Veteran Players Betray Their Feelings About Sampson
Yugoslavia 1, You Go Home 0.
That is how it sadly ended Thursday night at Stade de la Beaujoire-Louis Fonteneau--for the United States in this World Cup, for American hopes of salvaging some of its shattered international soccer reputation, for Steve Sampson and the slow-burning fuse that finally vaporized his career as U.S. national coach during one train wreck of a three-week tour of France.
Sampson hasn’t been given his walking papers yet; U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg says he won’t make a decision on Sampson’s future until four to six weeks after the World Cup. Like most of the American players who ventured into the opposition penalty area here, Rothenberg takes his time before pulling the trigger.
But Rothenberg has two options and two options only as he tries to right a program before it death spirals into oblivion:
He can keep his coach.
Or he can keep his players.
Tab Ramos, as skilled a player as any who ever wore the U.S. crest, a veteran of three World Cup tournaments and a respected team leader, said Thursday night that his national career is over if Sampson and assistant coach Clive Charles are retained.
“As long as Steve and Clive are around this team, I won’t have anything to do with it,” Ramos said after being benched against Yugoslavia. “It’s sad for me to say that. I definitely didn’t think it would end this way, but it’s a distinct possibility.”
Alexi Lalas and Jeff Agoos, who combined for zero minutes in this World Cup after years of toiling through hellish CONCACAF qualifiers in Guatemala and Costa Rica, choked back tears as they vented about their feelings of betrayal by Sampson.
“The only thing I can say is that I deserved better than this,” said Agoos, a six-year veteran of the national team with not one World Cup minute to show for it.
Lalas was among the most valuable players of the United States’ surprising second-round run in 1994 and a regular in the lineup until this April.
He and other veterans believe Sampson sold out his older players, key squad members who won historic games in 1995--against Mexico, against Argentina--that helped boost Sampson from interim caretaker to permanent coach.
The core of that team--Lalas, Ramos, Marcelo Balboa, John Harkes, Eric Wynalda--had “played together for years and gave the team a personality,” Lalas said. “That personality is important. It’s won games. It comes from having a group of players playing together for a long time.
“That wasn’t there in this tournament.”
No, the team Sampson threw to the Germans in the opener had seven starters with no World Cup experience whatsoever. He opted for youth for one easy-to-sell reason--fresher legs--but also because younger players are more malleable, good little soldiers. Sampson clashed with many of the veterans, resulting in benchings and, in the extreme case of Harkes, outright expulsion.
Subsequently, a green team short on guile that lacked any sort of esprit de corps there were so many new faces they should have used name tags--was cowed by Germany, frustrated by Iran and simply outclassed by Yugoslavia.
“I don’t think we got the best out of the talent we had,” Ramos said. “From the beginning, this World Cup has been a mess.
“I blame the coaches. I don’t have any problem saying that. . . . I think Steve made all his [personnel] decisions based on the Austria game [a 3-0 U.S. victory in Vienna in late April]--and that game might have been a fluke for all we know.”
That “friendly” against Austria marked the debut of Sampson’s brainchild, the vaunted 3-6-1 formation, as well as Game 1 of the post-Harkes era. Two developments that would sink the Americans in France, the veterans argue.
“The bottom line,” Ramos said, “is that we went into the World Cup without the players that should have been on the field. John Harkes is one of the best 11 players in the country. At least in two of the games we played here, the guys on the field hadn’t played together. . . . Things changed so much in the last six, seven weeks, it threw everyone for a loop.”
Lalas rubbed his temples as he contemplated this lost World Cup.
“What a nightmare,” he said.
Then he decided it was best to look ahead.
“We’re all going to go on and continue to promote the game and American soccer will go on,” Lalas said. “Then, when we’re all done and we’re old, we’re going to have a scrapbook and, hopefully, the most important thing--the respect of the people you associated with.
“I know I’ll have that. I was honest and upfront.
“Steve will have to settle for a scrapbook.”
