U.S. Doesn’t Deserve Much Applause for This Victory
So, the U.S. fumbled and stumbled its way to a 1-0 victory over Guatemala and put itself into a much better position to advance to the next round of World Cup 2002 qualifying.
Don’t look for any applause here.
Compared to the way that Mexico demolished Panama, 7-1, Sunday, the American team’s showing in front of a sellout crowd of 51,996 at RFK Stadium was feeble indeed.
Where Mexico flowed, the U.S. floundered. Where Mexico showed imagination, the U.S. showed desperation. Where Mexico was able to pick apart its opponent and score with ease, the U.S. was hard-pressed to score the only goal it did.
Worse yet, the American players continue to exhibit deplorable judgment on the field.
Winger Earnie Stewart had said before Sunday’s match that a victory was vital ahead of the next qualifying game, against Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 11.
“We don’t want to go into that game having to win,” Stewart said.
Yet it was Stewart who earned himself his second yellow card of qualifying play with a needless first-half foul and thus will miss the Costa Rica game.
Worse still was Eddie Lewis’ deplorable elbow to the face of Guatemala’s Fabricio Benitez only eight minutes after Lewis had entered the game in the second half. The blatant foul caused the former UCLA player to be red-carded and left the U.S. a man down for 25 minutes. Lewis also will have to sit out the Costa Rica game.
Sunday’s result means that the Americans probably will have to win only one of their remaining two games to advance to next year’s six-team final qualifying round in the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF) region. A victory and a tie would lock it up for sure.
“Mathematically, Guatemala can max out with 10 points now,” said U.S. Coach Bruce Arena, “so if we can get three points out of one of our next two games, we should be able to beat them on the [goal-differential] tiebreaker.”
Costa Rica virtually assured itself of a place in the final six Sunday with a 3-0 victory at home over Barbados on goals by Jafet Soto, Rolando Fonseca and 1990 World Cup veteran Hernan Medford. The Central Americans need only to tie their final two games, or win one of them, to secure a spot in the next round.
Mexico’s victory, meanwhile, showed that the gulf between the best and the rest in CONCACAF is as vast as ever.
Yes, the existence of Major League Soccer has helped to close the gap as far as the U.S. is concerned, but where are the American players of the quality of Mexico’s Ramon Ramirez, Jose Manuel Abundis, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Rafael Marquez?
The 70,000 fans at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City were able to enjoy their team’s performance. The crowd in Washington was made to sweat, and not only because of the weather.
FOUR TO GO
Mexico was not the only team to turn it up a notch Sunday. Honduras, playing in front of a home crowd of 42,000 in San Pedro Sula, thrashed El Salvador, 5-0.
It was a hat trick by one of the top players in CONCACAF, Carlos Pavon, that did the damage, along with goals by David Suazo and Jorge Caballero.
Honduras is all but certain to be one of next year’s six finalists, as is Jamaica, which shut out St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 2-0, in Kingston on Sunday, with Andy Williams and Onandi Lowe scoring.
Similarly, Trinidad & Tobago’s comprehensive 4-0 victory over Canada in Port-of-Spain eliminated the Canadians and Panamanians from any further interest in World Cup 2002. Russell Latapy, Reynold Carrington, Stokely Mason and Angus Eve scored for the winners, who advance to the final round along with Mexico.
THE EURO FILE
On balance, the U.S. victory was deserved, but only barely. Had Guatemala come away with a tie, no one could have complained, which is not the same as saying no one would have complained.
After the U.S. tied at Guatemala and lost at Costa Rica in the first two qualifying games, Arena made a bizarre statement.
“If I had to do it again, I might have picked a team with more MLS players,” the coach said. “The Europeans weren’t as fit as they needed to be. I know the guys gave it all they had, but they [wilted] in the last five to 10 minutes of each game.”
On Sunday, with conditions every bit as hot and humid as they were in Mazatenango, Guatemala, Arena sent out a starting lineup that featured only two MLS players, Brian McBride and Eddie Pope.
The other nine all play for European clubs and within an hour were visibly drained. Arena apparently is ignoring his own advice.
Still, the U.S. is unbeaten at home in its last 10 World Cup qualifying games, which is less of a feat than it sounds considering that Mexico has not lost a single home match in its World Cup qualifying history, going 44-0-4.
‘FUTBAL’ BRUINS WIN TOO
Alabama? Big deal. The futbal Bruins did even better than the football Bruins this weekend.
Coach Todd Saldana’s men’s team traveled to two-time defending national champion Indiana and upset the Hoosiers, 2-1, in Bloomington on goals by McKinley Tennyson Jr. and Scot Thompson.
That gave UCLA a measure of revenge after losing to Indiana in last year’s NCAA semifinal game, 3-2, in quadruple overtime.
Ranked No. 3 before the game, the Bruins should rise to No. 1 today.
QUICK PASSES
El Salvador’s elimination from World Cup contention is good news for Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid because it means that midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos won’t miss any MLS games next year because of national team duty. . . . Former Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos hasn’t changed at all. Playing for Mexico on Sunday, he wore a bright orange outfit and, near the end of the game, raced 70 yards out of his net with the ball before passing. . . . World Cup ’94 winner Romario celebrated his first game for Brazil since April 1998 by scoring a hat-trick at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro as Brazil mauled Bolivia, 5-0, in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
