Americans Are Riding High
Rain clouds over Los Angeles Thursday? Frankie Hejduk, Southern Californian midfielder-surfer now landlocked most of the year in Leverkusen, Germany, didn’t even notice.
“Come home, get a couple bean-and-cheese burritos, hang out with my buddies, get a goal--pretty good afternoon,” Hejduk assessed in the aftermath of the United States’ 3-1 victory over Guatemala in the opening match of U.S. Cup ’99 before 34,154 at the Coliseum.
Yes, that was Hejduk breaking out the “Marley Skank,” his trademark goofball limbs-akimbo goal celebration, after heading one home for Team USA in the 94th minute. “The first goal I scored with my head since I was, like, 6,” Hejduk said, giggling at the very thought.
With a Mexican combination plate on the side.
It just doesn’t get any better, right?
Well, if you were to canvass Hejduk’s teammates and coaches Thursday night, yes, it can--and, yes, it had better.
Despite a two-goal victory that kept the U.S. men’s national team undefeated (3-0-2) under Coach Bruce Arena--setting up a championship showdown Saturday with Mexico, a 2-1 winner over Bolivia in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader--Arena was less than ecstatic with a performance he considered nervous and ragged.
“This was a game we should have put away, and we didn’t,” Arena said. “Certainly, I’m happy with the win, but I’m a little disappointed with the way we played early in the second half.”
Specifically, Arena was perturbed with Guatemala’s goal in the 51st minute, coming on a penalty kick set up by an error by U.S. goalkeeper Zach Thornton--slicing a 2-0 U.S. lead in half and breathing life into a Guatemala effort that, until then, had consisted mainly of melodramatic swan dives onto the turf and hacked American shins.
Thornton mishandled a high cross coming in from the left, losing his grip on the ball and allowing it to spill free in the U.S. penalty area. Both Guatemala midfielder Guillermo Ortega and U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis raced in for the ball, Ortega got there first, Lewis grazed Ortega on the shoulder--and that was enough for another melodramatic Guatemalan swan dive, Ortega milking it sufficiently in the estimation of the Mexican referee, Jose Robles.
Jorge Perez converted the penalty and just like that, a 2-0 U.S. walkaway was 2-1 and cause for concern on the American bench.
“A bad mistake by Zach,” Arena said. “I consider that to be just like giving them a goal.”
Guatemala had two chances to equalize in the final 15 minutes, pushing wide on a pair of shots inside the U.S. penalty box. And in the 91st minute, an brief push-and-shove episode earned red cards for both the United States’ Joe-Max Moore and Guatemala’s Erick Miranda--rendering Moore, who scored the United States’ first goal in the 22nd minute, ineligible for Saturday’s match against Mexico at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
“A bad reaction on my part,” Moore said. “It was stupid for me to react like that.”
Moore had given the United States a 1-0 lead after Brian McBride headed down into the box and Moore slid in to jam the ball past Guatemala goalkeeper Edgar Estrada. It was Moore’s 18th international goal, moving him into third on the all-time U.S. scoring list.
McBride made it 2-0 in the 37th minute, heading a cross from Ante Razov and flicking the ball over a scrambling Estrada into the far side of the net. Hejduk, on leave from his German club team, Bayer Leverkusen, capped the scoring in the 94th minute--with a goal that suddenly looms as quite significant in this tournament.
Mexico’s come-from-behind victory over Bolivia makes Saturday’s U.S.-Mexico match the Cup decider. The United States can win the title with a tie--the United States has the better goal differential, plus-two to plus-one--and may have to play for such a result without Moore in the midfield.
Mexico fell behind Bolivia in the third minute on the first shot of the game. Bolivian defender Fernando Ochoaizpur took it, running up and firing from 25 yards out.
Bolivia protected the lead for the rest of the half, but that was all. Two headers by Joel Sanchez in a six-minute span were enough for the victory for Mexico.
Saturday’s U.S.-Mexico match is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., to be followed by Bolivia-Guatemala at 3 p.m.
