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| Monday, November 18, 2002 21:00 EST |
Breaking new ground
By Marc Connolly
[ESPN.com]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- MLS standouts all over the field? Check. Rain? Sure, it was here -- in buckets at times, even. "Welcome Home, Bruce" banners? Yeah, they were omnipresent, too. Heck, if Paulina Rubio was anywhere to be found, one might have thought Sunday's U.S.-El Salvador friendly was the 2002 Major League Soccer All-Star Game being replayed on ESPN Classic.
Danny Califf and the U.S. defense performed well in their first time out as a unit. |
Actually, the U.S. National Team resembled an MLS all-star side in many ways throughout its 2-0 victory over the young "Guanacos."
That was to be expected, though. After all, this was not the World Cup quarterfinalists on display at RFK.
The only holdovers from this summer's juggernaut were Mathis, Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni (DaMarcus Beasley was brought into camp, but didn't make the final roster due to an injury).
Instead, it was an all-MLS collection of players, the most of which had either never received a cap or had only seen limited action in U.S. friendlies during the Arena Era.
Players were pointing to each other, communicating via demonstrative hand signals or mouthed instructions and quickly huddling at nearly every quick stoppage of play. Clint Mathis, who captained this 26-and-under group, even resembled a traffic cop at times, with all the directing he seemed to be doing in the middle of the field.
"That's the thing about the National Team, you come in for a week and you have to get to know players on the field and off the field," said Mastroeni, who played the first half as a defensive midfielder in Arena's 4-4-2 scheme. "In the first half, it was tough to get things organized. I found myself screaming at times and pointing to try and get everything to be setup in the midfield to make things easier for not only myself, but some of the midfielders."
"There was a bit more talking than usual, definitely," said Wade Barrett, who was a standout at left back.
The communication hub was Mathis, who routinely was setup in the central midfield rather than up top with striking partner Taylor Twellman.
"We (World Cup vets) tried to make the game as easy as possible and help the guys out as much as we could to put as much of the pressure on ourselves rather than on them to try and make this team and make camps in the future," said Mathis, no longer sporting a Mohawk on his head.
Sasha Victorine, playing in his second match for the National Team, saw that first hand, as the captain was the one who perfectly setup his goal in the 60th minute on a well-timed ball through the penalty box to spot Victorine on his run in front of the net for an easy tally.
"Clint has the calmness under pressure you need when all the guys out there don't necessarily have a lot of caps," said the L.A. Galaxy stalwart, who played right back on Sunday instead of his usual midfield role for Sigi Schmid.
Twellman spent time before the match and in intervals throughout the game talking to Mathis for direction.
"Clint and Landon need a guy around them who will run with their head off and knock down balls and fight for them," said Twellman, who worked hard up front but didn't have any scoring chances. "That's all I tried to do today. When you play with those two, it's a lot of fun."
It was a lot of fun to watch, as well. Steady rains and slippery conditions didn't turn it into a puddle-kicking contest. Attractive play was seen throughout, particularly on the game's first goal, when Ben Olsen ignited the 13,000-plus crowd with a well-struck head ball from 12 yards out into the right corner of the net off of a precise cross from right midfielder Chris Klein.
Coming off of four surgeries on his ankle which took him out of the World Cup mix just when he was looking like a sure-fire selection two years ago, Olsen was tremendous as the left midfielder. Still just 25, the D.C. United workhorse is a player worth getting excited about all over again.
"Ben had a good game," said Arena. "As I said earlier in the week, he's still not there (physically), but he's a guy with a fair amount of experience (20 caps) and good qualities. Hopefully, if he continues to improve physically, he will be a player who can help us."
With Olsen leading the way, the work rate for the entire team was high, with players on both sides trying to make an impression on their respective head coaches.
"I felt like I was the little kid on the team out there," said Twellman with all the running he was doing. "The speed of the game was faster than MLS."
What was most surprising was that there were only one or two gaffes on the defensive side for the U.S. considering that the back four of Barrett, Carlos Bocanegra, Danny Califf and Victorine had never played with each other before and only eight total caps were brought into the match between them.
Bocanegra looked the strongest and was one of the first players Arena singled out in his post-match press conference.
"I thought Bocanegra played well in the back," said Arena. "I was happy that our backline looked organized and efficient today because throughout the week we had our moments, and it took a little work with them."
That work will continue soon enough. Once the new year hits, Arena believes he'll be bringing in between 25 and 30 players to a training camp that will last a few weeks and will lead to a friendly against an undetermined opponent in the second week of February.
Before MLS camps begin in March, Arena will once again have players in to prepare for another friendly, likely to be in the third week of March. From that point on the plan will be to schedule one friendly a month to lead into next summer's Confederation's Cup.
The early mornings that the World Cup brought and the subsequent triumphs Americans felt don't feel so far behind in the past for many, but Arena is happy to be starting a new four-year cycle.
"It was nice the last couple of months to receive a lot of praise and all. I'm greatful for all of that, but I really want to get on with the business," said the no-nonsense U.S. head coach. "Enough already. We've had our congratulatory tour and now we just want to get back to business of starting all over again."
It may be four years away, but The Road to Germany has now begun.
Marc Connolly covers soccer for ESPN.com. He can be
reached at shaketiller10@yahoo.com.
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