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Familiar foe McBride leads U.S. to exhibition win against China
Updated: Saturday January 27, 2001 9:06 PM
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- In its first match of 2001, the United States showed flashes of brilliance, made boneheaded mistakes and hung on for a win despite running out of energy about 25 minutes earlier. In other words, it was exactly what coach Bruce Arena expected. Brian McBride scored in his first international game since recovering from a serious blood clot, and the United States beat China and former American coach Bora Milutinovic 2-1 on Saturday in an exhibition game. With few European-based players recalled for the game, McBride and teen-aged forwards Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley led the United States to an impressive first-half performance. But the Americans' lack of match fitness showed in the second half, when China controlled much of the action and nearly got a draw. "It wasn't a good 90 minutes on our part, but I didn't expect it to be on the first time out," Arena said. "We knew fitness would be a factor, and it certainly was. That's our biggest problem right now." McBride's goal in the 27th minute off an exceptional pass by Donovan was the United States' only score until China defender Waeg Liang scored a strange own-goal early in the second half, accidentally lofting the ball over his own goalkeeper from 40 yards away. The Americans beat China with a makeshift team composed mostly of Major League Soccer players. Since the MLS season has been over for months, the Americans in Saturday's game haven't been in constant training. The short length of the spring-to-fall season in MLS puts Arena's players at an international disadvantage, the coach said. "It's obvious we're not all the way up to speed yet, but we can get there in time for next month," said McBride, who played 2 1/2 matches for Preston North End in recent weeks in England's First Division. "I'm in better shape because I've been playing, but everybody will catch up." The game was played in front of a marginally pro-Chinese crowd of 8,903 that looked even smaller in cavernous Oakland Coliseum, with many fans likely staying away because of pricey tickets that started at $18. Large sections of Chinese supporters waved flags and banged on drums and percussion instruments whenever China got the ball past midfield. The game was a success for China, which has never made a World Cup appearance and has beaten the United States just once since 1977. The game matched the U.S. team against Milutinovic, its coach during the 1994 World Cup. Milutinovic, who has taken four nations to the second round during the last four World Cups, is trying to get China's perennially underachieving team into its first World Cup. "I'm not happy to lose the game, but I'm happy we learned so much," Milutinovic said. "We still have much progress to make." The United States next plays a Feb. 3 exhibition game against Colombia in Miami, then starts the final round of World Cup qualifying against Mexico on Feb. 28 in Columbus, Ohio. The United States' record shutout streak ended after 524 minutes when Qu Bo stripped the ball from defender Greg Vanney in the 75th minute and ran past out-of-position goalkeeper Tony Meola, who earlier was saved when defender Jeff Agoos cleared a shot off the goal line. "On my first step, I thought I was going to get it," Meola said of China's goal. "I muffed that one, that's for sure." China got several more chances in the final minutes but couldn't score. Injury time ended with the Chinese applying pressure in the United States' end. McBride scored when Donovan chipped an expert pass into China's penalty area. On a full sprint, McBride fired a left-footed shot into the far corner of the net, then stopped on the end line as Donovan leaped into his arms. "I didn't even know if he was going to get it or even see it, but he's a great player, and he made a great run," said Donovan, who was a star for the U.S. Under-17 team two years ago and is with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, but can't break into that team's lineup. McBride, who played for the national team for the first time since missing three months with a blood clot in his arm, got his 14th international goal. He also scored in his fourth straight national team game to tie a record set in 1954. "There were a lot of bright spots with a lot of our young players," McBride said. "I wish I was that good at 18." Liang, a halftime substitute by Milutinovic, made a high-arching pass back to goalkeeper Yu Weilang in the 46th minute. Weilang wasn't ready for it, and he backpedaled furiously but couldn't stop the ball from dropping into his net.
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