Tough Road for U.S. and Mexico
HAMBURG, Germany -- Soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean region has four teams vying for the World Cup -- the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago.
The latter two are widely expected to fall at the first hurdle.
In tonight’s first match, Germany vs. Costa Rica, the German team will go without captain Michael Ballack, who has an injured calf and will sit out at least one game. Still, most pundits think that Costa Rica will get started on its bag-packing, even though its coach, Alexandre Guimaraes, argues the point.
“We are not just thinking of playing three matches and returning home,” he said. “The goal is to at least emulate what we accomplished in Italia ’90.”
Then, Guimaraes was playing for Costa Rica and the Ticos, coached by the unflappable Bora Milutinovic, defeated Scotland and Sweden and reached the second round. This time, with Ecuador and Poland also in their group, Costa Rica’s chances are slim, especially with the Germans oozing confidence.
“I’m totally relaxed,” German striker Lukas Podolski said this week. “We just have to blow away the Costa Ricans.”
Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, is given little chance of getting out of a group that also features one of the tournament favorites, England, along with Sweden and Paraguay.
That leaves the U.S. and Mexico.
The Americans have the more difficult challenge in the first round, playing the Czech Republic on Monday, followed by Italy and Ghana.
U.S. Coach Bruce Arena has said on several occasions that simply getting out of the first round would make it a successful World Cup. Last time around, the U.S. reached the quarterfinals before falling to Germany.
The Czechs pose a particularly high hurdle. They reached the semifinals of Euro 2004 before being upset by eventual champion Greece and are arguably even stronger now.
The Czech Republic, in players such as forwards Jan Koller and Milan Baros, midfielders Tomas Rosicky, Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborsky and defenders Tomas Ujfalusi and David Rozehnal, has talent and experience throughout its lineup.
Petr Cech is rated as the No. 1 goalkeeper in the world and this week was named the Czech Republic’s player of the year for the second year in a row.
Still, Arena is not quivering in his soccer boots. It will be a difficult game, but not necessarily an impossible one.
“The team’s confident,” he said. “They know the players they’re playing against and they’re not in awe.”
The Americans cannot afford to lose, however. Over the last three World Cups, only 12.1% of the teams that lost their first game have advanced to the second round.
Arena’s task is in deciding his starting lineup and his formation. Does he play three defenders or four? Does he have a five-man or a four-man midfield? Should he employ two forwards or one?
Is Claudio Reyna’s hamstring really OK? Can John O’Brien last 90 minutes? Should Bobby Convey start? What about Pablo Mastroeni? Can DaMarcus Beasley be effective on the right flank? Is Eddie Johnson a better option than Josh Wolff to pair with Brian McBride up front?
The permutations are endless. It’s all an intellectual exercise, someone suggested to Arena earlier in the week.
“I hope it’s not intellectual,” Arena replied. “If it is, we’re in trouble. I’ll be sucking my thumb on the bench during this intellectual battle.
“It’s challenging, but that’s what it’s about.”
Meanwhile, Mexico, which plays Iran in its opening game in Nuremberg on Sunday, was rocked Thursday when starting goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez had to return home after the death Wednesday of his father, Felipe, from an apparent heart attack in Guadalajara.
Felipe Sanchez had planned on traveling to Germany to watch his son in the tournament.
Mexico forward Jared Borgetti said Oswaldo Sanchez had the players’ support no matter if he returns or not, and midfielder Pavel Pardo said Mexico would persevere.
“This team has been through a lot,” Pardo said. “At times, God puts you to the test. This is a difficult moment, but we are going to continue on and prove ourselves on Sunday.”
In addition to Iran, Mexico plays Angola and Portugal, and now might have to do so with two backup goalkeepers whose experience consists of a cumulative seven international games compared to more than 70 for Sanchez.
Pardo said earlier in the week that finishing fourth in the Confederations Cup in Germany last year, when it defeated Brazil, had been “a turning point” for Mexico. “If we play like we did then, taking every game like a cup final, then we can go even further. Maybe the final.”
Now, who knows?
