Italian Soccer Comes to America : U.S. National Team to Face Juventus of Turin at Coliseum

When AS Roma suffered perhaps the ultimate embarrassment for a soccer team from the powerful Italian League, losing to the United States last Saturday at a tournament in Northern Italy, an Italian sports daily, Gazetta dello Sport, called it a “sad spectacle.”

But the Romans can take comfort from the fact that they are not alone. Two other respected teams, America Cali of Colombia and Benefica of Portugal, were similarly treated in their local papers because they lost games this year to the United States.

And after the recent U.S. victory at Chicago over a leading Polish team, Ruch Chorzow, president of the Polish soccer federation, called from Warsaw to tell the players that they had disgraced the country.

Is it any wonder that Juventus of Turin, one of the world’s most successful and famous teams, would rather not have to play the United States?

But that is the 22-time Italian League champion’s assignment tonight at 7 in the Marlboro Cup at the Coliseum. A developmental team from Mexico will meet South Korea’s national team in the second game at 9 p.m. The third-place and championship games are scheduled for Sunday.

It is a no-win situation for Juventus. If the Italians win, that is to be expected. If they lose . . . well, the Italian press corps that followed the team to Los Angeles is prepared to report on another sad spectacle.

In fact, it would be no great surprise for the United States to win. That is not because the United States has emerged as a team capable of contending in the Italian first division. It has not, although even the Italians admit that it would be a respectable second-division team. Coming from the proud Italians, that is a concession for the Americans to savor.

If the United States wins, it more likely will be because Juventus is not quite ready for its regular season, which begins Aug. 27. This trip is supposed to be a break from training camp, but the team still is working out twice daily at Torrance. The players can use the time together. Having played only two exhibition games, some are still introducing themselves to each other.

Factor in jet lag--the Italians arrived at their hotel at 3 a.m. Tuesday--and the teams might not be far apart.

Despite its storied history, which dates to 1897, there also is the possibility that La Vecchia Signora (the Old Lady) is not as good as its reputation.

Juventus finished fourth in the Italian League last year, and although that is no disgrace, it was not good enough for team owner Gianni Agnelli. In a move that might strike even George Steinbrenner as impetuous, Agnelli offered to pay $65 million for the players on another Italian first division team, Sampdoria of Genoa, so that he could replace his own.

That might strike some as odd considering that Sampdoria finished one place below Juventus in the standings last year, but Agnelli is not known for throwing away money. As president of Fiat, he is considered one of the four richest men in Italy. One of the others, Raul Gardini of the Ferruzzi Group, recently signed Danny Ferry to play basketball for his team in Rome.

When the Sampdoria deal fell through, Agnelli signed three players from other Italian teams, including one who cost him $5 million, and recruited another Soviet to team with midfielder Alexander Zavarov. The first Soviet to play outside his country, Zavarov was a disappointment last year. But he probably has guaranteed himself a place on the team in the exhibition season by assisting on six of Juventus’ eight goals.

The player fans like to watch most, however, is Juventus’ third foreigner, Rui Barros, a 5-foot 3-inch, 132-pound midfielder from Portugal who darts in and out of traffic like one of his employer’s Fiats.

Will Juventus’ players take the United States seriously?

If they watched the Americans’ games from the Memorial Baretti tournament last weekend at St. Vincent, Italy, they will.

Sampdoria did not. U.S. goalkeeper David Vanole of Manhattan Beach said the Sampdoria players were overheard before the game telling their fans that they would run up the score so that the reserves could play in the second half. It never happened. Sampdoria won, 1-0, with a goal in the 58th minute.

In the consolation game, the United States scored three goals within eight minutes during the second half to win, 4-3, against AS Roma, which finished eighth last year in the Italian League.

“Teams outside of our region don’t give us a lot of respect, but that serves us well,” U.S. Coach Bob Gansler said Wednesday.

One of Gansler’s challenges has been to convince his own players that they belong on the same field with teams such as Juventus.

It appears as if he has done a good job.

As a young goalkeeper, Vanole’s idol was Dino Zoff. A legend in goal, Zoff was one of the stars for Italy when it won the 1982 World Cup. Since then, Vanole’s nickname has been Dino. On Wednesday at the Coliseum, he finally had a chance to meet Zoff, who is Juventus’ coach.

“I got to shake hands with him,” Vanole said.

He sounded impressed. But not too impressed. “Now that that’s out of the way,” he said, “I’m going to go out and beat him.”