U.S. Takes Relaxed Approach
To judge by its public appearance schedule, all would seem to be well with the United States World Cup soccer team, which plays Jamaica tonight at East Rutherford, N.J., in its next-to-last warmup game before leaving for South Korea next week.
Take Wednesday, for instance, when the team spent nearly as much time in New York as in New Jersey.
Strikers Clint Mathis and Brian McBride joked around with Al Roker on NBC’s “Today” show. They and the rest of the team also had time for a private tour of Ground Zero, scene of September’s terrorist attacks.
The day before, about a half-dozen players went to St. Benedict’s Prep at Newark, N.J., to visit former World Cup midfielder Tab Ramos, who was announcing his retirement. Later in the day, McBride, Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan filmed public service announcements for UNICEF.
That might be well and good, but the team’s opening World Cup game, against Portugal, is only three weeks away, and the team has more than a few problems to solve.
The most pressing one is to find a replacement for injured defensive midfielder Chris Armas. Pablo Mastroeni is a more-than-adequate stand-in, but Coach Bruce Arena also wants to take a look at Claudio Reyna, John O’Brien and Tony Sanneh in that role.
If none seem suitable, he might call in a replacement, but Arena has said he will not decide until after Sunday’s match against the Netherlands at Foxboro, Mass.
Then there is defender Carlos Llamosa, who must prove to Arena that he either is fit enough already or soon will be fit enough to remain on the squad of 23. The FIFA-mandated roster deadline is Tuesday, and Llamosa has been battling to get back in top shape after a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, former Galaxy defender Greg Vanney waits in the wings. Vanney, now playing for Bastia in France, is the only one of 10 stand-by players who is training with the World Cup team, which has led to speculation that he might take Armas’ roster place, although not his position.
Midfielders Reyna, O’Brien and Eddie Lewis, and goalkeeper Kasey Keller have returned from Europe and probably will get some playing time against Jamaica. Arena said Wednesday that he expected to use 16 to 18 players tonight.
Jamaica was on the other side of the ball when the U.S. clinched its fourth consecutive World Cup berth Oct. 7 at Foxboro and would like nothing more than to prove that it also belongs in Korea/Japan ’02.
