ESPN Soccer site.....
info, scores, news, gossip etc....
espnet.sportszone.com
Under "Today's Best"
espnet.sportszone.com
Friday, Oct. 30 2:26am ET
It's about time
By John D. Hunter
ESPN.com
I like it.
The newest U.S. national soccer team roster was announced Wednesday and it features an all-Major League Soccer look. It would have been so easy for new head coach Bruce Arena to play it safe and bring back the old guard for the Nov. 6 friendly against Australia in San Jose.
He had a built-in excuse that would have been hard to question: "I've only been on the job two days and I've been coaching the MLS runners-up D.C. United for the past six months."
But he didn't use it.
Instead, Arena put together a roster full of young, talented players that are undoubtedly going to be the backbone of future national team rosters. Only three guys are over 30 years old and nine on the 22-man roster have never worn a national team jersey. This roster will breath life back into the United States Soccer Federation, which has been on a ventilator since the U.S. finished dead last in this summer's World Cup in France.
MLS Rookie of the Year Ben Olsen is one of the new faces on the U.S. national team.
The roster Arena put together is noteworthy not necessarily by the names included, but for the fact that he is showing the USSF and U.S. soccer fans that he is serious about turning the program around now and getting the United States competitive again on the pitch.
Yes, I know many of these players named for the Australia game won't be present in Japan and South Korea for World Cup 2002, but at least Arena is giving these youngsters a shot to show him something during training and maybe on the field in San Jose.
On top of the public-relations stir this roster creates, it also is a very interesting team. It is obvious that Arena has given this roster some thought. He named eight players that have to be near peak conditioning, having just played in Sunday's MLS Cup with either his D.C. United squad or with the MLS champion Chicago Fire. He also has six other players whose teams were eliminated in the conference finals.
When this team gathers Sunday to kick off a week of training in preparation for Friday night's game, Arena won't have to waste several days getting these players into shape, and he won't necessarily have to tend to the aches and pains associated with the beginning of training. He can concentrate on doing what he does best, coaching and getting the most out of young players. His coaching record speaks for itself.
The old guard
Noticeably absent from Arena's latest roster are many of the players that were responsible for bringing U.S. soccer out of the schoolyards and into the limelight: Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, Alexi Lalas, John Harkes, Marcelo Balboa and others.
Hopefully this signals the end of the old guard and in with the new.
These players should be applauded for their efforts on the U.S. National Team, and it is fact that the program would not be where it is today without their contributions. Many of these veteran players still have life in them and are still capable of maintaining their spots among the better players in MLS. But the time has come to build toward the future and look ahead to 2002.
Unfortunately, I'm sure we have not seen the last of these icons in national team jerseys. Bruce Arena knows that to remain competitive during international competition he has to blend the right mixture of veterans with that of young talent.
This week in San Jose, Cobi Jones, Jeff Agoos and Brain McBride will be called on to lead these new young faces. Wasn't it just a few short months ago that McBride was among the young, inexperienced players looking for guidance? My, how time flies.
Full roster
Now that the 22-man roster is in place, it can only make one wonder what Arena has in mind once he has his full compliment of players to chose from. A game against Australia is nothing to write home about, but it is still a chance to get a much-needed win for the program.
The real test will come in January, when the U.S. plays in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. They are in the same grouping with World Cup runner-up Brazil, along with newly crowned Oceania champion New Zealand and an opponent to be named after World Cup champion France bowed out.
This is when things will get interesting for Arena and the USSF staff. Will he call upon the overseas contingent to stock his roster? Will Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, Frankie Hejduk, David Regis, John O'Brien and other prominent players get the call? Only time will tell.
Arena has generated plenty of questions about soccer in the United States by naming this particular 22-man roster. But at least it has gotten the soccer faithful talking about the future of the U.S. program again and maybe, just maybe, the 1998 World Cup debacle can finally become a distant nightmare.
John D. Hunter is an interactive producer for ESPN.com and covered the World Cup in France. He can be reached via e-mail at johnhu@starwave.com.
SOCCER: USA | England | Germany | Italy | Mexico
Copyright 1995-98 ESPN/Starwave Partners d/b/a ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.ESPN.com Privacy Policy (Updated 01/08/98). Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service (Updated 01/12/98).
|
