Gold Cup a Warmup Act for France ’98 Headliner

There is more than one “C” in CONCACAF, but not one of them stands for controversy, confusion, chaos or corruption.

That doesn’t mean the two-week, 10-nation CONCACAF Gold Cup that begins today will be free of incident, however. History says exactly the opposite.

The last time the North and Central American and Caribbean region’s championship tournament was played in these parts, someone looted the Trinidad and Tobago team’s Anaheim hotel and made off with $50,000 in cash and jewelry.

Organizationally, the tournament was a disaster, but perhaps things will go more smoothly in 1998 than they did in ’96.

This championship should be played every four years, preferably, as now, immediately before a World Cup. Instead, it seems to take place whenever organizers feel like it.

That lessens its importance, but at least this time around there is the presence of four France ’98 teams--world champion Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States--to give it spice. On paper, those are the four that should reach the semifinals at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Feb. 10 and 12.

The other participants--Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago--appear merely to be along for the ride.

The inclusion of the Cubans, who play the United States in Oakland this afternoon, conjures all sorts of possibilities, however. What, for instance, if some of Cuba’s soccer players follow the lead of their baseball brethren and defect? It could happen.

NO NET GAIN

In the century or more that organized soccer has been played in the United States, the country has so far failed to produce a single field player of true world class.

In one area, however, American players rank with any in the world. Goalkeepers Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Juergen Sommer, the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 keepers, respectively, on the U.S. national team, can hold their own with anyone and would appear to be a lock for the three goalkeeping spots on the France ’98 roster.

Tony Meola, the starter on the 1990 and 1994 U.S. World Cup teams, didn’t see it that way and managed to earn an invitation to the U.S. training camp in Florida last month. He even sat on the bench as the backup last Sunday in the U.S. team’s 1-0 victory over Sweden.

“My goal is to be part of another World Cup,” Meola said.

Countered Steve Sampson, the U.S. coach: “The door is wide open for the No. 3 spot. I don’t care who plays. All I care is that people are match fit, sharp and they give an effort every day. And Tony has done that. All the possibility in the world is still open for him for the World Cup.”

As soon as the Sweden game was over, however, the door swung shut in a hurry.

Meola was not named to the U.S. roster for the Gold Cup. Instead, Friedel, sold in December by Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew to Liverpool in the English Premier League for $1.6 million, will start the first two games. Keller, who starts for Premier League Leicester City and who shut out English champion Manchester United, 1-0, on Saturday, will be flown in from England for the second two.

The Meola threat might have helped hasten Sommer’s recent decision. Last week, the former Indiana keeper abandoned the bench at Queen’s Park Rangers of the English first division to join Columbus as Friedel’s replacement.

By playing in MLS, Sommer will be more readily available to the national team and, equally important, more visible to Sampson, thereby helping him clinch the No. 3 spot.

All of which must leave Meola, of the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, feeling that he has made no net gain at all.

BRAZILIAN POWER

No matter who is in the nets for the U.S., it is going to be nearly impossible to stop Brazil from scoring should the teams meet in the Gold Cup.

Embarrassed at finishing second behind Mexico in the 1996 tournament and furious at having won only the bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Games, Brazilian Coach Mario Lobo Zagallo has brought a far more powerful team to this tournament.

To begin with, there is World Cup ’94 winner and 1994 FIFA world player of the year Romario at striker, along with another top-class forward, Edmundo.

Another player to keep an eye on is 20-year-old midfielder Denilson, currently playing on loan for Sao Paulo after being bought by Real Betis in Spain for a reported world-record $35 million.

Ronaldo, the two-time FIFA world player of the year, will not play in the Gold Cup. The striker is going through a troubling time at Inter Milan and has not scored a goal since Dec. 6.

That fact has not been lost on the club’s owner, Massimo Moratti, an Italian industrialist who splashed out almost $30 million to buy the 20-year-old Brazilian from Barcelona.

“Ronaldo is not himself--he’s playing badly,” Moratti said last week. “I don’t know what his problem is, but he’s certainly got one.”

So do any of the Gold Cup teams that have to face Brazil.

THE MEXICAN EQUATION

The Gold Cup ball is squarely in the court of Mexico Coach Manuel Lapuente, who is no doubt praying that history does not repeat. Lapuente was Mexico’s coach in the 1991 Gold Cup when it was beaten on penalty kicks by the United States in the semifinals at the Coliseum. Meola, incidentally, was U.S. keeper that night.

The loss caused an uproar in Mexico and, within days, Lapuente had been fired.

Now, he returns knowing that Mexico won the tournament in 1996, beating Brazil in the rain in front of 88,155 at the Coliseum in a dramatic final.

If results go according to form, Mexico will play Brazil in the semifinal in Los Angeles on Feb. 12. Lapuente will have to win that game or see his fortunes once again sag dramatically in his own country.

Meanwhile, forward Carlos Hermosillo, whom MLS is trying desperately to land, has been left off Mexico’s roster. The Los Angeles Galaxy is one of the teams in the hunt for Hermosillo, although Danny Villanueva, the Galaxy’s president and general manager, said it is a longshot.

“If the league is successful in getting Carlos Hermosillo to come here, I would not consider the L.A. Galaxy a front-runner in landing him,” Villanueva said. “I would love to have him as a member of the Galaxy, but I don’t see it happening.”

Also noticeable by his absence on the Mexican roster is former Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos, traded last week to the Chicago Fire. Campos is out of favor in Mexico, but it remains to be seen how his departure from L.A. will affect Galaxy attendance this season.

“Clearly, Jorge Campos is a draw, and we are not ignoring the fact that we’ve got probably over 3 million people of Mexican origin in the L.A. area,” Villanueva said.

“But what all of our research, scientific and otherwise, has revealed to us is that what L.A. wants is a team that is high-powered, offensive and attacking.

“And whereas the nationality of our players was important when there was no identity for the Galaxy in this market, that has diminished in importance.”

NOT SO REGGAE BOYZ

Since qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in history, Jamaica’s fortunes have taken a downturn.

Coach Rene Simoes’ team comes into the Gold Cup off a disastrous tour of Brazil, where it managed to win a couple of games against obscure provincial clubs but then was trounced, 4-0, by Corinthians and, 3-0, by Romario’s Flamengo, two of Brazil’s leading clubs.

That has led to the belief that Jamaica will be no match for Argentina, Croatia and even Japan, in the France ’98 tournament. Not so, said Jamaica’s goalkeeper and captain, Warren Barrett.

“We still have five months to go and we are definitely going to improve,” he told Reuters. “Physically, we’re close to where we want to be and we just have to play together now as a team.”

Simoes, who is Brazilian, echoed the thought.

“We’re not worried about winning or losing,” he said. “Any score is fine as long as we learn from it. Our football has evolved tremendously from the Caribbean level. But now we’re playing against top-class teams and you’re punished if you make mistakes.”

Jamaica’s squad will be strengthened for the Gold Cup by the addition of three of its top England-based players--Frank Sinclair, Dean Burton and Marcus Gayle. A fourth, Robbie Earle, suffered a knee injury in England last week and probably will miss the Gold Cup.

Jamaica could play the United States in the semifinal at the Coliseum on Feb. 10 in a rematch of their 1-1 World Cup qualifying game at RFK Stadium last fall.

GALACTIC INTEREST

The Gold Cup will give fans the chance to see several Galaxy players competing for the first time since the end of the MLS season in October.

Winger Cobi Jones is on the U.S. roster and is liable to miss quite a bit of the upcoming MLS season while on national team duty. Villanueva said this does not trouble him unduly.

“He’s going to be away an awful lot,” he said. “That’s not the ideal scenario for us, but I am less harsh about that whole situation than perhaps a lot of other GMs. I am a firm believer that an excellent outing for the U.S. national team in this World Cup would be an incredible boost for our league. Steve Sampson is getting nothing but support from me and from our organization.”

Also playing in the Gold Cup are Galaxy midfielders Mauricio Cienfuegos of El Salvador and Martin Machon of Guatemala. They will go up against each other at the Coliseum today at 2 p.m.

Another Salvadoran standout, Washington D.C. United’s Raul Diaz Arce, probably will switch MLS clubs soon, but Villanueva doubts he is headed west.

“We have had discussions with D.C. United concerning Diaz Arce,” he said. “I do not see Raul coming to the Galaxy.”

The player most often mentioned as a possible Galaxy newcomer is Ecuador national team forward Wellington Sanchez.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup Schedule

* Today: Honduras vs. Trinidad and Tobago, 2 p.m.; Cuba vs. United States, 4 p.m. (Oakland Coliseum); FSW, Channel 52.

El Salvador vs. Guatemala, 2 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* Tuesday: Brazil vs. Jamaica, 4:30 p.m. (Orange Bowl, Miami).

* Wednesday: Costa Rica vs. Cuba, 6 p.m.; Mexico vs. Trinidad and Tobago, 8 p.m. (Oakland Coliseum).

* Thursday: Brazil vs. Guatemala, 4:30 p.m. (Orange Bowl, Miami).

* Friday: El Salvador vs. Jamaica, 8 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* Saturday: Costa Rica vs. United States, 2 p.m.; Honduras vs. Mexico, 4 p.m. (Oakland Coliseum).

* Feb. 8: Guatemala vs. Jamaica, 2 p.m.; Brazil vs. El Salvador, 4 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* Feb. 10: Semifinal, 8 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* Feb. 12: Semifinal, 7 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* Feb. 15: Third-place game, 3 p.m. and final, 5 p.m. (Los Angeles Coliseum).

* All times Pacific.