SOCCER / WORLD CUP NOTES : U.S., Switzerland Ignoring Taboo
The U.S. national soccer team has been busy this week preparing for a game on Saturday that, according to soccer tradition, should not be played.
The United States plays host to Switzerland at noon at Cal State Fullerton, but soccer teams in the same World Cup group normally do not play one another before the tournament. The United States and Switzerland are in Group A for next summer’s tournament. This game, however, was scheduled last September, before Switzerland had qualified for World Cup play.
Knowing that most coaches would be reluctant to play under such circumstances, Swiss Coach Roy Hodgson sought out U.S. Coach Bora Milutinovic at the final draw last month in Las Vegas. They agreed to go ahead with the game.
The taboo against playing a World Cup opponent is strong. The United States was scheduled to play Colombia, another Group A team, in a tournament next month, but the tournament schedule was revised so that the teams would not have to meet. Asked to explain the thinking behind that, most soccer coaches speak vaguely about not showing their hands or revealing new tactical wrinkles.
In an era when even practices are routinely videotaped and the most pedestrian international friendly match is televised around the world, there would seem to be few secrets. Milutinovic, however, must believe there are things worth hiding, because when Hodgson requested a tape of last week’s game against Norway, Milutinovic would not give him one. The Swiss got one anyway.
Notes
Although the Swiss have brought a strong team, the players are on an extended break and are not at full fitness. They haven’t played since Dec. 8. For Coach Roy Hodgson, the team’s trip to the United States is a chance to conduct practices in excellent weather and good training conditions. Hodgson is without the services of his four German-based players, all of whom play in the front or midfield. He expressed the commonly heard frustration of national coaches unable to pry loose club players for international matches. “We attempted to get them (released),” Hodgson said. “But we don’t have the right to get them.”
Switzerland has not been in the World Cup since it was the host country in 1966 and although soccer is a popular sport, the country is not a major power. Thus, like American internationals, Swiss players sometime find it difficult to get released for national team games. Hodgson might have been able to get his players released from the powerful Bundesliga for World Cup qualifying matches, but this trip was not deemed crucial. “Germany doesn’t consider Switzerland to be a football country,” Hodgson said. “It considers us to be a yodeling country.”
