A World of Opportunity Awaits the U.S. Men, Women

For the United States, this is the week that brings two glimpses of its soccer future.

The first occurs today, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where Cobi Jones and the rest of the U.S. men’s national team plays its first game on foreign soil under Coach Bruce Arena.

The second occurs Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Mia Hamm and the rest of the U.S. women’s national team plays the first of 23 games on the road to the Rose Bowl.

The men will play Bolivia, a team that supposedly will be without its two most famous Major League Soccer stars--D.C. United’s Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno--as new Coach Hector “Bambino” Veira of Argentina tries to reshape the Bolivian team in preparation for this summer’s Copa America in Paraguay.

Of course, Veira might be bluffing and could field a strong squad. The U.S. is 0-2-3 against Bolivia since their first meeting in 1993.

The women will play Portugal, and the game will give Coach Tony DiCicco the first chance to see how three weeks of residency camp in Orlando, Fla., have sharpened his squad. DiCicco has 26 players in camp. By May, he will trim that number to the 20 who will make up the American team to compete in the third FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer.

Arena’s job is easy. His World Cup is not until 2002 and he can experiment freely for a year or more without worrying too much about results.

DiCicco’s task is much tougher. He needs to be sure the team he selects can make it all the way to the World Cup final at the Rose Bowl on July 10. The Portugal game is the first of 17 preparatory matches before the 16-nation tournament opens June 19. The U.S. women are 2-0 against Portugal.

Both coaches, though, know they can count on at least two players--Jones and Hamm, who last week became the latest recipients of U.S. Soccer’s athlete-of-the-year award.

For Hamm, it was the fifth successive such honor. She scored 20 goals and assisted on 20 others as the American women compiled a 22-1-2 record in 1998.

“This year’s award could have gone to a number of her teammates,” DiCicco said, “but the simple fact of the matter is Mia just got better in 1998. She had the greatest year of any women’s player in the history of the game.”

Hamm, who shies away from publicity, once again deflected the praise toward others.

“I don’t take this award lightly, because of the company I’m in,” she said. “The players on my team are the best in the world and any of them could have received this award. So many players had tremendous years.

“I’m excited about all of our progress, especially with the World Cup coming up. . . . I just feel that we’re getting better every day and if we continue this improvement, hopefully we’ll be in Pasadena on July 10.”

Jones, who is accompanied on the Bolivia trip by two other Galaxy players, defender Robin Fraser and midfielder Clint Mathis, is one of the veteran players on the roster Arena selected. With a team-high 111 caps (international appearances), more is expected of him.

“Unofficially, it’s been asked of me to take more of a leadership role on the team,” he said, “and to be a little more outspoken than I was on the last couple of World Cup teams that I’ve been on. I think it’s also time for me to step up and show a little bit of leadership out on the field.”

TONY ORLANDO?

Arena’s roster for his second game in charge (the first was a 0-0 tie against Australia in San Jose) contains some interesting selections.

Only five players from the 1998 World Cup team are included: Jones and fellow midfielder Claudio Reyna, defenders Jeff Agoos and Eddie Pope, and forward Joe-Max Moore. There are four players from Arena’s former club, D.C. United: Agoos, Pope, Richie Williams and goalkeeper Tom Presthus. Eight of the 18 players have fewer than five international appearances.

But the most interesting choice of all is New York/New Jersey MetroStar goalkeeper Tony Meola, whose last game for the U.S. was against Brazil in the 1994 World Cup. Arena called Meola into camp in Orlando after the 29-year-old two-time World Cup keeper had enjoyed a solid MLS season. He moved into the starting slot after Chicago Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton was injured.

“Meola has justified his call-up,” Arena said. “He’s brought a great attitude to the camp. You can see the difference in his experience.”

ALL’S FAIR

“In the middle of the World Cup, the Iranians and Americans provided a powerful demonstration of the effects of fair play when they not only joined in the spirit of FIFA’s Fair Play Day on June 21 by posing together for the photographers before their match in Lyon, but also exchanged flowers and gifts among the players.”

So said FIFA President Sepp Blatter while announcing that the United States, Iran and Northern Ireland would share the FIFA Fair Play Award for 1998.

Northern Ireland’s soccer federation was awarded a share of the prize for its “continuing efforts to reunite the Catholic and Protestant communities.” In November, a match between Cliftonville and Linfield, clubs on either side of the sectarian divide, took place for the first time in almost 30 years.

It is the fourth time the U.S. has been so honored. In 1989, the U.S. under-20 men’s national team, led by goalkeeper Kasey Keller, earned the award after finishing third at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia. In 1996, the women’s national team earned it after winning the first gold medal in women’s soccer at the Atlanta Olympic Games. In 1997, U.S. midfielder Julie Foudy of Mission Viejo was presented the award for her humanitarian efforts in increasing public awareness of child labor being employed in the manufacture of soccer balls.

LIGHTING THE FUSE

Sometimes all it takes is a match. For instance:

* Who at U.S. Soccer allowed promoters to stage an Argentina-Mexico game at the L.A. Coliseum on Feb. 10 only four days before the Women’s World Cup draw and USA-Rest of the World match at San Jose on Feb. 14?

* Why can’t U.S. Soccer promote these million-dollar games itself instead of seeing the money generated by them disappear into private pockets?

* Now that all-time MLS leading scorer Raul Diaz Arce has been traded from the Robert Kraft-owned New England Revolution to the Robert Kraft-owned San Jose Clash, we know why the Salvadoran star didn’t come to the Galaxy in exchange for Dan Calichman.

* Bob Contiguglia, president of U.S. Soccer, favors holding the World Cup every two years. He told the Associated Press that this country “would be able to get it back in the United States a lot sooner.” Not to mention their being twice as much opportunity for the U.S. men to embarrass themselves.

* Eric Wynalda has left the San Jose Clash and is playing for Leon in the Mexican league before possibly joining the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. John Harkes is being shopped about by Washington D.C. United and is trying out with Nottingham Forest in England. The New England Revolution’s Mike Burns is trying to find a European club. Tony Sanneh has abandoned D.C. United and joined Hertha Berlin in the German Bundesliga (at four times his MLS salary). Ian Feuer has left New England and is trying to find a team in old England. Does anyone see a trend here?

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Hamming It Up

U.S. Soccer Athletes of the Year: *--*

Year Male Female 1984 Rick Davis none 1985 Perry Van der Beck Sharon Remer 1986 Paul Caligiuri April Heinrichs 1987 Brent Goulet Carin Jennings 1988 Peter Vermes Joy Biefeld Fawcett 1989 Mike Windischmann April Heinrichs 1990 Tab Ramos Michelle Akers 1991 Hugo Perez Michelle Akers 1992 Marcelo Balboa Carin Jennings Gabarra 1993 Thomas Dooley Kristine Lilly 1994 Marcelo Balboa Mia Hamm 1995 Alexi Lalas Mia Hamm 1996 Eric Wynalda Mia Hamm 1997 Kasey Keller Mia Hamm 1998 Cobi Jones Mia Hamm

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