BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : U.S. Treading a Precipitous Path : Soccer: Team needs victory over favored Poland, help from winless Kuwait against Italy to reach second round for first time.

Circumstances are not making it easy for the U.S. soccer team to do something it has never done--advance beyond the first round of the Olympic tournament.

The U.S. team propelled itself into second place in Group A on the strength of its 3-1 victory over Kuwait on Monday night. But it clings to a tenuous lead over third-place Italy.

The top two teams in each of the tournament’s four groups will advance after matches tonight.

It will not be enough for the United States to beat the heavily favored Polish team. They also must hope that Kuwait, which has not yet won a match, can beat Italy, or at least keep the score close.

Add to this complicated mix a minor controversy--on Tuesday the U.S. team filed a protest, later denied--over the scheduling of tonight’s final first-round matches. According to international rules that govern the Olympic soccer tournament, the final first-round matches are to start at the same time, even though they are played in different cities.

But the U.S. team is scheduled to play Poland here at 7 p.m. whereas Italy will play Kuwait at 9 p.m. in Barcelona. Because second place probably will be determined by goal differential, Italy will have an advantage in being able to monitor the progress of the U.S. match before its own gets under way.

U.S. Coach Lothar Osiander based his protest on that, asking that the start of the Italy-Kuwait match be moved to 7 p.m.

“It’s totally irregular,” Osiander said. “It will give Italy a tremendous advantage.”

Goal differential is the difference between goals scored and goals allowed. The U.S. team has scored four goals and given up three and, therefore, is +1. Italy is -2.

The biggest hurdle for the Americans is to beat a physical and aggressive Polish team. In beating Italy on Monday night, the Poles so infuriated the Italians that two of Italy’s best players drew red cards and were ejected from the match.

Osiander said he would not determine his lineup until this morning but added that defender Alexi Lalas would play. Lalas suffered a broken bone in his right foot but has fashioned a cast that allows him to wear a shoe.

Poland is virtually assured of winning the group title, and Coach Janusz Wojcik might choose to rest his best players and settle for a low-scoring tie.

“We need to win the match,” Osiander said. “We won’t try to play for a tie.”

To that end, Osiander said he expects to play four or five new players to offset the fatigue caused by three matches in five days. Temperatures in Zaragoza have been unusually high this week.

“It has taken a lot out of our guys,” Osiander said. “We need the fresh legs. . . . It makes a difference. Yesterday, for the first 20 minutes, I thought it was the best we could play. They got tired and slowed down. The heat affects everyone, but it takes away from our game because we rely on running so much.”

Monday’s victory was only the third for the United States in Olympic competition, giving it a combined Olympic record of 3-11-4. Osiander said the chance to advance to the field of eight motivates him.

“It would mean a lot that, for the first time, we could be in the second round,” he said. “It would mean that U.S. soccer is on the right track.”

In Tuesday’s play, Sweden beat Morocco, 4-0, and Paraguay and South Korea tied, 0-0, in Group C. In Group D, Denmark and Ghana played to a scoreless tie and Mexico and Australia tied, 1-1.