U.S. in Need of Some Creativity
Bruce Arena is not a big fan of Ajax Amsterdam these days. At least not judging by the comments he made Saturday.
The U.S. plays Mexico in a key World Cup qualifying game at Azteca Stadium today, but the American team will take the field without a legitimate playmaker.
Claudio Reyna, who usually fills that role, is serving a one-game suspension because of a yellow card he picked up late in a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on June 20.
Arena, the U.S. coach, had intended to start John O’Brien in Reyna’s position, but Ajax demanded that the midfielder from Playa del Rey return to Amsterdam to rejoin the Dutch club for preseason training.
“I think it’s a classless thing to do,” Arena said.
“It was going to hurt John one way or the other. It was either going to hurt him with us or it was going to hurt him with Ajax. When a club puts a player in that kind of position, it’s not fair.
“I can’t imagine him playing here would have really hurt plans for Ajax’s preseason. At the same time, I understand the issues clubs have with [releasing] players. But this isn’t a friendly, this is a pretty good experience for a player. I think John would have benefited from it.”
Under soccer’s international rules, Arena could have insisted that O’Brien be made available for today’s game.
“Yes, but then he doesn’t play [at Ajax] for the next year,” Arena said, knowing from experience how European clubs tend to bench foreign players who put their national team ahead of the team that pays their salary.
Without Reyna and O’Brien, the U.S. midfield probably will feature Chris Armas and Tony Sanneh in more or less defensive roles, with Earnie Stewart and either Cobi Jones or Joe-Max Moore in attacking roles.
The rest of the U.S. starting lineup probably won’t change much from recent qualifying games.
Kasey Keller will be in goal, backed up by the Miami Fusion’s Nick Rimando, one of six former UCLA players on the U.S. roster.
In defense, Arena will stick with the foursome of David Regis, Jeff Agoos, Carlos Llamosa and Steve Cherundolo. Up front, the two strikers probably will be Jovan Kirovski and Ante Razov.
Arena declined to tip his hand Saturday--”I don’t want to have a press report give them our lineup,” he said--but voiced confidence that whatever starting 11 he selects can achieve a positive result.
“I think we’re capable of winning tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t believe that anybody is untouchable in any sport. This isn’t like playing Argentina in Buenos Aires or Brazil at home. Obviously, Mexico has an incredible record [44-1-5 at home in World Cup qualifying], but every time they have a home game the probability of them losing is greater.
“I don’t think the world is going to be shocked if we won tomorrow. I don’t think we would be shocked.”
Anything other than a loss would be a plus. The U.S. has a dismal all-time record of 0-20-1 against Mexico on Mexican soil, the only tie being a 0-0 surprise at Azteca Stadium in November 1997 during qualifying for the France ’98 World Cup.
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World Cup Qualifying
* What: United States vs. Mexico, 2002 World Cup qualifying game.
* Where: Azteca Stadium, Mexico City.
* When: Today, 10 a.m. PDT.
* TV: Live on Telemundo (Spanish); tape-delayed on ESPN at 1 p.m. PDT.
* Other CONCACAF Games: Jamaica 2, Trinidad and Tobago 1 (Saturday); Honduras vs. Costa Rica (today).
STANDINGS
*--*
Country W L T GF GA Pts United States 4 0 1 7 1 13 Costa Rica 3 1 1 9 5 10 Honduras 2 1 2 11 8 8 Jamaica 2 2 2 5 8 8 Mexico 1 3 1 7 8 4 Trinidad 0 5 1 4 13 1
*--*
Note: Top three teams qualify
