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Hungry for goals
Fire forward Josh Wolff stars in U.S. win over Mexico
Posted: Thursday March 01, 2001 3:02 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Moments after the dust and ice had settled at chilly
Columbus Crew Stadium on Wednesday night, U.S. national team forward Josh
Wolff asked Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos for his shirt.
It was an appropriate gesture because you could have made a valid point that
Wolff picked Campos' pocket on the first goal of the stunning 2-0 triumph in
the first game of the final CONCACAF World Cup qualifying round.
Moreover, Wolff demonstrated what this new generation of American soccer
players is all about. Wolff, along with the likes of Ben Olsen and Landon Donovan, have
grown up in a more sophisticated American soccer culture, being able to watch
more of their favorite sport on TV and use those visual lessons on the field.
He has combined skill, speed and some cunning, a word that I used to describe
Diego Maradona in his prime.
He will do just about anything to get an edge or score a goal, whether it is
a streaking onto a long-pass, which he did quite nicely on the first goal
Wednesday night, sprint down the wing and cross the ball into the middle of
the box, which he accomplished quite nicely on the second goal, or accentuate
a dive in the penalty area, which he demonstrated quite nicely during the
Olympics to earn a penalty kick.
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In fact, Wolff, easily the United States' outstanding Olympic performer, admitted he
might have been acting just a bit when midfielder Tomoyuki Sakai was called
for tripping him to set up Peter Vagenas' tying goal in the 90th minute in
the quarterfinals against Japan. The U.S. went on to win in penalties to
advance to the medal round.
"It's part of the game," he said at the time. "I think that this was the
right one and I'll take it. My job is to score goals and create goals.
Getting PKs creates goals."
I like his attitude. Sounds like a European or South American mentality to me.
In fact, the Mexican match could be the start of something big for
Wolff, who was an occasional starter in his first three seasons with the
Chicago Fire due to injuries, national team commitments and more experienced
players in front of him. He just turned 24 and is entering his prime as a
player, and is in line to become the Fire's top scoring threat alongside Hristo Stoitchkov after the
departure of Ante Razov to Spain.
If he can steer clear of injuries, a 12- or 15-goal season is certainly not
out of the question.
So far, his one-goal season for the national team has been just perfect.
Some more World Cup musings
What it's all about. As I've written before, World Cup qualifiers don't
necessarily have to be pretty affairs laced with beautiful soccer. In fact,
more times than not they can be chippy affairs laced with off-the-ball fouls
and elbows to the face. Qualifying is about accruing points any way you can.
You don't see too many asterisks next to countries that failed to reach the
World Cup, with a footnote that they played beautiful soccer and won. Now,
don't get me wrong. I want to see this beautiful soccer as much as anyone. I
love a well-created pass or cross or a fantastic individual effort on a goal.
But I am pragmatic -- until they give out points for beautiful soccer.
A nice cushion. The victory gives the U.S. a cushion entering the Honduras
away match on March 28. Those three points wouldn't make a loss in Central
America devastating. A tie would be nice and a victory would be
scintillating, which would put in the U.S. in the driver's seat entering its
April 25 qualifier vs. Costa Rica in Kansas City.
It's sooooo important. For the next nine matches, we're going to hear about how a qualifying match will be a key encounter, that this qualifier
is a vital one and that that qualifier is an important one. Well, in a short,
10-game season with so much on the line, every game fits those
descriptions. The phrase -- vital World Cup qualifying match -- reminds of
another stock soccer phrase -- controversial penalty kick. When don't you see
those words without the others?
Tough Tony. The winner of Wednesday night's tough man competition goes to
U.S. defender Tony Sanneh. No, it wasn't for the abuse he took from Mr.
Class, Luis Hernandez, or the dislocated bone in his foot. It was for the fact he was the only player on the
field to wear a short sleeve shirt and no gloves. Other hearty
Americans who did not put anything on their cold hands included Joe-Max Moore, Earnie Stewart and Wolff, the substitute.
Hello, Columbus, again. This central Ohio city is destined to get many more
qualifiers and international friendlies in the future because of two words --
American fans. Very rarely has the national team played in front of a
pro-American crowd against Mexico in such an -- should I say it -- important
game. Like it or not, the big three cities -- Los Angeles, Chicago and New
York -- are longshots to host qualifiers due to the makeup of CONCACAF. It's a
fact of life that they'll still get international friendlies or tournaments
(U.S. Cup and the CONCACAF Gold Cup come to mind), unless there is a World
Cup opponent such as Canada that won't bring in thousands of wild, partisan fans.
In light of Wednesday's triumph, no one can blame U.S. Soccer for putting
matches in a cold-weather city. It makes sense. Putting international
friendlies in the big three makes cents. Translated: The federation can have
its cake and eat it, too.
Hitting the charts. Add Wolff to the list of American World Cup qualifying
heroes that I wrote about in last week's column. Hmmm. Let's see, a
substitute coming off the bench to score one goal and set up another in a
stunning result? I'll make it No. 6. on the hit list, between Tab Ramos'
goal in Portland (1998) and McBride's score at RFK Stadium (2002). Of course,
that ranking is subject to change -- up or down -- over the next nine matches.
CNNSI.com jinx. After McBride and Claudio Reyna went down with
injuries in the first half, I thought the lead to my Tuesday story about
McBride was going to come true, that the three most indispensable players
were those two aforementioned players and midfielder Chris Armas.
Fortunately, Armas escaped the game unscathed.
Silent treatment. Don't know why goalkeeper Brad Friedel doesn't want to
talk with the American media. Word has it he feels like he has been not
treated well or has been underappreciated by the U.S. press. I would like to
know where? Methinks Friedel might be surfing the Internet just a little too
much. Hey, Brad, I appreciate what you have accomplished.
No instant replays. In this technological age, there were no instant
replays available in the press box for the media. Both TVs received the game
feed and nothing more, which was a grave injustice to the media. I'm not
saying I am a spoiled journalist who needs everything at his beck and call
or a television in front of yours truly. But if we're reporting on such --
should I say it again -- a vital match, we should have the ability to get the
facts straight on describing in details how a goal was scored or to clarify a
situation. Fortunately, I got an opportunity view the first goal after the
match and was able to give the scoring sequence the description it deserved.
Gone with the Windy City. I passed through Chicago on the way home on
Thursday and picked up three papers to see how they covered the match,
especially in the light of Wolff's performance. Perhaps you don't want to
know. None of the papers sent a reporter to the match. The Tribune picked up
an obviously cut-down story of the Los Angeles Times' fine soccer writer,
Grahame Jones, while the Sun-Times and Daily Southtown used wire stories.
Well, there's always the Honduras game to cover.
Sack of the week
As I write this column, so far no word about the fate of Mexican coach
Enrique Meza, whose job reportedly is on the line after the U.S. victory.
However, one national team coach did bite the dust this week -- Czech native
Dusan Ulrin, who was given the boot the same day by Kuwait after a 1-0 loss
to Bahrain that eliminated them from the 2002 World Cup competition on
Tuesday. Bahrain advanced to the next Asian zone round.
And place this in the category "There's more here than meets the eye." Former
Arsenal coach Bruce Rioch resigned from Wigan Athletic of the English second
division on Tuesday. Despite leading the club to fourth place, Rioch had
"requested that he be released from his position," according to the Wigan
Web site.
Loser of the week
Foggia was banned from playing at home for three games after the Italian
Serie C club had crowd trouble in its 1-0 loss to Tricase last Sunday. The
match was suspended in the 87th minute after bottles, coins and smoke bombs
were thrown onto the field.
Chip shots
The choice. U.S. Soccer is expected to make a bid for a FIFA-sponsored
tournament in 2003, but it doesn't know exactly which tournament it will be.
The board of directors will decide between bidding for the Club World
Championship (the Los Angeles Galaxy qualified for this summer's event in
Spain) or the very first Women's Under-19 tournament. The club championship
should bring in some well-known players and teams from Europe and
South America. The U-19 tourney might be a more difficult sell to the public
because most if not all of the players will not be known to the public even
if they are up-and-coming stars. The board will talk about it at a meeting in
Los Angeles this weekend.
"What we're trying to find out if we go after one,
does it penalize you for the other," U.S. secretary general Dan Flynn said.
"We think events are a part of our continued growth. We would like to see as
many as possible."
Asked about hosting the World Cup in 2010 or 2014, Flynn
said an American bid would depend on the FIFA plan for a rotation of
continents to host the event.
"We would love to," Flynn said. "The rotation
issue has to come from FIFA. Before that happens, it's pretty hard to do
anything."
Tiffeny marvels. Even players sometimes cannot explain their goals. During
the U.S. Soccer player of the year press conference on Tuesday, Tiffeny
Milbrett's spectacular header that tied the women's gold-medal match in the
waning seconds of regulation was part of the highlight package. "I have no
idea of how I did that," Milbrett said. "I have no idea of how I scored a
goal, not necessarily because it was a header. That was a small component. It
was the timing. It was five seconds left on the clock. I can't believe I
scored a goal like that. I saw the ball coming. I didn't realize until I saw
on the screen that Kristine Lilly tried to get to the ball first. I don't
remember seeing anybody in front of me. I just saw the ball coming. I don't
know. I don't have any thoughts about it."
Closed Mike. The retirement of Chicago Fire midfielder Mike Sorber before
the age of 30 shows how fleeting a professional sports career can be. Only
seven years ago, Sorber turned into one of the bright spots for the U.S. as a
holding midfielder for coach Bora Milutinovic during the 1994 World Cup.
While the 29-year-old Sorber made 67 appearances, he never really approached
the heights he enjoyed during the summer of '94. He played well for the
Kansas City Wizards in 1996, but seemed to slide after he joined the
MetroStars the next season. Sorber will be an assistant coach for his alma
mater -- St. Louis University.
Gut feeling. After Wednesday's wayward prediction (a 1-1 draw between the
U.S. and Mexico), I'm surprised I actually showed my face in this part of the
column. Saying that, I'm taking the week off to find my trustworthy crystal
ball. As for getting the score right, my hat is off to the Columbus
Dispatch's Craig Merz, who had it dead on that the U.S. would win 2-0.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book on soccer was published last year.
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