Yankees Go Home; Mexico Goes On After Dramatic Tie

By GRAHAME L. JONES

June 26, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NANTES, France —

And so, the final chapter has been written. The adventure is at an end. The book is closed.

But the sequel promises to be intriguing.

The United States bowed out of the France 98 World Cup on Thursday night, losing, 1-0, to Yugoslavia in a game where the real story was going on off the field.

Today, the players and coaches go in their different directions--which is basically what they have been doing for weeks.

But whether Steve Sampson has coached his final game or whether several of the veteran players have played theirs remains to be seen.

Sampson on Thursday night said he had been hurt by the attacks on him by certain players.

Some of the players, in turn, said they would not be willing to play for Sampson again.

And Alan Rothenberg, the president of U.S. Soccer, said the federation will make a decision within six weeks whether Sampson will be retained as coach.

But in a post-match news conference at Stade de la Beaujoire here, Rothenberg provided a broad hint as to what might lie in Sampson’s future.

“We have two vital jobs to be filled in U.S. Soccer,” Rothenberg said. “One is the national team coach and the other is the director of Project 2010 [the federation’s master plan to build a team that can win the World Cup 12 years from now].”

The latter challenge might be attractive enough to cause Sampson to step aside and thus end the bitter feud between himself and a handful of players that has torn the team apart.

Asked Thursday night whether players really had been threatened with being sent home from the World Cup, Sampson replied: “Not by me,” then elaborated.

“I asked my assistant coaches to talk to certain individuals about the things they were saying and/or the way they were behaving. And I asked them to [remind the players] that there always remains the option of fining or of sending people home. But it was never seriously considered.”

But the implied threat was there.

Sampson was asked why players had been told not to speak out.

“I’ve never muzzled anybody,” he said. “Every player is going to be out here and going to have every option and right to speak. Even the ones who have been very critical of me will have that right. I have never told a player he cannot talk to the press.”

But Sampson said he had been disappointed by the comments players have made, and continued to make after Thursday night’s loss that left the Americans 0-3 in the tournament.

“I think it has everything to do with playing time,” he said. “Certain players who have not gotten playing time have been angered by that and have vented their frustrations publicly. We had hoped that it would have stayed internally.

“I think there’s also a number of players who have been extremely professional under a great deal of pressure and not having played, such as Jeff Agoos and Marcelo Balboa. They’ve been very professional, and as far as I’m concerned they’re class acts.

“In a meeting prior to the Iran match, we discussed how important it was that any problems be addressed in the team and not outside the team. And the vast majority of players have cooperated in that regard and a few haven’t.”

Obviously, a great deal of fence-mending will have to be done if the U.S. is to put together a real team again, no matter the coach.

As for Thursday night’s game, the evening began in almost spectacular fashion for the Americans, when Yugoslav goalkeeper Ivica Kralj completely misjudged Frankie Hejduk’s high and hopeful lob into the goal area in the first minute.

But luck was not on Hejduk’s side and the ball bounced off the left post.

Two minutes later, Yugoslavia had the lead.

The move started on the left flank, where U.S. defender Mike Burns was whistled for a foul. Sinisa Mihajlovic sent a powerful free kick screaming toward the American net, but Brad Friedel, starting in place of Kasey Keller, threw himself to his left and pushed the ball out.

Friedel’s motion caused him to end up on the ground, and he could not scramble to his feet in time to save the header that flew in from the right, Slobodan Komljenovic scoring from about five yards out, with no U.S. player near him.

The clock read 3:04.

Sampson’s time was already running out.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

U.S. History

* World Cup appearances: 6

* World Cup record: 4-12-1

* World Cup goals for/against: 18-38

1998 (France)

Lost to Germany, 2-0, in group play

Lost to Iran, 2-1, in group play

Lost to Yugoslavia, 1-0, in group play

1994 (U.S.)