Now Hear This: Three U.S. Teams Faring Well in Top Events Abroad
So you’re standing in a bookstore in Denver and the clerk asks you what you’re doing in town and you say you’re here to see the soccer game and he says, “What soccer game?”
Or you’re sitting down to breakfast in Chicago and the waitress mumbles something about the Cubs being shelled the night before and you say you only care about the Fire and she says, “What fire?”
So you sigh and realize for the umpteenth depressing time that soccer has a long, long way to go before it seeps into the consciousness of the average American.
And the media is as much to blame for that sad fact as the sport itself. It’s not as if the game is not being played. It’s simply not being reported, in print or on the air.
And no, we’re not talking about Major League Soccer here, or even about some obscure foreign teams or leagues. We’re talking about the best American players in the land. Male and female.
How many of you reading these lines realize, for instance, that right now there are three United States national teams playing abroad in meaningful competition?
How many in Los Angeles realize that UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid is coaching one of those teams? Or that another of them, under Portland Coach Clive Charles, soon will be trying to reach the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games? Or that a third, with Lauren Gregg in charge, features players who will be taking part in a world championship in the United States next summer?
Probably not very many. So here’s just a brief taste of what you’re missing.
The U.S. Under-20 team is in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where it is trying to qualify for the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria next April. On Wednesday, Schmid’s team tied Costa Rica, 1-1, with the American goal coming off a corner kick by UCLA midfielder Shaun Tsakiris of Saratoga, Calif. Another Bruin, Carlos Bocanegra of Alta Loma, Calif., came within inches of scoring the game-winner, but his header was cleared off the line.
On Friday, the U.S. trounced Canada, 5-1, behind inspirational playmaker Jamar Beasley, 17, of the New England Revolution and two goals each from Chris Albright of the University of Virginia and Nick Garcia of Indiana University. UCLA midfielder Ryan Futagaki of Fountain Valley assisted on one of the goals.
“I’m very proud of how we came out today and took charge of the game from the beginning,” Schmid said. “We capitalized on our early chances and by doing that it not only gave us confidence but allowed us to impose our play on Canada.”
Another victory today, against Trinidad and Tobago at Trinidad’s National Stadium, and the U.S. team will qualify for the world championship next spring.
In England, meanwhile, the U.S. Under-23 team--in other words, the Olympic team to be-- recorded its second victory in three matches against top-level opposition.
The U.S. shut out Bolton Wanderers’ reserves, 1-0, last week and then, on Wednesday, came close to upsetting a Liverpool reserve team featuring three national team players from Norway and Germany. The Americans lost, 3-2, their goals coming from John O’Brien of Playa del Rey, now on loan from Ajax Amsterdam to F.C. Utrecht in the Netherlands, and forward Brian West.
Midfielder Joey DiGiamarino of Corona, Calif., and the Colorado Rapids, had a potential game-tying shot cleared off the line.
On Friday, the U.S. scored a memorable 4-1 victory over Manchester United’s reserves. West, of the Columbus Crew, scored two goals and assisted on the other two, one of them by UCLA midfielder Peter Vagenas of Pasadena.
“I’m half-worried that a result like this will make people think maybe they didn’t have their strongest team out there,” Charles said, “but we know that’s not the case.
“We were playing against a team worth quite a few million pounds individually, a team with a number of players who train and play daily with the first team. This match was a step up for us in terms of competition.”
California’s John Thorrington, 18, who bypassed college in the U.S. to join Manchester United, got an assist on United’s goal.
Charles’ team will begin CONCACAF qualifying play this fall for the 2000 Olympics.
In the Netherlands, meanwhile, the U.S. women’s Under-20 team has been defending its Nordic Cup title.
A goal by forward Susan Bush, 17, of Houston, off a pass from Mandy Clemens of San Diego and the University of Santa Clara, gave the U.S. a 1-0 victory over Finland in its opening match Monday. U.S. goalkeeper Lakeysia Beene of Sacramento and Notre Dame earned the shutout.
“Finland is a very combative, well-organized team,” said Gregg, a former U.S. national team player and assistant coach on the full national team under Tony DiCicco. “We worked hard for our goal and the win.”
On Wednesday, the U.S. was held to a 1-1 tie by Holland, with Lorrie Fair of Los Altos and the University of North Carolina scoring on a penalty kick after Clemens had been fouled.
The tie meant that the U.S. women had to win their next match, on Friday against Sweden, which they did, 1-0, on a 75th-minute goal by North Carolina’s Cindy Parlow.
Today, the U.S. will play Norway in the championship game. The U.S. goes in as the underdog, having scored only three goals in as many games, whereas the Norwegians scored 13 in their three games.
But the Americans were not favorites last year, either, and still defeated Norway, 1-0, in overtime in Denmark to win the Nordic Cup.
You probably didn’t read about that at the time. Just as you probably won’t see or hear much about today’s game. It’s only once the bookstore clerks in Colorado and the waitresses in Illinois start asking who won that soccer finally will have made it in the United States.
