U.S. Puts Itself in Position
There is a bit of a gambler in Bruce Arena, and on Wednesday night his latest roll of the dice paid off.
Arena, coach of the U.S. national soccer team, took a risk, played a player out of position, and came away with a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Trinidad and Tobago that left the Americans on the verge of a place in Germany ’06.
Forward Brian McBride scored the all-important goal, a mere 91 seconds into the match, and the visitors had no answer. But for the fine goalkeeping of Kelvin Jack, who made 10 saves, the Americans might have romped.
As it is, all they need is a victory over Mexico at Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 3, and they are in the World Cup.
Wednesday’s lone goal was the second-fastest in U.S. World Cup qualifying history. The fastest was scored by Ante Razov 74 seconds into a 2-0 victory, also over Trinidad and Tobago, at Foxboro, Mass., on June 20, 2001.
The second-minute strike at Rentschler Field was McBride’s 29th goal for the national team, second only to Eric Wynalda’s 34, and his 10th in qualifying play, moving him ahead of Earnie Stewart and making him the all-time leader in that category.
Despite this influx of statistical trivia, the media grumbled about the lack of goals, forcing Arena into taking a shot of his own.
“We get criticized for scoring late in games and now we get criticized for scoring early in games,” he said with a half-smile. “That’s fair. All’s fair in love and war, I guess.”
Still, Arena was pleased at the outcome. It was the U.S. team’s fourth consecutive shutout in qualifying and extended goalkeeper Kasey Keller’s unscored-upon streak to 417 minutes.
Keller did not have to make a save.
“We created a number of good goal-scoring opportunities and came up short, and that allowed Trinidad to hang around for 89 minutes or so when I think they could have been punished and sent home a lot earlier,” Arena said.
“They defended well and we failed to convert our chances. However, three points is huge. Fifteen points after six games is as good as it gets, and I think we’re getting real close to qualifying for Germany.”
The game’s only goal came when midfielder John O’Brien passed the ball out wide to Bobby Convey on the left wing, Convey cut inside and crossed the ball for McBride to side-foot past Jack from close range.
“Bobby played well,” Arena said. “He’s very fit. When he’s in form and has confidence, he’s a guy who is dangerous on that side of the field.
“I think he and Eddie Lewis created a number of opportunities for us on the left flank. I was very pleased by their play.”
The only reason Convey was on the field at all was that Arena put him in Lewis’ left midfield position and dropped Lewis into the left back spot, a position he had never played before for the national team.
That was the gamble. Lewis, a former UCLA star now with Leeds United in England, made it pay off.
“I’ve played as a wingback throughout my career quite a bit but never really as an out-and-out left back,” he said. “It’s still new. I want to try to not make too many judgments too early and just sort of see what happens.
“I felt quite comfortable. In a lot of ways, I just tried to do the things that the left backs are always telling me to do. It’s a work in progress, but I enjoyed it.”
He clicked well with Convey in front of him.
“Having played in the position, I sort of know what midfielders like and I thought I got him into some good spots and made the work easy on him,” Lewis said.
What this all means is that instead of Lewis and DaMarcus Beasley fighting for the starting spot in left midfield come World Cup time, Arena might have found a way to keep both on the field -- Beasley as the left wing and Lewis as the left back.
“I think that’s definitely floating in the back of the minds upstairs,” Lewis said.
