SOCCER / GRAHAME L. JONES : U.S. Team Used Ecuador for Rallying Cry
The United States’ 2-1 victory over Chile on Saturday in the America Cup tournament in Paysandu, Uruguay, might have surprised some, but not those familiar with the team’s recent history.
Inspiration for the success came on a bleak night in Quito, Ecuador, two years ago, in the Americans’ first venture into what used to be called the South American Championship.
Having lost to Uruguay, 1-0, and to Ecuador, 2-0, the U.S. team under then Coach Bora Milutinovic took the field against Venezuela--traditionally the continent’s punching bag--knowing that a victory would salvage a place in the second round.
All went well for the first hour as the Americans built a 3-0 lead. But then, to the disbelief of those in the Estadio Olimpico Atauhualpa, everything fell apart. The 3-0 score became 3-1, then 3-2, and, in the final seconds, 3-3.
Venezuela, a country that had won only one America Cup match in 26 years, had tied the United States and, in doing so, eliminated it from the tournament.
Milutinovic was stunned. When he talked to reporters afterward, the customary smile was gone. His face looked haggard, distraught, shell-shocked, old.
What had gone wrong? Who was to blame?
“I am responsible to lose game,” he said in the broken English that he spoke then. “I am responsible, yes. When a team receives three goals, the coach is responsible. For everything, I am responsible. I need to see where I make mistake.”
Steve Sampson, now the interim U.S. coach, was one of Milutinovic’s assistants that night. He knew where the mistake had been made.
“Bora knew going in that he didn’t take his best team [to Ecuador for the tournament] and he was so very disappointed [at the outcome], especially with the Venezuela match,” Sampson said shortly before leaving for Uruguay.
It was a lesson Sampson learned quickly. For this America Cup, the United States has its most powerful lineup. Not a single starter is missing. According to Sampson, players who endured the embarrassment of Ecuador ’93 are determined to make up for it in Uruguay ’95.
“The players who were there in ’93 really want another crack at this,” he said. “These guys know how devastating it was for Bora and for themselves.
“There were really only three very low points in the Bora era. One was the tie with Venezuela that prevented us from going to the second round of the Copa America. The second was the devastating 4-0 loss to Mexico in the [1993] Gold Cup final. The last one was the Romania match [a 1-0 loss] in the first round of the World Cup.
“I think it’s so important that we get to the second round [in the America Cup] because we really have to overcome the ’93 tournament.
“I think we have to redeem ourselves.”
That process began Saturday and can continue Tuesday night when the United States plays Bolivia, again knowing that a victory can put it into the quarterfinals. Even a tie might do the trick.
The U.S. team’s final first-round game is against defending champion Argentina on Friday night.
The Bolivians and Argentines will be a little more wary of the Americans after seeing Chile lose.
Chile, of course, will argue that it was without its best player, Ivan (Bam Bam) Zamorano, who led the Spanish League with 28 goals while helping Real Madrid win the championship. He decided not to take part in the Cup, claiming to no less a figure than Chilean President Eduardo Frei that he needed a rest.
The American players’ response to Zamorano’s decision was summed up in one word by defender Marcelo Balboa.
“Hallelujah!” Balboa said when told the news. “I’ve played against Zamorano before and I’ve played with him and, let me tell you, it’s much more fun playing with him.
“No, that’s too bad. I think right now we’re not scared of anybody. We want to play against the best players. But of course if they’re not going to bring them, that’s great. No problem.”
Chile, which last year tried to lure Milutinovic south to become its coach before eventually settling for Xavier Azkargorta, Bolivia’s World Cup ’94 coach, did pose a problem in the second half Saturday, when the U.S. team grimly fought to protect its lead.
Before that, however, the United States was in complete control and played with rare confidence and skill. Its two goals, both by Eric Wynalda of Westlake Village, were gems.
The first, in the 15th minute, came after an intricate series of passes involving at least four U.S. players resulted in Mike Burns finding Ernie Stewart alone deep in the right corner. Stewart’s pinpoint cross was met perfectly by Wynalda, whose left-foot shot from close range beat Chilean goalkeeper Marcelo Ramirez at the near post.
It was a textbook goal in terms of build-up, execution and finishing.
The second, in the 26th minute, was strictly an individual effort, but no less well taken.
Claudio Reyna, who earlier had missed an open-net opportunity, sent a well-judged through pass to the onrushing Thomas Dooley, who was knocked down in a clumsy challenge by a Chilean defender.
The referee awarded the Americans a free kick and Wynalda curled the ball over the defensive wall and the reach of the goalkeeper in an effort reminiscent of his goal against Switzerland in the World Cup last summer.
From then on, it was up to the defense to hold the lead and, backed superbly by Kasey Keller, who appears likely to become the first-choice goalkeeper for the United States, the U.S. team did just that, helped by the red card to Chile’s Javier Margas for a foul on Tab Ramos.
A 58th-minute goal by substitute Sebastian Rozental cut the lead to 2-1, but Sampson’s players survived the final half-hour to secure the victory that helped exorcise the ghosts of Ecuador ’93.
Somewhere, perhaps back at the Prime Deportiva television studios in the United States where he is serving as an expert analyst, Bora Milutinovic was smiling.
