THE SIDELINES : Fans Swamp U.S. Soccer Team
The U.S. soccer team, virtually unknown at home, enjoyed the rare experience of being cornered by autograph hunters during a trip today to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
About 40 fans, mainly teen-age girls, swamped the players as they took a few hours away from their nearby World Cup training camp.
Although the United States will stage the 1994 finals, few Americans would recognize any of the country’s top soccer players.
“The players have signed autographs at matches before,” team official John Polis said. “But this would not happen apart from that in the States. No one would know who they were.”
The United States, making its first appearance in the World Cup finals since 1950, has been drawn in Group A with hosts Italy, Czechoslovakia and Austria. The first game for the U.S. team is Sunday against Czechoslovakia in Florence.
