U.S. to Play Jamaica in World Cup Qualifier
Less than six weeks after being chosen to play host to the 1994 World Cup, the United States today faces the prospect of being eliminated from the 1990 edition of soccer’s quadrennial world championship at the first hurdle.
That’s the pessimistic view.
On the other hand, a victory over Jamaica this afternoon at tiny St. Louis Soccer Park--an odd site for a match of this significance--will keep the United States on the road to Italy ’90.
Lothar Osiander, coach of the U.S. team, said the importance of today’s game cannot be overestimated.
“If we don’t win this, we’re in deep trouble,” he said. “If we can’t beat Jamaica, who else are we going to beat? We have to win this one.”
Who else, indeed? The U.S. squad that takes the field today is the same one that will be going to Seoul next month. There, the United States must face the Soviet Union, Argentina and the host nation, South Korea, in the Olympic soccer competition.
Compared to that trio, beating Jamaica should be a breeze.
But winning World Cup qualifying games has never been easy for the United States, whose soccer history includes nine successive failures to reach the World Cup final round. The last time the United States succeeded was in 1950.
There are two additional factors operating against the U.S. today. The first is the pressure they feel after having been named to stage the World Cup in 1994. Failure this early in the qualifying rounds will reinforce the arguments of those who said the United States did not deserve to be host to the World Cup.
“If they lose, I think it would be a tremendous embarrassment,” Jamaican Coach Geoff Maxwell said.
Second, this is the second game in the home-and-home series between the countries. The first, in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 24, ended in a 0-0 tie, but that was a victory of sorts for Jamaica.
By preventing the United States from scoring, it gained the upper hand because the tiebreaker used is that “away” goals count double. In other words, if today’s game should end in 1-1 tie, for example, Jamaica would advance because it had managed to score on the opponents’ ground. In short, the United States must win or be eliminated.
“We’re committed to win; if we don’t, it’s curtains,” Osiander said. “We’re going to go forward and battle and fight and try to win this thing.
“Mentally, I think we’re much tougher than we were in Jamaica. And physically, we’re better. It all depends on the heat and humidity.”
It was raining here Friday evening, and the temperature had dipped to 87 degrees. It had topped 100 degrees earlier in the week. That should help the United States, whose game is based on physical fitness, hard running and constant effort, compared to the greater finesse of the Jamaicans, who tend to bide their time, pass the ball about and counterattack when the opportunity presents itself.
“I think it will be a game of wait-and-see,” Maxwell said, “sort of a tactical game. It’s a matter of who can out-think the other. I think it might be something like Muhammad Ali against (George) Foreman.”
In the Kingston game, played on a hard, bumpy surface, the United States struggled. The turf at 6,000-seat St. Louis Soccer Park is perfect.
“I thought, quite frankly, that we should have won the (first) game, 3-1, based on the chances both teams had,” Maxwell said.
Osiander did not disagree.
“We struggled more with the field and the heat than with the opponent,” he said. “The way the game went, we had to be satisfied (with the tie). We could have lost. It was an honest result.”
Neither coach had an explanation for why today’s game is being played in the heat of the day--kickoff is set for 3 p.m., with the game televised on tape-delay at 9:30 p.m. Pacific time on ESPN.
“I don’t know who made the decision; it wasn’t a good decision,” Osiander said. “We should have played somewhere else, and we should have played maybe at night.”
A victory this afternoon, however, could change that opinion in a hurry. A loss, meanwhile, could signal the end of Osiander’s two-year stint as U.S. coach.
