Caligiuri Starts; U.S. Wins, 2-1 : Soccer: Victory over Finland is Americans’ first against a European national team since 1980.

Paul Caligiuri again proved a game-winner Saturday night.

The former UCLA All-American scored the first goal and assisted on the second as the United States soccer team defeated Finland, 2-1, before 22,647 at Tampa Stadium.

It was the first victory for the Americans over a European national team since a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in October of 1980.

It was a team victory, but three players were the keys--Caligiuri, who returned to the starting lineup after three games on the reserve bench, forward Bruce Murray, who assisted on Caligiuri’s goal and scored the other, and goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Keller, making only his second start for the national team, put the Americans on the road to victory with a superb save early in the first half. He dived to his right to knock down a powerful shot by Finland’s Kimmo Tarkkio, then pounced on the ball to thwart the forward’s second attempt.

“I was real nervous before the game,” said Keller, whose only national team experience before Saturday night was against Colombia in the Marlboro Cup of Miami Feb. 4 and a second-half appearance against Bermuda Feb. 13. “That (the save) took a few of the nerves away.

“The guy (Tarkkio) hit a good shot. I read it well and hung on to it. I saw that he was right there and going to knock it (any fumble) into the net, so I did my best to get the ball before he did.”

Inspired by Keller’s effort, the U.S. team began to mount some attacks of its own and was rewarded in the 29th minute when Caligiuri fired in a left-footed shot from about six yards.

The goal originated on the right wing, where Desmond Armstrong passed the ball to Eric Wynalda. The former San Diego State star from Westlake Village crossed the ball into the middle, and Murray, cutting inside a defender, got his head to it. Finnish goalie Petri Jakonen blocked the attempt, but the ball rebounded to Caligiuri, who fired it home and then turned, fist raised in triumph.

It was Caligiuri’s first goal since he scored against Trinidad & Tobago in November to put the United States into the World Cup for the first time in 40 years. The team heads for Europe this week for tuneup matches against Hungary March 20 and East Germany March 28.

U.S. Coach Bob Gansler is trying to schedule as many European teams as possible before his squad heads for Italy in June and World Cup matches against Czechoslovakia, Italy and Austria. In their last outing, Feb. 24 at Stanford, the Americans were beaten, 3-1, by the Soviet Union.

“There were lessons that we drew from the Soviet encounter,” Gansler said after Saturday’s win. “Some things we did better and some still need work. The main thing is to further that familiarization process with the way the Europeans play.”

Apart from starting Keller in place of Tony Meola, who played poorly against the Soviets, Gansler made two other switches: He moved Murray from midfield to the forward line, pairing him with Wynalda, and he put Caligiuri back in the lineup at left midfield. Both moves worked well.

Caligiuri and Gansler seem to have resolved the differences they had that had kept the Santa Monica player sidelined.

“Paul did well,” Gansler said. “I thought he started out well, then faded a bit in the second half. But in his defense, he’s been sick all week long.”

After Finland had tied the score on a goal by Tarkkio in the 52nd minute, the Murray-Caligiuri combinatio again clicked. This time it was Caligiuri who broke free on the left and sent a perfect centering pass to Murray, who had the simple task of side-footing the ball past the helpless goalie from 12 yards out in the 68th minute.

“Finland is not a bad team; they’re a good team, but the more games we play, the more fitness we get, the better it is,” Murray said. “Hopefully, we’ll peak around June. That’s what we want to do.”