Ugly for Americans in Loss in Costa Rica

The newspapers here Monday morning were filled with stories and photographs describing the “glorious triumph” of the national soccer team over the United States.

President Jose Maria Figueres, who was at the game and fielded questions about it afterward, spoke of the euphoria he felt and of how much the 2-1 World Cup ’98 qualifying victory meant to his countrymen.

Nowhere, however, were there stories about how those same countrymen had mistreated their American guests. There were no photographs of the handmade signs and banners in the stands that questioned the sexual preferences or appetites of various players, their wives and mothers.

Nowhere was there mention of the Mace attack on U.S. defender Paul Caligiuri that left a red mark on his back. In only one story was there mention that a bump on defender Alexi Lalas’ head had been caused by a battery pack thrown from the crowd.

Nor did the newspapers focus on the disrespect shown by the Costa Rican reserve players during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, when they talked and laughed and pranced around with every intention of offending the U.S. team.

And it didn’t take a metal detector at Ricardo Saprissa Stadium to locate the hundreds of coins and batteries and bits of wire and other debris that showered upon the U.S. players before, during and after the game.

Those things were ignored. And the papers also failed to report that American players and coaches had been spat upon repeatedly by so-called fans.

The U.S. delegation’s anger was visible Sunday night and still was smoldering Monday morning when the team left. The last time the United States lost a World Cup qualifying game was on April 16, 1989, to Costa Rica in this same city.

Coach Steve Sampson, however, was trying to put the game behind him and plan for the U.S. squad’s next World Cup qualifier--against Costa Rica at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto on Dec. 14.

Canada, Mexico, Jamaica and El Salvador have clinched four of the six places in the final qualifying round for the France ’98 World Cup. The United States, Costa Rica and Guatemala are battling for the final two places.

This Sunday at the Coliseum, Guatemala plays Trinidad and Tobago, which has been mathematically eliminated from contention. If Guatemala ties or loses, it is out and the U.S. and Costa Rica will advance.

But if Guatemala wins, as expected, it will increase the pressure on the U.S. and Costa Rica in the Palo Alto game.

And once again, Sampson will not be able to field his first-choice lineup.

In Sunday’s game, he was missing goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who had been the starter but no longer is; defender Thomas Dooley and midfielder Tab Ramos, who were injured, and midfielder-defender Jeff Agoos, who was serving a one-game suspension.

In Palo Alto, Brad Friedel will remain in the nets in place of Keller, and Dooley and Agoos will return. But Ramos, who has torn knee ligaments, is out for several months, and Caligiuri and striker Eric Wynalda will be suspended after picking up their second yellow cards in Sunday’s loss.

In other words, Sampson will be shuffling his lineup against a team that was clearly superior.

But, as Hank Steinbrecher, U.S. Soccer’s general secretary and a former coach, said, “You can’t talk about who you don’t have. You can only talk about who you do have.”

Who the United States did have Sunday was Friedel, who played well enough under extreme provocation to keep the starting spot; and defender Eddie Pope, who, in only his third game for the U.S., was a revelation. High marks to both. For the rest, a failing grade.

The Costa Ricans attacked from the opening whistle and kept constant pressure on the Americans all over the field. The United States never was allowed to settle and always looked uncomfortable.

“We simply did not let them play,” said Valdeir “Badu” Vieira, Costa Rica’s coach, who favors a five-defender, five-attacker style of play but changed that Sunday. “Today, we tried to attack with 10 people and defend with 10 people. We tried to occupy every bit of space on the ground.”

Or at least those spaces where the fans were not spitting.

The chief thorns in the Americans’ side were Costa Rican forwards Paulo Wanchope and Hernan Medford, who confused the U.S. team by trading and re-trading positions, switching wings and constantly showing up in unexpected places. The third forward, Rolando Fonseca, also caused problems.

The U.S. looked ragged.

“None of our passes seemed to connect,” Steinbrecher said, a thought echoed by midfielder Preki.

“On the field, it’s 11 against 11,” he said. “We lost today because we couldn’t put passes together.”

Preki, who took one of only two American shots on goal, was yanked early and rather unfairly because Ernie Stewart, playing out of his normal position, could not defend against the twin threats of Wanchope and Medford.

So, Stewart was moved into the midfield, Mike Burns replaced him in defense and Preki was benched.

No sooner had that happened than Medford burned both Burns and Lalas with some excellent footwork in the left corner before sending a low pass into the goal area that Wanchope fired into the net from close range.

The second Costa Rican goal also originated on the left flank, with Wanchope and Wilmer Lopez exchanging passes on a give-and-go, and Lopez then curling around to meet Wanchope’s cross from the wing without a U.S. defender in sight. Friedel had no chance and it was 2-0.

Cobi Jones’ consolation goal seconds before the final whistle meant nothing. But Steinbrecher believes it will be a different story in Palo Alto.

“I think the boys will play with a lot more backbone there,” he said. “It’ll be our home field. It won’t have the ambience here, and the ambience here was incredible. It’s very difficult to play in this environment. We were being pelted with debris from every angle. They keyed in on Friedel. You can’t imagine how much garbage was thrown at that guy.

“But all of those things happen in international football, and it’s a lesson you have to learn. We fully anticipate coming back here in the next round.”

But for that to happen, Guatemala will have to be eliminated. Guatemala is the final U.S. opponent in this round, Dec. 21 in San Salvador, El Salvador.

And the fan behavior there makes what happened here Sunday look like a picnic. When Canada played a qualifying game in San Salvador recently, fans lobbed balloons and plastic bags filled with blood at the Canadian players.

What creature it came from, the Canadians weren’t asking.

This sort of thing doesn’t happen at the World Cup itself. But it does show the intensity level and the passions aroused. The road to France ’98 is not an easy path to travel.

But the journey continues.