U.S. Win Puts Team in Control

A goal by Joe-Max Moore in the 34th minute earned the United States a 1-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Sunday to virtually clinch the American team a spot in the final qualifying round for the 1998 World Cup in France.

The victory left the U.S. team in first place in its CONCACAF region semifinal group with a 3-0-0 record. The Americans need only one tie in their remaining three games to be assured of advancing.

“It’s a pretty darn good scenario to be in,” U.S. Coach Steve Sampson said. “The players are very proud, as they should be.”

The U.S. played a mostly defensive game, battling 92-degree heat and 85% humidity that took its toll on both teams in front of a Hasely Crawford Stadium crowd of about 12,000.

The goal came on a quickly taken free kick by midfielder John Harkes after referee Mark Forde of Barbados ruled that winger Ernie Stewart had been fouled.

While Trinidad and Tobago players were protesting, Harkes passed the ball to Moore, who chipped it over goalkeeper Michael Maurice from 16 yards.

“It showed our alertness to the situation,” Sampson said. “They took a couple of seconds too long to set up [their defense] and the ball was in the back of the net.”

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller made several outstanding saves while extending the United States’ shutout streak in World Cup qualifying games to seven. The American team blanked its last four opponents while qualifying for the 1990 World Cup in Italy and has three shutouts in this series.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Guatemala kept alive its faint World Cup hopes by defeating Costa Rica, 1-0, in front of 22,777 at the Coliseum.

It was a “home” game for the Guatemalan team, which was banned by FIFA from playing at Mateo Flores Stadium in Guatemala City after 84 fans were killed there in a stampede last month.

The game’s only goal came in the 34th minute when Juan Plata scored on a penalty after Costa Rican defender Vladimir Quesada was ruled to have handled the ball.

Costa Rica could have clinched a place in the next round for itself and the United States with a victory, but the closest it came to even tying the score was in the 80th minute when Guatemalan goalkeeper Edgar Estrada was forced to dive full-length to push Austin Berry’s 20-yard left-foot volley around the post.

The United States plays Costa Rica next Sunday at San Jose, Costa Rica, with the teams meeting again Dec. 14 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto.

So far, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico have qualified from the other two semifinal groups for the final round, and El Salvador is close to clinching a place in the final half-dozen.

Three of the six will qualify for France ’98 after a round-robin, home-and-home series starting in January.