U.S. Team Realistic as It Faces Game With Italy
Though they may walk into the Valley of Death. . . .
Having had their eyes opened in their opening World Cup game, a 5-1 loss to Czechoslovakia, most of the U.S. soccer players have no illusions about their chances Thursday against the tournament favorite, Italy, before an anticipated sellout crowd of 72,303 at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
They can hardly take issue with the predictions in the Italian press of a goleada. Roughly translated, that means there may be a blackout in Rome because of all the electricity that will be consumed by the Italian side of the scoreboard.
In his column for Il Messagero, Giorgio Chinaglia, a former Italian national team member who finished his career with the New York Cosmos, said the game against the United States will provide an “occasion to dance” for the Italian forwards, Giannini Vialli, Andrea Carnevale and Salvatore Schillaci.
The world press concurs.
London Daily Mail columnist Ian Woolridge wrote, “(The Americans) lost to Czechoslovakia by only 5-1, thus inspiring hope that they may possibly be able to confine Italy to a dozen goals or fewer.”
History would suggest fewer. The United States played Italy to a scoreless tie in 1984 in the Meadowlands. In the three other games between the two teams, Italy won by only 7-1 in 1934, 9-0 in 1948 and 10-0 in 1975.
Carnevale said that a 3-0 victory would satisfy him, but the Italians need a more conclusive victory because goal differential is important in determining rankings within the six groups. To gain the advantage in Group A, Italy needs to beat the United States by one more goal than the Czechs did.
One factor in the United States’ favor is that Italy has scored more than four goals in a game only eight times in the last 20 years. In one five-game stretch this year, the team went 473 minutes without scoring.
On the other end of the field, the Italians have not allowed a goal in 653 minutes, including last Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Austria. Any goal for the United States would be considered a remarkable achievement.
“What would you consider a good result?” an Italian journalist asked U.S. Coach Bob Gansler this week. “12-0, 10-0, 7-0 or 5-0?”
“How do you expect me to answer that?” an exasperated Gansler said. “Next question.”
The journalist later tried the question on combative midfielder John Harkes.
He responded that a good result would be “a tie or a win.”
The speechless journalist looked at Harkes as if he had just announced that he was the man in the moon.
“A tie or a win,” Harkes repeated.
“Look,” Harkes added, “if we do lose, we want to at least show the Italians we can play.”
While some of his teammates said they intend to play with more intensity and better skill than they did against the Czechs, they seem resigned to their fate against Italy. It is like a team of college basketball all-stars facing the Lakers.
“We really did just about as good as we can do against the Czechs,” midfielder Tab Ramos said. “We were as ready for the game as a team possibly could be.
“This game is going to be more difficult because the Italians are better than the Czechs. The first few minutes are going to be difficult to stay composed. Then it’s only going to get worse.
“I said before the World Cup that we might play the best games we’ve ever played and lose them all by 3-0 or 4-0. That’s a reality. It’s not something we’re ashamed of.”
Gansler said the players appear to have recovered from their shock after the loss to Czechoslovakia. They were so spirited Tuesday that he interrupted practice to tell them to save their hard tackles for the Italians.
He has been forced to make one change in the lineup because offensive midfielder Eric Wynalda of Westlake Village was automatically suspended for a game after receiving a red card against the Czechs. Defender Jimmy Banks is likely to replace him.
There also is a chance that Gansler will start San Diego State’s Marcelo Balboa of Cerritos in the midfield for John Stollmeyer and John Doyle of Fremont, Calif., as a defender for Steve Trittschuh.
Doyle’s assignment would be to man-mark Carnevale, while the team’s best defender, Desmond Armstrong, will draw Vialli.
Although the situation may be hopeless, the players seem to be looking forward to the experience. Goalkeeper Tony Meola has prepared a jersey to give as a gift to his Italian counterpart, Walter Zenga.
“I look at it as an inspiration to play against the best in the most spectacular environment imaginable,” midfielder Paul Caligiuri said, sounding like a tenor who has been asked to appear at La Scala.
“It’s the time of my life, and I’m going to make the best of it. I want to step up and take the challenge.”
