message at 933-2993.

To Viera, it is more than just another soccer game.