Unhappy Wynalda Calls Opener ‘Disheveled’
In one of the large rooms beneath the stands at Parc des Princes stadium, French World Cup organizers have built a blue wooden maze.
It snakes through the room, both a barrier and an escape route.
On one side are the players, trying to make it outside to the team buses. On the other side are sweaty journalists, pointing tape recorders and notebooks and shouting out what, for the most part, are unintelligible questions.
This is called the “mixed zone,” and it was to this zoo( that America’s finest soccer players were herded late Monday night after they had been beaten by Germany, 2-0.
Alexi Lalas strode through without so much as a question being directed his way. Preki Radosavljevic paused long enough to say, “I didn’t play, so I have nothing to say.”
Roy Wegerle took the easy way out. He hurdled the maze at the first turn and went straight out the door.
But Eric Wynalda has a better sense of duty and a better grasp of how getting one’s name in the newspaper can often lead to a fatter contract next time around. So he stopped and talked and gave anyone who would listen his analysis of the game that had just been played.
And, as usual, Wynalda’s take on matters was a little different from most, albeit somewhat Wynalda-centric.
“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half,” he said. “I think that was perfectly clear. Our team just looked a little bit disheveled. It seemed like no one could get hold of the ball and take control of the game. And it seemed like [the Germans] were just waiting for mistakes to capitalize on, and that’s what happened.
Wynalda, who played in his 101st game for the United States and became the first American to play in three World Cup tournaments--Tab Ramos later joined him as the second--said he was unhappy at being pulled in the 63rd minute.
“I was a little disappointed I was changed because I felt very good,” he said. “I’m confident that . . . er, I hope that . . . in the next two games I stay in the game longer.”
Wynalda was one of only four U.S. starters--the others were Thomas Dooley, Ernie Stewart and Cobi Jones--with World Cup experience, and he thought that had something to do with the U.S. team’s slow start.
“You have to remember that some of these guys were playing for the first time in a World Cup match, and at times tonight it showed,” he said.
“I felt OK [but] I seemingly couldn’t get involved. It was difficult for me to get on the end of things. . . . I felt a little bit alone at times, but this is the German national team. It has one of the best defenses in the world. It’s difficult to penetrate that. . . . In the second half, I felt like I was finally getting involved and then I was changed.”
Wegerle came on in his place, but neither U.S. striker had an especially memorable evening. Next up are Iran on Sunday and Yugoslavia June 25.
“This isn’t the end of the world for us,” Wynalda said. “We have better days ahead of us, for sure. We have two more games to put things right. And there will definitely be a lesser opponent than that tonight.
“The Iran game is a game we’re going to need to win [but] we’re definitely going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight if we expect to win. And Yugoslavia, as we saw the other night [against Iran], isn’t in the best form.
“So, hopefully, we can come out of this and play like the team we are.”
