SOCCER : Slow-Starting U.S. Drops Behind, Stays There in Loss to Colombia

The U.S. soccer team got a preview of its own demise, when players watched a tape of the Colombia-Mexico match, played last Tuesday in Los Angeles. Coach Bob Gansler showed his team the tape Saturday night, before the United States played Colombia Sunday in Joe Robbie Stadium.

Gansler pointed out how Colombia started slowly, how “lackluster” its play appeared in the early stages of the game. Mexico scored in the second minute and won, 2-0.

Gansler told his players as they left the locker room that, if they did anything, they must get off to a quick start.

Some of them must have had their heads on their desks during the film, because the U.S. team started slowly and was scored upon early.

Miguel Guerrero scored at 53 seconds, and Colombia won, 1-0, extending its winning streak to four games against the United States.

The United States got no help--or sympathy--from the crowd of 8,214, which was decidely pro-Colombia. The team struggled at first, taking a long time to warm to the game on a hot, breezy day.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the first five minutes,” Gansler said. “Maybe the sun put us to sleep. The last thing I said to the team before we went out was, ‘Let’s go out with some intensity.’ After the first five minutes, we were all right.”

Gansler had explained during the week how the Latin style of play was slow and deliberate. That style was out the window in the first minute.

Guerrero’s goal, from about 30 yards, came after a pass from Freddy Rincon, who stole the ball from forward Ted Eck at midfield. Guerrero dribbled around Mike Windischmann, wheeled and with his right foot kicked the ball into the far corner of the net.

Gansler saw the lapse as a team effort: Eck, playing in only his second game with the team; Windischmann, one of the team’s most experienced players, and team captain and defender Paul Caligiuri of Diamond Bar, whose man scored the goal.

“We got caught on our heels,” Caligiuri said. “It kind of backfired. Our game tactic was to get an early goal. It’s ironic that it happened to us.”

The United States got its first shot of the game from John Harkes in the seventh minute. The Americans had few quality shots in the first half and spent much of the time backpedaling against a methodical and intricate Colombia attack. The United States finished with 15 shots. The two best American chances in the half were spaced 20 minutes apart. The first came in the 13th minute when Eric Wynalda ventured into the Colombian area unmarked, bringing goalkeeper Eduardo Nino out to challenge. Wynalda’s hard kick hit Nino in the chest, and Wynalda chased the rebound out of bounds.

The second chance came in the 33rd minute. Windischmann started the play with a free kick. Eck headed the ball to Steve Trittschuh, whose shot from just inside the area was saved.

The United States recovered by the second half. Gansler evaluated his team as the better side in the half. However, Colombia’s speed and ability to get back quickly on defense prevented a score.

U.S. goalkeeper Tony Meola was pressured much of the day, facing 12 shots and saving four. In the 38th minute, as his defense literally fell down in front of him, Meola made two key saves. Luis Perea brought the ball in for Colombia and defender Jimmy Banks missed a slide tackle. Perea faked around another U.S. defender and Meola made a diving save.

The ball bounced off Meola’s hands and stayed alive, with Guerrero taking a shot off the rebound. Meola came up with another save.

“Every game is a learning process for us right now,” Meola said. “That’s the main thing, to learn from our mistakes.”

However, many players on the team believe their first mistake will likely be their last. Gansler is preparing to cut the roster from about 28--he won’t say how many players he has--to the 22 he will take to Italy for the World Cup.

The tension among the U.S. players is thick, made worse by Gansler’s yearlong policy of advertising that each spot on the team is up for grabs. Gansler likes the competition this engenders; the players dislike the uncertainty.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea of who I will be (taking),” Gansler said of his final roster, which he must name by May 28. “They all have to be ready. If you lock yourself into 11 or 12 spots, not everyone will be ready.”

Gansler, too, has grown tired of the process of culling players from a large--and young--talent pool and of the players’ questions.

“Anyone who doesn’t like this setup is naive,” Gansler said Friday, in an apparent reference to the nature of pressure in the World Cup tournament. “If you think this (selection process) is tough, wait until we get to Italy.”

The United States is 3-6 while building toward its first World Cup appearance since 1950. The victories have come against Bermuda, Finland and Iceland, and the United States has lost to Colombia twice, Costa Rica, the Soviet Union, Hungary and East Germany.