U.S. Has No Room for Bunch of Zeros

By GRAHAME L. JONES

March 16, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PALO ALTO —

Goals are what today’s World Cup qualifying soccer game between the United States and Canada is all about.

Both countries have the same long-term goal--to make it to France ’98. But neither has shown much ability with short-term goals, the kind that flash into the net off the feet or head of the strikers.

In its first game in the final round of qualifying, the U.S. was shut out, 0-0, by Jamaica in Kingston.

In its first game, Canada was shut out, 4-0, by Mexico in Mexico City.

That would make a 0-0 result the most likely scenario for today’s 11:30 a.m. game at Stanford Stadium. But don’t count on it.

Steve Sampson, the United States’ coach, has delivered a midweek ultimatum to his forwards: Start scoring or risk being cut.

“We’re really trying to see who complements [striker] Eric Wynalda the best,” Sampson said. “I’m not happy with the fact that Roy Lassiter and Brian McBride have not scored in seven games.

“If this was to happen anywhere else in the world, these players would be under a tremendous amount of pressure.”

Sampson underlined that get-tough attitude Saturday when he revealed that McBride had been sent home to rejoin Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew. Two goals in 14 games was not enough to retain his place on the national team, at least for this game.

Was that a message to McBride?

“I think it’s a message to everyone,” Sampson said.

“I still consider Brian an important member of this team and he has a chance to play against Costa Rica [next Sunday]. We’ll see how the other forwards do in this game. I think Brian’s the type of individual who will get stronger because of this. If he had scored goals in the last seven games, he’d still be here.

“You take a look at Eric Wynalda, for example. He has surgery, he’s off for a month, he comes back, and in the first game he scores against China. That’s the difference.”

Wynalda, the U.S. team’s all-time leading scorer with 28 goals in 81 national team games, has no worries about keeping his place. Lassiter, the leading scorer in the Costa Rican League two seasons ago the top scorer in MLS last season with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, has only two goals in 15 games for the U.S., but the threat his speed poses keeps him around, if not as a starter, then at least on the bench.

Likely to start in McBride’s place is David Wagner, who plays for Schalke 04 in the German Bundesliga. His only previous game for the American team was in a 3-1 victory over El Salvador at the Los Angeles Coliseum last August.

The Canadians are by no means underdogs today, despite having lost badly to Mexico. In fact, their all-time record in World Cup qualifying games against the United States, dating from 1957, is 6-2-3.

“I think the Canadians feel they can beat us, quite frankly,” Sampson said. “I think they’re going to come out with something to prove, and they want to prove it. I think the [three Canadian national team] players who have just been released from the MLS also want to prove something. So that hasn’t helped [the U.S. team] as far as the Canadians’ motivation is concerned.”

Canada’s coach, Bob Lenarduzzi, captain of the Canadian team in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, is confident that his team will be one of those qualifying for France.

“Our goal here is to play well, and if we play well, I think that we can get either a point [for a tie] or three [for a win],” he said.

“In every paper that I’ve read, we are classified as the underdogs, and we should be coming in here. However, if you look at our record [in the previous round], we gave up only one goal in six games.

“So certainly that’s something that I’m using with our players to say, ‘Hey, it’s not Mexico, it’s the United States. They didn’t exactly fill the net in the previous round [scoring 10 goals in six games]. Let’s not be intimidated before the game even starts.”

Is the United States going to try to emulate Mexico by defeating Canada by four goals?

“I think when you play at home the entire team has to understand that we must score goals,” Sampson said.

“But I think right now the most important thing is three points and a victory. We’re not looking for anything more than that. If we win by two or three goals, beautiful, we’ll be happy with that. If not, we’ll just be happy with the win, and we won’t be happy with anything less than that.”

“We’ve got a beautiful field, a decent crowd [25,000 to 30,000 are expected], I think we’ll have good weather, so there are no excuses.”

Just as long as there are goals.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

World Cup Qualifying

* WHAT: World Cup ’98 qualifying match.

* WHO: United States vs. Canada.

* WHERE: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto.

* WHEN: 11:30 a.m.

* TV: Channel 7 (1:30, delayed).

* AT STAKE: Three teams from among the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and El Salvador will qualify for France ’98.

* ALSO TODAY: Costa Rica vs. Mexico (9 a.m., Univision).

PAST QUALIFYING MATCHES