U.S. Men’s Team Has Real Shot at Olympics

The first event in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will be a men’s soccer match.

There is no reason to believe that the United States will be playing in that curtain-raiser, but with only nine months remaining until the Games, Coach Clive Charles’ players are getting anxious.

For one thing, they don’t know if Charles will be in charge by the time they open camp in San Diego on Jan. 5. Charles is one of four candidates to take over the U.S. women’s national team.

For another, they know all too well that fewer than half their number will survive the cuts.

Olympic squads are made up of 16 players, which means 15 hopefuls on Charles’ current 31-man roster will be left behind. There probably will be another three cuts because Olympic rules allow men’s teams to field three “overage” players. Men’s soccer in the Games is limited to players 23 and younger in order to protect the World Cup.

In 1996, Bruce Arena, Charles’ predecessor and now U.S. national team coach, brought in goalkeeper Kasey Keller, midfielder Claudio Reyna and defender Alexi Lalas as his overage players.

Keller, the U.S.’s best keeper, and Reyna, the most creative midfielder, could be called upon again. The third pick is up in the air, but given that the U.S. team scored only four goals while putting together a 1-1-1 record in the Atlanta Games, an experienced striker seems the likely choice.

Those are future decisions, however, and for the moment the U.S. squad is pleased merely to have received one bit of positive news.

On Friday, the team finally learned when and where it will be playing in its effort to reach Australia, and the choice is not a bad one.

The North and Central American and Caribbean soccer confederation announced that the finals of its qualifying tournament will take place April 21-30 at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa.

Just who the U.S. will be playing is another matter.

Regional qualifying play is in its second stage. The U.S. is automatically in the finals as host nation. It will be joined there by the winner of Group A, which includes Panama, Bermuda and Cuba.

Also headed for Hershey will be the winner and runner-up in Group B, made up of Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Honduras; and the winner and runner-up in Group C, which features Canada, Guatemala, the Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad & Tobago.

The six finalists will be divided into two groups of three, with the Americans set to play the winner of Group C and the runner-up in Group B.

The other trio will feature the winner of Group A, the winner of Group B--Mexico, in all likelihood--and the runner-up in Group C.

The top two teams in each trio advance to the semifinals, with the two teams reaching the final qualifying for the Olympic Games.

American chances of qualifying for Sydney are better than they have been in past Olympics. For the first time, the team will feature what is likely to be an entirely professional lineup. In the past, college players have dominated.

It could also have a distinctly California look. Half the players on the current squad of 31 were either born in the state or play college or pro soccer here.

TURNING PRO

Among the Olympic hopefuls is Maryland defender Dan Califf, 19, of Orange, who on Thursday passed up his junior and senior year with the Terrapins and signed for Major League Soccer as a Project 40 player.

The former Orange High All-American has been a longtime member of the U.S. national teams program, having played 15 times for the Under-17 team, including the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Egypt in 1997, and 25 times for the Under-20 team, including the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria in March.

“‘Signing with MLS and Project 40 gives me advantages available in no other league in the world,” he said. “I have security on a roster as I develop my game. I want to stay in the U.S. and be one of the players who helps MLS grow.”

Califf was on the U.S. Under-23 team that won the bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Canada in August.

MLS has not yet assigned him to a particular club.

QUICK PASSES

Sports Illustrated covers featuring soccer players have been few and far between. Pele made it in 1975, Brandi Chastain in 1999. Now, the entire 20-member U.S. Women’s World Cup-winning team has made it after being named the magazine’s “Sportswomen of the Year” for 1999. . . . In what is shaping up as an equally busy 2000, the women’s team will be hosting and playing in the first Women’s Gold Cup between June 23 and July 4 at an American site to be determined. The eight-nation event will feature five teams from the North and Central American and Caribbean region and three invitees.

Duke goalkeeper Ali Curtis and Santa Clara midfielder Mandy Clemens were named Hermann Trophy winners for 1999, earning college soccer’s top honor. UCLA’s Sasha Victorine finished third in the men’s voting, having earlier won the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) award as the nation’s best collegiate player. . . . MLS announced that its 2000 season will open March 18 and end with MLS Cup 2000, the championship game, on Oct. 15. The league’s All-Star game will be played at Columbus, Ohio, on July 29. . . . Todd Saldana, who took over as UCLA men’s coach after Sigi Schmid left to coach the Galaxy, was named the Far West Region Division I Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America. Saldana led the Bruins to the final four in his first season. . . . The United Soccer League added the Riverside County Elite to its D3 Pro League. The team, a developmental squad for the A-League’s San Diego Flash, will play at West Valley High in Hemet.

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Olympic Hopefuls

The U.S. men’s Under-23 national team that will be training in San Diego Jan. 5-20 in preparation for the qualifying tournament for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

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Name Pos. Club/College Adin Brown G William & Mary Tim Howard G N.Y./N.J. Metrostars (MLS) Andy Kirk G Tampa Bay Mutiny (MLS) Matt Napolean G Columbus Crew (MLS) Dan Califf D Maryland Steve Cherundolo D Hannover ’96 (Germany) Matt Chulis D Columbus Crew (MLS) Ramiro Corrales D NY/NJ Metrostars (MLS) Joey DiGiamarino D Colorado Rapids (MLS) Brian Dunseth D New England Revolution (MLS) Chad McCarty D Tampa Bay Mutiny (MLS) Steve Shak D UCLA Evan Whitfield D Chicago Fire (MLS) DaMarcus Beasley M Galaxy (MLS) Wes Hart M Washington Jason Moore M D.C. United (MLS) John O’Brien M Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands) Ben Olsen M D.C. United (MLS) Antonio Otero M D.C. United (MLS) Carlos Parra M New England Revolution (MLS) Pete Vagenas M UCLA Sasha Victorine M UCLA Brian Winters M Portland Chris Albright F D.C. United (MLS) Scott Bower F San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) Chris Brown F Kansas City Wizards (MLS) Conor Casey F Portland Landon Donovan F Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) John Thorrington F Manchester United (England) Brian West F Columbus Crew (MLS) Josh Wolff F Chicago Fire (MLS)

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Coach: Clive Charles

G--Goalkeeper D--Defender M--Midfielder F--Forward