Getting His Kicks : Interim Coach Sampson Has U.S. National Soccer Team Scoring Goals in Bunches

Despite a mandate flimsier than an Al Davis promise, Coach Steve Sampson grabbed the U.S. national soccer team from his first days on the job and jerked it in a new direction.

The Americans have been moving forward ever since.

Sampson stepped in front of the players at the first team meeting after he was promoted from assistant to head coach in April and recharted the U.S. team’s course. Even though the 38-year-old Westlake Village resident was merely the interim coach, he boldly declared America’s defensive approach dead.

Where the playbook previously called for retreat, attack was the new order of the day.

“From day one, I wanted to explain what Steve Sampson was all about,” he said this week from New Jersey. “Regardless of whether I have a two-month contract or a four-year contract, that’s the style I will play. Players like it, the public enjoys it, it looks better on TV, and we’ll win more games.”

So far, the U.S. team has made good on all four of those points. And Sampson might be scoring points with U.S. Soccer officials.

After U.S. Soccer dumped Bora Milutinovic as head coach in April and while still seeking another high-profile foreigner to run the team, Sampson is making a statement. U.S. officials will make theirs after the national team returns from next month’s Copa America tournament in Uruguay.

Back in the USA, Sampson has led the national team to a pair of startling victories in the U.S. Cup tournament. A 3-2 victory over Nigeria and a 4-0 thumping of Mexico have moved America to the brink of the U.S. Cup championship. The U.S. team needs a victory or a tie against Colombia today at Rutgers Stadium in New Jersey to win the title for the first time since ‘92, the first year of the tournament.

And it has been years since anyone has seen the United States score this often. The last time a U.S. team scored seven goals in consecutive matches against top international competition, America was mired in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

But this is the ‘90s and the Americans are playing a fast-paced, fan-friendly brand of soccer suitable for the MTV generation. A national television audience and 38,615 fans at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., watched last Sunday’s victory over Mexico, and officials expect 30,000 for today’s nationally televised match in New Jersey.

Sampson also expects a lively showing by his team, which has embraced the new style enthusiastically. Under Milutinovic, the team’s World Cup coach, America played passively. At least that’s the view of one of the team’s least passive players--forward Eric Wynalda, the former Westlake High standout.

“In our system in the World Cup, the whole idea was not to fall out of position,” he said. “We used to commit a lot to defense. Now we commit everything to offense. We can be a little more creative and free-roaming.”

The Americans also must be quick. The offensive approach--Sampson calls it “forward-mindedness”--works only if players can retreat quickly after failed thrusts.

“Our system demands that the players not only understand where to run but they must have the effort to get there,” he said. “I’m prepared to take risks as long as players are willing to work hard.”

Sampson gives his players high marks for effort. And just to make sure they stay fresh, he insists on short practices. Ninety minutes, not a second more. “No matter what we’re doing, at an hour and half, we stop,” he said.

That might be the only time Sampson asks his team to put on the brakes. The new system and player enthusiasm all came together in the victory over Mexico.

“Against Mexico, we had 11 guys working for each other,” Wynalda said. “It was really beautiful.”

Mexico didn’t think so, and neither did the Mexican press. Newspapers in Mexico City blasted the local team, but at least they didn’t call for the ouster of the coach.

“A couple years ago, every time we won a game, they wanted to fire the other team’s head coach,” Wynalda said. “When I heard that we were the underdogs against Mexico, it really [ticked] me off. I think everyone is taking us seriously now.”

And for good reason, Wynalda said. Many American team members, including Wynalda and his former Westlake teammate, Cobi Jones, have improved by playing professionally in Europe. Since the World Cup, Jones played for Coventry City of the English premier division, and Wynalda’s contract was purchased for $850,000 last summer by a German team.

The return of Claudio Reyna, one of America’s most promising young players, also has fueled the national team’s attack. Sidelined for the World Cup because of a hamstring injury, Reyna scored once and had two assists against Mexico. He was moved to forward from his customary midfield position by Sampson.

Another well-received move by the new coach.

“The team has a great deal of respect for him,” Wynalda said. “We like playing for him. Steve is in a unique situation. They practically told him he was fired when they named him head coach. But he has handled it very well.”

Said Jones: “He’s bringing us along to the next step.”

Maybe the U.S. team is primed for a U.S. coach. Sampson, who lived in Agoura Hills for four years before moving to Westlake in the past year, has a red, white and blue soccer background. He was a junior college All-American at Foothill College in Los Altos before playing at UCLA and San Jose State.

As a college assistant, he was part of UCLA’s staff when the Bruins won the NCAA championship in 1985. Sampson moved to Santa Clara, leading the Broncos to the 1989 NCAA title and a 64-19-19 record in five seasons.

After serving on the organizing committee for the World Cup, he was named a U.S. team assistant in 1993. Sampson chooses his words carefully when talking about his status with the U.S. team.

“First and foremost, to be [the national coach] has to be an honor,” he said. “Once players see that approach, it becomes infectious.

“Our players have had an experienced foreign coach [Milutinovic] and benefited by it. Now they might want someone from their culture.

“They’re prepared to work their tails off for that person and I’m fortunate to be the one in that situation.”

And, Sampson reasons, that situation has no downside. Even if he isn’t hired permanently, the experience has been invaluable.

“If I do well and they don’t choose me, maybe I’ve proved I can do this job in the future,” he said. “I’m proud of our results. I think I’ll be able to look back and say I’m qualified for this job.”

And he’s certainly doing it his way. Even though America needs only a tie today against Colombia to win the U.S. Cup, don’t expect a cautious game plan.

“We’re going to do the same thing,” Sampson said. “We want to put the pressure on them and put them on their heels.”

Another victory and Sampson might be digging in his heels for good.