U.S., Bolivia Battle to Tie in Arena’s Second Game

Two games into his tenure as coach of the U.S. national soccer team, Bruce Arena still is looking for his first victory. On the other hand, he hasn’t been beaten, either.

On a humid, 90-degree Sunday afternoon in front of a capacity crowd of 39,000 at Ramon Tahuichi Aguilera Stadium in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the U.S. earned a 0-0 tie against the host nation. The Americans tied Australia, 0-0, in San Jose in Arena’s debut in November.

The U.S. starting lineup featured Tony Meola in goal; Robin Fraser, Jeff Agoos, Eddie Pope and Eddie Lewis in defense; Chris Armas, Claudio Reyna, Cobi Jones and Jovan Kirovski in midfield, and Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore as strikers.

McBride, of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew, came the closest to scoring, being denied by an excellent save by Bolivian goalkeeper Jose “Gato” Fernandez in the 11th minute and just failing to reach a cross from the San Jose Clash’s Eddie Lewis in the 62nd minute with the goal at his mercy.

Meola, of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, made his first appearance for the U.S. team since the the 1994 World Cup.

Midfielder Imad Baba of the New England Revolution made his debut for the U.S., coming on in place of Lewis for the final 15 minutes.

Bolivia did not field its strongest lineup. Coach Hector Veira chose not to play two of his MLS-based stars, Marco “El Diablo” Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno of D.C. United, but did play Mauricio Ramos of the Tampa Bay Mutiny, a native of Santa Cruz.

Bolivia, ranked 61st in the world by FIFA compared to the Americans’ No. 23 ranking, has never been beaten by the U.S. team, going 2-0-4 since 1993.

The U.S. team’s next game is against European champion Germany on Feb. 6 at Jacksonville, Fla.