United States Gives Up Nothing In a Stunning Soccer Victory
In a stunning upset at the America Cup tournament, the United States national team achieved one of its biggest international victories tonight by crushing Argentina, 3-0, and advancing to the quarterfinal round.
The triumph was the first for the United States against Argentina and enriched the chances that the interim American coach, Steve Sampson, widely expected to be replaced in favor of an international coach with more experience, will get the job full time.
Argentina, which won its first two games from Bolivia and Chile to clinch a quarterfinal berth, played the first half with nine players from its second string because it did not want to risk injury to its star players for subsequent rounds.
Still, Argentina wanted to win to avoid playing a fellow pretournament favorite, Brazil, in the next game. So when the second half began, Coach Daniel Passarella brought in several first-string players. Although Argentina had more possession time in the half, the United States came away with a huge victory.
The American midfielder Cobi Jones said, "This game fits in the top two, along with beating Colombia," referring to the team's World Cup victory last year.
"They started to panic when those nine new players were getting whupped by us. But look at those nine new players. They are good enough to start on any national team in the world."
Indeed, Argentina, which has won the last two of these tournaments for the South American championship and has twice won the World Cup, is regarded as far superior to the United States. Going into the game, the United States was 0-5-1 in games against Argentina.
"They met the challenge of a very strong Argentine team," Sampson said. "I was most proud of the second half, when three of their best players came on the field and we answered that substitution with a goal. That was critical for us."
The Americans played in a strong and aggressive style from the start tonight, dominating the entire game in front of goalkeeper Kasey Keller. Midfielder Frank Klopas scored the first goal in the 21st minute of play off a corner kick that was knocked back into the middle by Jones. Klopas has scored 11 goals in the last 18 games as a member of the United States team.
To the surprise and dismay of the predominantly Argentine crowd, the United States scored a second goal in the 32d minute when Alexi Lalas fired the ball into the net off a precise pass, again from Jones.
After Argentina put its first unit back on the field, striker Eric Wynalda scored a third goal off a pass from Joe Max-Moore in the 59th minute.
"They still lost, 1-0, to us in the second half," Jones said. "Either way you look at it, we won two different games."
The United States will play Mexico in the quarterfinals on Monday. The Argentina-Brazil game will be played the same day and the winners of those two games will meet in the semifinals.
The United States and Mexico are competing in the 12-nation tournament by invitation. The United States routed Mexico, 4-0, last month on its way to winning the United States Cup and, in fact, has been on a streak of success, with impressive showings against Nigeria and in a draw with Colombia.
In this tournament, the United States has beaten Chile and lost to Bolivia. Tonight, the Americans were merely seeking to qualify for the next round by playing to win, tie or even lose by a goal as long as they scored. What they accomplished went far beyond that.
SOCCER