For Americans, It’s One and Out

Former UCLA winger Eddie Lewis enhanced his chances of making the United States roster for this summer’s World Cup by scoring a memorable goal Sunday as the U.S. defeated Ecuador, 1-0, in front 24,133 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.

For Clint Mathis, meanwhile, it was a much less pleasant afternoon of soccer.

After setting up Lewis’ 21st-minute goal with an excellent pass, Mathis found himself tossed out of the game in the 59th minute for his second clumsy foul of the match.

“I get hit in the mouth and I get a ... red card?” Mathis fumed as he walked off the field, the intervening profanity broadcast across America courtesy of the live coverage by ABC and Telemundo.

Playing a man short, the Americans managed to hold an injury-depleted and consequently unimaginative Ecuador team at bay for the final half-hour or so, but Mathis’ ejection will prove costly later this month.

The red card means the New York/New Jersey MetroStar striker will have to sit out the U.S. team’s next game, against three-time world champion Germany on March 27 in Rostock, Germany.

As galling for Mathis was the fact that most of his family had made the trek to Birmingham from Conyers, Ga., to see him play.

Meanwhile, Mathis’ MetroStar teammate, goalkeeper Tim Howard, made a solid national team debut, earning the shutout.

Also turning in eye-catching performances as they fight to be among the 23 players chosen to go to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea in May were defenders Gregg Berhalter and Carlos Llamosa, the latter returning from injury but showing that he has lost none of his calming influence on the back line.

Coming off a 4-0 rout of Honduras in Seattle a week earlier, when Mathis and Landon Donovan had each scored two goals, the U.S. team attacked the South Americans from the start.

Ecuador’s defenders presented more of a physical challenge than the Hondurans and Lewis’ goal was the result of some imaginative work by the American team.

The Galaxy’s Cobi Jones started the move with a long pass from inside his own half down into the left corner.

That’s where Lewis was supposed to be, but he had cut inside, and it was Mathis who chased down the ball and then sent a diagonal pass back into the penalty area for Lewis to fire a first-time shot with his left foot. The blast gave three nearby defenders and Ecuador’s veteran goalkeeper, Jose Francisco Cevallos, no chance.

The ill-tempered game was marred by numerous fouls as Salvadoran referee Rodolfo Sibrian struggled to maintain control.

Ecuador’s Edwin Tenorio could have been ejected after shoving the referee, but instead it was Mathis who was tossed out in the second 45 minutes when he picked up a second yellow card after bringing down Edison Mendez on a breakaway as the South Americans desperately sought the tying goal.

The U.S. victory was its first against Ecuador in nine games, having come into the match with a 0-4-4 record.

Ecuador, which will play Italy, Mexico and Croatia in the first round of the World Cup, was missing its three main forwards, Augustin Delgado, Ivan Kaviedes and Angel Fernandez, as well as its key defender and captain, Ivan Hurtado, because of injuries.

As a result, it created few clear scoring chances, its best efforts coming off corner kicks as two headers flew narrowly wide of Howard’s net.

The U.S., meanwhile, is 6-1-1 in 2002 and has yielded only two goals this year as it prepares to face Portugal, South Korea and Poland at the World Cup.