U.S. Eliminated in World Cup Soccer Trials, 1-0

The United States, which has a 35-year history of failing to qualify for the World Cup soccer tournament, failed again Friday night.

It wasn’t one of the giants of the international soccer world that did the damage. Don’t blame Brazil or West Germany or Italy or England. In fact, don’t even blame the team that won. Costa Rica merely accomplished what it had to do. It won.

The score was 1-0 in front of an El Camino College stadium crowd of 11,800. The United States created most of the scoring opportunities and wasted all of them. Costa Rica created two or three chances, capitalized on one of them and walked off with the win.

So, the United States’ road to Mexico ’86 came to an unexpected dead end. Instead of advancing to the final qualifying round for next summer’s World Cup in Mexico, the United States goes nowhere.

Costa Rica, meanwhile, advances to meet Canada and Honduras in a round-robin series this fall. The winner will qualify for the World Cup.

For the U.S. team, it was a case of what might have been. Coach Alkis Panagoulias said he was “frustrated” and “disappointed” at the result, and, indeed, that was understandable.

Because the United States has rejected the outdoor game and adopted the indoor game, Panagoulias has had to fight to find players. Those he has managed to pry away from reluctant Major Indoor Soccer League teams have come in unprepared to play 90 minutes of hard soccer. They are used to the indoor game, where substitution is unlimited and games are broken into 15-minute segments instead of two 45-minute halves.

So Panagoulias has struggled, but he did get the United States past the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad & Tobago. He almost got it past Costa Rica, too, having coached the American youngsters to a 1-1 tie in the first game in Costa Rica last Sunday.

All the United States needed Friday night was a tie. That would have been enough to eliminate Costa Rica and send the United States through to the next round.

But, much as it dominated the play, the United States could not provide the finishing touch. It was left to Costa Rica to show the way.

After absorbing the U.S. pressure for more than half an hour, the Costa Ricans struck. Awarded a free kick at the top of the penalty box, they caught the U.S. defense momentarily flat-footed and grabbed the all-important goal.

Jorge Chevez sent the free kick floating into the goal area. Arnie Mausser, the U.S. goalie, failed to clear, and Evaristo Coronado was there to direct the ball into the net 34:50 into the game.

The United States continued to attack, but Costa Rica held firm for the remaining 55 minutes.

And so, the United States will have to wait another four years for another chance. But without an outdoor professional league to provide the players, its chances of qualifying for Italy ’90 already seem slim.