United States Rejects Some Foreign Aid
The last time the United States national soccer team came here, the players and coaches were spat upon, pelted with debris and insulted. They also were beaten, 2-1.
On Sunday, the U.S. team was back in Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, and this time it was welcomed, politely applauded and showered with streamers and ticker-tape. It also was beaten, 3-2.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Still unchanged is the Americans’ inability to play as well on the road as they do at home. Only a week after shutting out Canada, 3-0, in Palo Alto, they reverted to frustrating form.
One minute they’re firing on all cylinders, the next they’re sputtering and wheezing like something off a used-car lot.
But, no, it’s not yet time to worry.
The road to World Cup ’98 in France will have more than a few potholes in it. This was simply one of them.
But it was an opportunity lost.
Having twice come from behind to tie their faster and more skilled opponents, the Americans failed to capitalize after receiving a virtual gift goal late in the game that made the score 2-2.
Instead of locking up shop, dropping everyone back on defense and preserving the tie that would have been almost as valuable as a victory, the U.S. allowed Costa Rica to escape with all three points.
“When they give you a point, you should not give it back,” observed Hank Steinbrecher, U.S. Soccer’s executive director and secretary general.
Certainly, Roy Lassiter was not about to pass up the gift that came his way in the 68th minute when he intercepted an errant pass by Mauricio Solis. Lassiter quickly controlled the ball, then fired a shot past Costa Rican goalkeeper Hermidio Barrantes that silenced the raucous but well-behaved sellout crowd of 22,000.
“I was really surprised at the pass Solis made across the field,” Lassiter said. “I’m the type of person who will always capitalize on errors. If you’re going to make those kind of mistakes with me that close to the goal, I’m not going to miss.”
But the glimmer of hope that goal brought the U.S. soon vanished on a hot, sticky afternoon.
Eight minutes later, the U.S. defense--for want of a better word--again was caught flat-footed and out of position. Mike Burns, outnumbered on a two-on-one break, could not stop Ronald Gomez from scoring the winning goal.
“We shouldn’t have allowed those gaps in the back, we should have been tighter,” Burns said afterward. “With 15 minutes left, that should never have happened.”
The goal left U.S. goaltender Kasey Keller shouting and pointing fingers at his teammates. It had been a long afternoon for Keller, who saw his chance of breaking the all-time U.S. shutout streak disappear in the 11th minute.
A bad pass from sweeper Thomas Dooley failed to reach Cobi Jones and was intercepted by Harold Wallace, who passed to Gomez, who found Hernan Medford sprinting past the lumbering Alexi Lalas. Taking the pass from Gomez, Medford rocketed a shot from 12 yards that gave Keller no chance.
It was the first goal Keller had yielded in 562 minutes, 32 minutes shy of the record held by Mark Dodd.
To its credit, the U.S. responded. A fine through ball from John Harkes beat the Costa Rican offside trap and was pounced on by Eric Wynalda. U.S. soccer’s all-time leading scorer curled a right-footed shot past Barrantes for his 30th national team goal to make it 1-1 in the 25th minute.
Eight minutes later, Costa Rica regained the lead.
Defender Jeff Agoos fouled Medford to the right of the penalty area, and Costa Rica was awarded a free kick by Guatemalan referee Mario Efrain Escobar. Gomez surprised the U.S. with a lateral pass to an unguarded Solis, and the Costa Rican fired the ball into the upper left corner of the net.
That made it 2-1 in the 33rd minute, setting the stage for Lassiter’s gift and Gomez’s game-winner.
Said Wynalda: “Coming here and scoring two goals is not easy to do. We should look at that in a positive light. I still believe that Mexico and Costa Rica are going to win the majority of their games, and so are we. It’ll be those three teams that qualify, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
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World Cup Qualifying
A total of 172 countries set out to qualify for soccer’s 1998 World Cup. Thirty will do so, joining France and Brazil, which qualify automatically as the host nation and defending champion, respectively. Three of those qualifiers will be from the North and Central American and Caribbean region (CONCACAF). Six teams remain in the running. Each of the six play each other home and away. The top three finishers advance to the World Cup, to be played in nine French cities June 10-July 12, 1998. The standings after Sunday’s Costa Rica-USA game are as follows.
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Team W-L-T GF GA Pts Mexico 1-0-1 4 0 4 USA 1-1-1 5 3 4 Costa Rica 1-0-1 3 2 4 Jamaica 0-0-1 0 0 1 El Salvador 0-0-0 0 0 0 Canada 0-2-0 0 7 0
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APRIL SCHEDULE: 6 Canada-El Salvador (Vancouver); 13 Mexico-Jamaica (Mexico City); 20 USA-Mexico (Foxboro, Mass.); 27 Canada-Jamaica (Vancouver).
