U.S., Mexico Share the Spotlight

By Grahame L. Jones

March 9, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The national soccer teams of Mexico and the United States will meet in a much-ballyhooed World Cup qualifying match in Mexico City on March 27.

By an odd quirk of scheduling, both teams will play warm-up games against South American opponents in the Los Angeles area tonight. That is where the similarities end.

Mexico will be fielding pretty much its first-choice lineup when it plays Argentina at 8 p.m. at the Coliseum. A crowd of 40,000 or more is expected.

The U.S. will be fielding a lineup made up entirely of Major League Soccer players when it plays Colombia at 7:30 p.m. at Titan Stadium on the Cal State Fullerton campus. A crowd of between 5,000 and 10,000 is expected.

Count Bruce Arena, the U.S. coach, among those who find it odd that Mexico is playing in the Americans’ backyard on the same night his own team is in town.

“It probably is a little peculiar,” Arena said after training late Tuesday afternoon, “but we’re so desperate to get a game. I mean, it’s March 9 and it’s basically our first game with this domestic group [of MLS players], so it’s important that we play regardless of the location.”

The fact that the U.S. is playing in Fullerton rather than at the Home Depot Center, the national team’s training site and the so-called “cathedral” of American soccer, is a bit peculiar too, but explainable.

Apparently, under terms of the Home Depot Center’s agreement with Cal State Dominguez Hills, use of the stadium is limited on weekday nights when classes are in session, so the U.S. has been banished to Fullerton.

The Colombia game was put together hastily after earlier matches against Sweden and South Korea had to be canceled because of the labor dispute between U.S. Soccer and the national team players.

The Argentina-Mexico game had long been scheduled. It is being promoted by Soccer United Marketing, an off-shoot of MLS, whose own players will be playing only 40 miles or so away.

Arena hinted Tuesday that although only three MLS players were in the starting lineup in the most recent World Cup qualifier -- a 2-1 victory over Trinidad and Tobago at Port of Spain, Trinidad, when eight of the 11 U.S. starters were based in Europe -- more could get playing time at Azteca Stadium on March 27.

“Our domestic players basically have not played in a game in a long time, with the exception of a couple of them in the Trinidad game,” he said. “So they just need to get a run-in, to get used to playing international soccer again and also to position themselves to be part of our roster for the games against Mexico and Guatemala” in Birmingham, Ala., on March 30.

With the European players all absent and with defenders Eddie Pope and Frankie Hejduk sidelined because of injuries, defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni is the only player on the 18-man U.S. roster who took part in World Cup 2002.

The door is open, therefore, in tonight’s game and in the game against Honduras in Albuquerque on March 19, for MLS players to force their way onto the team.

One of those hoping to do so is Galaxy defender Chris Albright, who will start at left back tonight.

“He’s done well,” Arena said. “He’s played a fair amount as a left-sided midfielder, so he’s our most logical candidate to play left back.”

Said Albright, a right back for the Galaxy: “I think I can do just fine back there. I’m doing a few things to sharpen up the left peg. I’m excited. It’s a big month ahead and this is the first chance to show.”

Tonight’s Soccer

* U.S. vs. Colombia, 7:30 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton

* Mexico vs. Argentina, 8 p.m. at the Coliseum

U.S. SCHEDULE

The U.S. national team’s schedule (all times Pacific; * denotes World Cup qualifier):

* Feb. 9 -- United States 2, Trinidad and Tobago 1 *

* Tonight -- vs. Colombia at Fullerton, 7:30 p.m.

* March 19 -- vs. Honduras at Albuquerque, 1 p.m.

* March 27 -- vs. Mexico at Mexico City, 10 a.m. *

* March 30 -- vs. Guatemala at Birmingham, Ala., 5 p.m. *

* June 4 -- vs. Costa Rica at Salt Lake City, 4:30 p.m. *

* June 8 -- at Panama *