Second Helping for U.S.
There’s a lot to be said for having a dependable ally--in war, in peace and, as it turns out, in soccer.
The United States, needing only a tie against Poland on Friday night to clinch a place in the final 16 of the World Cup, failed miserably. It was outplayed by the Poles from the opening whistle and ended up losing, 3-1.
But it is going to the second round anyway.
South Korea’s Park Ji-Sung earned the U.S. its berth--and one for his own country too--by scoring the lone goal at Incheon as the Koreans ousted Portugal from the tournament with a surprise 1-0 victory over the fifth-ranked team in the world.
South Korea won Group D, with the U.S. finishing second.
The U.S. will play longtime rival Mexico in Jeonju on Monday for a place in the quarterfinals. South Korea will play three-time world champion Italy in Daejeon on Tuesday, also seeking to be one of the final eight.
The U.S. team would have been on a plane heading home today were it not for the Koreans’ pluck.
“We’re through to the second round because of their result, not because of what we did,” admitted midfielder Claudio Reyna, the U.S. captain. “We really needed a point today and we couldn’t do it. So, yes, we owe them a big thanks. They went out and won, and that’s great.”
Not that doing the U.S. a favor was necessarily the Koreans’ aim.
“They really weren’t playing for us, they were playing for themselves,” Cobi Jones said, “but we’ve just got to thank them for the result they got. Thankfully, it went the way that we needed it to go.”
Nothing else went the Americans’ way on a night when only goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who saved a penalty kick for the second game in a row, and midfielder John O’Brien managed to raise their game to World Cup level.
Poland came into the match with a point to prove and did so in no uncertain fashion, playing the fastbreak to perfection and scoring twice in the first five minutes to stun the crowd of 26,482 at Daejeon World Cup Stadium.
The goals also stunned the U.S. players.
“There was a lot of slumping in the chairs,” said Jones, who was on the bench at the time. “I was in my own little world, just wondering what had happened in those first five minutes. I guess I kind of felt like the Portuguese did when they took a goal in the first few minutes [in an earlier 3-2 loss to the U.S.].”
Poland Coach Jerzy Engel had said Thursday that despite already being eliminated after losing its first two games, his team would not do any of its group rivals any favors Friday.
“The country is beautiful, the people are amazing and we did not expect such a warm welcome in Korea,” he said. “But unfortunately, when the national team is playing, it plays only for the nation. We are not playing for Korea; we are not playing for the U.S. We are Poles and we play for Poland.”
That said, Engel made sweeping changes to his lineup, dropping starting goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, along with defenders Michal Zewlakow and Tomasz Hajto and midfielder Piotr Swierczewski, all of whom had started in 2-0 and 4-0 losses to South Korea and Portugal, respectively.
In addition, midfielder Radoslaw Kaluzny, whom U.S. Coach Bruce Arena had described as “a dangerous player,” was sidelined by injury.
The only U.S. change was the return of Earnie Stewart from injury, which meant that DaMarcus Beasley was dropped as a starter and Landon Donovan took his spot in left midfield.
The new-look Polish team attacked from the outset and it took the Poles a mere three minutes to grab the lead. Defender Jeff Agoos, under pressure from Polish forward Cezary Kucharski, only partially cleared the ball and it fell to Emmanuel Olisadebe, the Nigerian-born striker who was Poland’s leading goal scorer in qualifying.
Olisadebe unleashed a shot that slammed into the crossbar and rebounded into the U.S. net. That was the first strike and the game was only three minutes old.
The second came only two minutes later and left Arena shaking his head on the U.S bench
Midfielder Jacek Kryznowek, a thorn in the U.S. team’s side all night, got free on the left and crossed the ball past defender Eddie Pope and into the path of onrushing forward Pawel Kryszalowicz, who shouldered his way past Agoos and side-footed the ball into the net just inside the left post.
“On the first goal, we were slow to react to Olisadebe,” Friedel said. “We had said that he’s very, very quick, very unpredictable at times, and he got to a loose ball. I just tried to go out and throw him off in any way and he flashed it by us.
“The second goal again was [scored by] a runner who got in behind our defense. The most important saves, the most important tackles, the most important headers, whatever it is, sometimes are after a goal. We didn’t do that today.
“Maybe it was a good wake-up call for us. If we had won, maybe we would have gone into the Mexico game a bit cocky. Maybe this was a wake-up call and we’ll go into the Mexico game very, very tight.”
Clint Mathis hit the foot of the left post with a shot late in the game and Donovan scored in the 83rd minute for the U.S., but by then the game was long over.
“Mexico is an outstanding team,” Arena said. “They’ll be a very difficult opponent for us on Monday. It’s our job now over the next 72 hours to get our team physically and mentally ready to play.”
That task will be complicated by the loss of two defenders. Agoos left Friday’s match in the 36th minute and afterward was on crutches after injuring his left foot. Frankie Hejduk is suspended for one game after picking up his second yellow card of the first round for tripping Olisadebe.
Still, the opponent Monday is Mexico and perhaps, like South Korea, it will do the U.S. a good turn. After all, what are neighbors for?
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
*--* In Deep The times the United States has advanced past the first round of the World Cup: 1930--2-0-0 in first round (four points) lost in semifinals to Argentina, 6-1 1994--1-1-1 (four points) lost in Round of 16 to Brazil, 1-0 2002--1-1-1 (four points) will play Mexico in Round of 16
*--*
*
*--* U.S. vs. Mexico Round of 16--Sunday, 11:30 p.m. PDT at Jeonju, South Korea, ESPN U.S. all-time record against Mexico: 9-28-9. A look at the last 10 matches (4-4-2): April 3, 2002--U.S. 1, Mexico 0 (friendly) July 1, 2001--Mexico 1, U.S. 0 (Cup qualifier) Feb. 28, 2001--U.S. 2, Mexico 1 (Cup qualifier) Oct. 25, 2000--U.S. 2, Mexico 0 (friendly) June 11, 2000--U.S. 3, Mexico 0 (U.S. Cup) Aug. 1, 1999--Mexico 1, U.S. 0 (Confed. Cup) March 13, 1999--Mexico 2, U.S. 1 (U.S. Cup) Feb. 15, 1998--Mexico 1, U.S. 0 (Gold Cup) Nov. 2, 1997--U.S. 0, Mexico 0 (Cup qualifier) April 20, 1997--U.S. 2, Mexico 2 (Cup qualifier)
*--*
