Mexico Right at Home in Win

Those lights in the sky near the Coliseum on Sunday night were not fireworks. They were the distress signals sent up by a sinking ship.

Just a minute or so before halftime in the Gold Cup final between the United States and Mexico, the U.S. team hit its iceberg.

Defender Alexi Lalas lost track of the ball. Mexican forward Javier Lozano nipped in and stole it, then swung a pass out to Salvador Carmona on the right wing.

Carmona didn’t hesitate one second. He crossed the ball immediately into the goal area. Luis Hernandez sprinted in on Lalas’ blind side and powered a header into the back of the U.S. net.

Just like that, it was 1-0. Just like that, Mexico retained the trophy it won in 1996. Just like that, most of the 91,255 in the Coliseum and the overflow of 6,941 watching on closed circuit at the adjacent Sports Arena were delighted.

Playing in Los Angeles is not a home game for the United States national team, as the American players quickly found out.

And it wasn’t only the sea of red, white and green flags that were the giveaway.

As they walked into the tunnel after Mexico had been presented its trophy and medals by FIFA president Joao Havelange, the U.S. players were pelted with debris and cups of what might have been water, beer or worse.

It was an ugly sight, but one Coach Steve Sampson and his players have come to expect in Los Angeles.

Here, it is Hernandez, whose goal was his fourth of the tournament, and his teammates who are the heroes. And Lalas, well, if not the goat, he was certainly the goatee.

Afterward, in the relative calm of the Coliseum tunnel, he admitted that he was to blame for the goal.

“I lost the ball and I didn’t pick up Hernandez coming through the box,” U.S. soccer’s most recognizable player said in a subdued tone. “He came from the blind side. I take full responsibility, not only for losing the ball but also for not picking him up.

“It’s those moments [when] you have to be concentrated, and I wasn’t.”

The loss ended the U.S. team’s unbeaten streak at nine and its winning streak at six. For Mexico’s coach, Manuel Lapuente, it also helped erase a loss to the U.S. in the same stadium in the semifinals of the 1991 Gold Cup.

Before the 10-nation, three-week tournament, Lapuente had talked in metaphorical terms about his own team and the need for fans to support it.

Perhaps he had been to Rosarita, where “Titanic” was filmed. Perhaps he had simply seen the movie once too often. Either way, his thoughts turned nautical.

“Let’s all get on board the ship and make it strong so the captain doesn’t crash against an iceberg,” he said in a rather labored comparison.

“Those who don’t have any faith, they’d better not take the chance. Those who do, join us, get on board and we will see whether we end up like the Titanic. We have confidence that we’ll make it safely to port. That’s the goal.”

Yes, well.

On Sunday the talk was more about real goals than metaphorical ones. Sampson, for one, praised the Mexican striker.

“It was a fantastic goal by Hernandez,” the U.S. coach said. “It was a nice cross and a great finish. If you’re going to lose the game, you hope it’s on a great goal and I think it was a great goal. I congratulate the Mexican team on its championship.

“I think we created enough chances in the second half to at least tie the game and go into overtime or even win the game. We didn’t back off. We continued to fight for the win.”

Indeed, the second 45 minutes belonged to the U.S. It did most of the attacking and played well enough to deserve the tying goal that never came.

It was close, though.

Preki, seeking a third-consecutive monumental goal after scoring the game-winners against Costa Rica and Brazil, came within inches of achieving it.

Cobi Jones took a fine pass from Eric Wynalda and sprinted down the left wing before angling a pass diagonally back across the goal area. After bouncing around among several players, the ball fell to Preki, who fired a shot that flashed just wide of the right post.

Preki fell to his knees and held his head in his hands in disbelief at the near miss.

“We created three or four very clear opportunities which in championship games you need to finish,” Sampson said.

“But if I look back at where we were on Jan. 5 [when training camp opened in Florida] compared to where we are today, I think this national team has made enormous strides in that period of time and is well on the way to gaining the kind of form that we need come June 15 when we play Germany [in Paris in the World Cup].

“We will take away from this game having learned that we have to make the same kind of effort in the first half that we gave in the second half.”

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* BAD TIMES

The worst moment for Alexi Lalas didn’t come during the game, when he made a poor play, but after the final whistle, when he was bombarded by debris. C7