U.S. Sets Out on Long Road to France ’98
Paul Caligiuri remembers seeing red everywhere he looked. Red shirts, red skirts, red hats, red banners, red flags, red instruments in a steel band--red in every direction he looked as he entered the National Stadium in Port of Spain, the capital of the southernmost Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
It was Nov. 19, 1989, the day a desperate U.S. national soccer team tried to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 40 years. A loss, and the Americans were out. A tie, same deal. But Caligiuri’s freakish first-half goal, a left-footed volley of a bouncing ball from 30 yards, was enough for a 1-0 victory at a place in Italia ’90. The fans in red went home blue.
Seven years have passed, and for the first time since that nerve-racking day in Port of Spain, the United States is preparing for a World Cup qualifying match--Sunday afternoon against Guatemala at RFK Stadium. (As host of the ’94 Cup, the U.S. squad received an automatic berth and didn’t need to qualify.)
It is the beginning of what promises to be a long, arduous road to France for the 1998 tournament. The Americans will play six semifinal-round matches over the next seven weeks, with the top two teams in their four-nation group advancing to the six-team round-robin regional finals next year. From there, three will buy plane tickets to Paris.
“It definitely seems like time went by in a blink of an eye, and here we are again,” said Caligiuri, 32, one of three starters from that 1989 match still on the national squad.
The U.S. opponents for home-and-away games this fall are Guatemala, Costa Rica and, once again, Trinidad and Tobago. And although the steadily improving Americans, based on their performances in the past 2 1/2 years, are heavily favored to grab one of the region’s three World Cup berths next year, they have had a history of problems against small, neighborhood teams.
But unlike past qualifying bids, when the United States was a marginal contender, expectations are extremely high this time around. Getting past the semifinal round is considered troublesome but negotiable. Finishing second behind Mexico in the regional finals would be disappointing but get the job done. Failing to qualify would be downright embarrassing.
“The players know they are favorites,” U.S. Coach Steve Sampson said after practice in suburban Washington Wednesday. “They also know that what comes with that is the responsibility to train more effectively, to be even more on top of their game. Opponents will prepare for us much better than ever before because of that respect and because they do consider us favorites.”
Central American countries take great satisfaction in beating the big, bad United States in athletic competition. Consider the numbers: Costa Rica’s population is 3.5 million--about the same as the Washington-Baltimore area. Soccer is one of the few sports at which small nations can beat the United States.
Costa Rica knocked the Americans out of 1986 qualifying, and split two matches in 1990 qualifying. Guatemala is 5-1-1 vs. the United States in Guatemala City, although the teams might not meet there this year because of the stadium tragedy that killed 84 fans earlier this month.
The Americans usually beat Trinidad and Tobago, but the “Strike Force,” as its national team is known, has several foreign-based stars, including forward Dwight Yorke of England’s Aston Villa.
The U.S. squad is significantly better than in 1989 and much improved from 1994, when it advanced to the second round of the World Cup.
Sampson, an assistant on the ’94 squad, points to several improvements: greater depth; players with more professional experience, especially in Europe; a domestic league, Major League Soccer, to monitor young players; and a freer playing style that has resulted in a stronger attack. In addition, the players are more self-assured. “We’re definitely very confident about our abilities,” Caligiuri said. “Back in ‘89, we were an unexpected team to qualify in that last game, and today the scenario is we’re one of the favorites, not only in this round but in the entire region. It says a lot about the development of the game in this country and how far we have come.”
Sampson on Thursday ended months of speculation about his top goalkeeper for the qualifying campaign by naming English League veteran Kasey Keller as the starter against Guatemala at RFK Stadium.
Keller and former UCLA star Brad Friedel have alternated as the starter in international tournaments the past two years basically without regard to performance. Sampson said Thursday the job now is Keller’s unless he plays poorly. Sampson said his decision was based on Keller’s performance for his Premier League club, Leicester City, in a 2-0 victory against first-place Newcastle last weekend.
“It came down to the fact that Kasey Keller had a tremendous game against Newcastle, a week before playing in a World Cup qualifier,” Sampson said after practice at George Mason University. “And that’s it. It’s that simple. After what he did last weekend, it was very difficult not to select Kasey.”
Also working in Keller’s favor was that he has been playing regularly for the past two months in one of the world’s best professional leagues, while Friedel, 25, has been inactive since Oct. 2, when his Major League Soccer club, the Columbus Crew, was eliminated from the playoffs.
Keller, 26, who played at the University of Portland, has been in the U.S. national team system since 1989. At age 21, he was Tony Meola’s backup for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, but two years later, then-Coach Bora Milutinovic dropped him from the team.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
World Cup Qualifying for ’98
NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Semifinals: Top two teams in each group advance
GROUP ONE *--*
Team W L T GF GA Pts Costa Rica 1 0 0 1 0 3 Guatemala 0 0 1 1 1 1 Trinidad 0 1 1 1 2 1 United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 GROUP TWO Team W L T GF GA Pts x-Canada 3 0 1 7 1 10 El Salvador 1 0 1 6 1 4 Cuba 1 3 0 3 10 3 Panama 0 2 2 3 7 2 GROUP THREE Team W L T GF GA Pts Mexico 3 1 0 11 4 9 Jamaica 2 1 1 6 3 7 Honduras 2 1 1 6 5 7 St. Vincent 0 4 0 3 14 0
*--*
x-advanced to regional finals
