Trip to Jamaica Won’t Be Holiday for the U.S. Team

The U.S. national soccer team embarks on the final leg of its journey to France this week, hoping that between now and November it will qualify for World Cup ’98.

Coach Steve Sampson’s American squad leaves Miami for Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday for the first of its 10 qualifying games this year, against Jamaica next Sunday.

Sampson is not convinced it will be an easy trip.

“Jamaica has put a lot of emphasis in their national team program in the last couple of years,” he said. “They have good speed, they’re very good in the air, they’re attacking-minded and, defensively, I think they’re much more organized than the Trinidadians [who were beaten, 2-0, and 1-0, by the U.S. in the previous round].

“So they’re not going to be an easy team. On paper, people will look at that match and say, ‘Well, the United States should win that easily.’ But not at all. Mexico struggled with them, albeit with a B team, [in a 1-0 loss at Kingston in the last round].”

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What will it take for the United States to be one of the three countries to qualify from a group that, besides Jamaica, includes Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico?

“I’ve done the math,” Sampson said. “I think, conservatively, you need 21 points [based on three for a win and one for a tie]. I think you can get away with fewer.”

At this stage of the competition, qualifying for France is more important than winning the group title, which earns no extra advantage.

“From a coach’s standpoint, you just try to qualify,” Sampson said. “Anyone who thinks that it’s going to be a breeze for us to go all the way as group leader is naive. They’ve never been to Azteca [Stadium in Mexico City], they’ve never been to El Salvador, they’ve never been to Costa Rica.

“I think, really, to come away with a tie playing away is a very good result in this phase.”

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The U.S. roster is more interesting for the players it leaves out than for those it includes.

The national team days of Brian Bliss, Paul Caligiuri, John Kerr Jr., Frank Klopas, Mike Lapper and Roy Wegerle seem to be over.

Other notables missing from the 20-player squad are midfielder Tab Ramos, who is recovering from surgery; No. 3 goalkeeper Juergen Sommer, playing in England and not really needed at the moment, and Jovan Kirovski, playing in Germany and not called up.

Of the newcomers tried by Sampson during U.S. Cup ’97 and the two-game trip to China, only Washington D.C. United midfielder Tony Sanneh has survived the cut.

Promising players such as Jason Kreis and Frankie Hejduk have been sent back to Major League Soccer for seasoning, and experienced veterans such as Preki and Martin Vasquez have been dropped, at least for this game.

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The pressure is on Sampson to win at least one--and not to lose either--of the first two games. The United States plays Canada at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto on March 16, and if the team has earned fewer than three points by then, the coach’s job could be in jeopardy.

Failure to qualify for France would be an immense blow to the sport in the United States and especially to MLS. As a result, there already is talk at U.S. Soccer headquarters in Chicago about a possible change.

The candidate most likely to take over the national team, should Sampson falter, is former Virginia and U.S. Olympic Coach Bruce Arena, now coaching MLS champion D.C. United.

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While the Americans are in Jamaica, the Canadians, under Coach Bob Lenarduzi, will be playing Mexico on the same afternoon at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Mexico’s game will be carried live on Univision, with the Jamaica-United States game also shown on the Spanish-language network, either live or delayed, depending on its yet-to-be-determined kickoff time.

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Coach Bora Milutinovic’s Mexican national team tied Guatemala, 1-1, before 23,658 at Fresno Wednesday night.

Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos sat out the game, Mexico’s final warmup for the qualifier against Canada, because of a knee injury.

GATES OPEN

The Los Angeles Coliseum and U.S. Soccer have patched up their differences and the federation gave permission for the Coliseum to stage an international game today.

Mexico’s most popular club, Chivas of Guadalajara, will play Comunicaciones of Guatemala, the former club of new Galaxy midfielder Martin Machon, at 6 p.m.

Unlike the last Coliseum soccer event, from which fans were barred because U.S. Soccer had not approved the game, this one will be open to the public.

WOMEN’S GAME

Her credentials cannot be beaten: four consecutive NCAA championships at North Carolina, a world championship and an Olympic gold medal.

But it took an Italian-owned sporting goods company to finally recognize the marketing potential of Carla Overbeck, captain of the U.S. women’s national team.

Overbeck, 27, signed a multiyear endorsement contract Thursday with Fila USA that includes her own “Carla” line of soccer clothing.

The rest of the gold-medal team deserves similar.

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Tony DiCicco, coach of the U.S. women’s national team, has selected an 18-player roster for a three-game trip in March to Australia.

Not long after that, the Americans will embark on a long-awaited but inexcusably delayed “victory tour” to celebrate winning the first women’s Olympic soccer championship.

The six-game tour, sponsored by Nike, will include games against England on May 9 in San Jose and May 11 in Portland.

The United States, host team for the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Championship, will also play two games each against France and South Korea.

A LOT TO LEARN

As long as U.S. Soccer, the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America and Umbro sporting goods go to the trouble of ranking the nation’s high school soccer teams, they could at least spell them correctly.

Listed at No. 4 in the latest boys’ rankings: Palace Verder Penninsula of Rolling Hills.

Perhaps the players at Palos Verdes can drop them a note.

Soccer Notes

Britain’s Prince Andrew will attend a game May 13 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose between the Clash and Aston Villa of England, Clash President Peter Bridgewater announced. . . . Tickets went on sale last week for the April 20 U.S.-Mexico World Cup qualifying match at Foxboro Stadium near Boston, and more than 15,000, a record, were bought the first day of availability.

Five Californians--Kevin Wilson of Upland, Dan Califf of Orange, Alberto Gutierrez of Chino Hills, Matt Monsibais of Bakersfield and Fausto Villegas of Half Moon Bay--were part of the U.S. under-17 national team that toured Argentina and Uruguay this month in preparation for the FIFA under-17 World Championship to be played in Egypt later this year. . . . Matt Knowles, a defender with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing indoors and will be out for four to six months. Another MetroStar defender, Nicoloa Caricola of Italy, announced his retirement at 34. . . . The New England Revolution boosted its offense by signing striker Chiquinho Conde, 31, captain of the Mozambique national team and currently playing in the Portuguese first division.

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U.S. National Team

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Name Pos. Caps/Goals Club Kasey Keller G 19/0 Leicester City (England) Brad Friedel G 46/0 Columbus Crew Mark Dougherty G 0/0 Tampa Bay Mutiny Jeff Agoos D 65/3 Washington D.C. United Mike Burns D 53/0 New England Revolution Marcelo Balboa D 115/12 Colorado Rapids Thomas Dooley D 62/7 Schalke 04 (Germany) Alexi Lalas D 82/8 New England Revolution Eddie Pope D 5/0 Washington D.C. United Michael Mason M 0/0 Hamburg (Germany) John Harkes M 73/6 Washington D.C. United Claudio Reyna M 44/4 Bayer Leverkusen (Ger.) Tony Sanneh M 2/0 Washington D.C. United Mike Sorber M 57/2 N.Y./N.J. MetroStars Roy Lassiter F 15/2 Tampa Bay Mutiny Brian McBride F 13/2 Columbus Crew Cobi Jones F 87/8 Los Angeles Galaxy Joe-Max Moore F 56/16 New England Revolution Ernie Stewart F 35/4 NAC Breda (Netherlands) Eric Wynalda F 80/28 San Jose Clash

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