Keller May Miss Opener After Injuring Elbow in Practice
Events might be conspiring to save Coach Bruce Arena the difficulty of deciding between Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel as the starting goalkeeper for the U.S.
Keller suffered an elbow injury in training Wednesday, and although X-rays at the Asan Medical Center here showed no evidence of a break, an MRI test was scheduled. The Tottenham Hotspur keeper could be forced to miss Wednesday’s opener against Portugal.
It was as recently as Saturday that Arena said he might even consider using both goalkeepers in the first round, starting one against Portugal in Suwon, another against South Korea on June 10 in Daegu, and then picking one or the other for the June 14 match against Poland in Daejeon.
“The decision is going to be based on who gives us the best chance to win,” Arena said. “It’s not sentimental. If it were sentimental, I would give myself a chance to play. That would not give us the best chance to win.”
Arena, a former goalkeeper, played one national team game for the U.S., coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 loss to Israel in Beersheba in 1973.
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Keller, who started against Germany and Iran at the 1998 World Cup in France, has appeared in 11 games for the U.S. this year compared to four for Friedel, and it was his play as much as anything that earned the U.S. its Gold Cup victory.
Friedel played against Yugoslavia in the final France ’98 game.
If Keller’s injury forces him to the sideline, Tony Meola would become Friedel’s backup.
Meola was the starter in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup tournaments.
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The U.S. team has been in South Korea for almost a week and has settled in well. It has been training once a day, usually behind closed doors.
“I find humor in comments that we’ve been lax in our training,” Arena said. “We don’t believe you train twice a day when you’ve been playing for the last 10 months. We’d rather have our players have something in reserve.”
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The players might take a trip out of Seoul to visit the DMZ, something they did during a trip to South Korea in December.
“It’s going to be optional for our players,” Arena said. “If we can work it out, it would be great. Others will use the day off to golf, to shop, to do whatever they would like to do.”
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Among the many banal questions tossed the players’ way: winger Earnie Stewart was asked if he would like to see the U.S. reach the semifinals, as it did in the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.
“I don’t even remember who they played,” he said. “That would be tremendous. We would be happy with that.”
Just for the record, it was Belgium and Paraguay the U.S. defeated before falling to Argentina in the semifinals.
