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'Cool, calm and collected'

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	o Storylines o MLS Gamewatch o Bandwagon o From the Newsstand o The Patriots o They Said It o From the Stands

By Jeff Green, CNNSI.com

They're breathing easier this week at the headquarters of U.S. Soccer in Chicago and MLS in New York following Sunday's sudden paradigm shift -- one minute the U.S. was looking at a draw against Jamaica and World Cup uncertainty, and 20 minutes later they were hunting for champagne.

Tied 1-1 with time winding down, U.S. forward Landon Donovan drew a clear foul in the penalty box from Tyrone Marshall, and Joe-Max Moore's second goal, a spot kick in minute 81, gave the U.S. a 2-1 win over Jamaica at Foxboro Stadium.

As news of Mexico's draw against an already-qualified Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago's highly improbable victory at Honduras reached the field after the U.S. win, the look on Cobi Jones' face -- raised eyebrows and a frown of incredulity -- said it all.

"Nobody really expected this to happen though today," Moore said after the U.S. qualified for its fourth straight World Cup.

"I'm sure it made everyone's life a lot easier," said Donovan during this week's MLS media conference call. "I'm sure the offices will be running a lot more cool, calm and collected."

Arena said before Sunday's match that a failure to qualify would not constitute a "crisis" for U.S. soccer. But the benefits of qualifying should not be underestimated.

Unfortunately for U.S. soccer fans, few around the nation witnessed the drama of the first top-level U.S. national team contest since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks (the U.S. under-17 national team excluded). ABC preempted the match to cover the newly launched U.S.-led attacks in Afghanistan. On other networks, no NFL games were preempted. ESPN replayed the U.S. match Monday afternoon, and to their credit stayed with the broadcast for the post-game epiphany.

At present, there won't be any televised World Cup matches to be preempted in the U.S. next summer -- at least in English. And the dilemma is not confined to the United States.

While Univision will broadcast games in Spanish from South Korea and Japan, rights-holder Kirch is still in negotiations with English-language U.S. broadcast outlets. The 1998 World Cup was shown by ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.

"Negotiations are continuing to get the 2002 World Cup on in the United States live and in its entirety, and U.S. Soccer remains confident that a deal will get done," said federation spokesman Jim Moorhouse.

So instead of pondering the possibility of waiting five years or more for another shot at the World Cup, U.S. Soccer has new goals in mind after Sunday.

It wasn't long before Arena set his sights on improving a team that hardly overwhelmed the CONCACAF competition in a tough qualifying campaign.

"Now in the next six, seven months we will do the right things to get our team better and have a better showing in the next World Cup," Arena said. Key to that process will be the return of Clint Mathis and Josh Wolff from injury.

Arena will also have his first chance to integrate new blood into his player pool in November in a meaningless qualifier against Trinidad. After that, he has a friendly at South Korea in December, the regional championship tournament -- the Gold Cup -- starting in late January and a reported friendly at Germany in March. Rumors suggest there will also be at least one other friendly scheduled prior to the start of the 2002 MLS season, as well as a sendoff in May.

By that time, Arena should be done experimenting and will have turned his attention to fine-tuning his core group of players for the World Cup.

CONCACAF revamps competition The regional governing body formerly known as CONCACAF (which now unfortunately refers to itself as "The Football Confederation") said this week it would expand and revamp its Champions' Cup tournament to fall in line with similar tournaments held internationally, including Europe's Champions League and South America's Copa Libertadores. The 2002 cup will feature a league format with the 16 top clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament will replace all other CONCACAF club competitions -- including the one-year-old Giants Cup and Clubs Cup -- and crown the top club in the region each year. Thirteen of the 16 clubs have already qualified, including the Kansas City Wizards, Chicago Fire and D.C. United. Still to be determined are one Caribbean side, the Mexican winter champion and the 2001 MLS champion. For the next FIFA Club World Championship (tentatively in 2003), the Champions' Cup winner and runner-up will fill the region's two allotted berths; in the future, each winner over a two-year cycle will advance. Do you know Andrew Shue? Soccer fans will have an easy choice in deciding who to root for on the newest edition of the CBS hit reality series Survivor: Ethan Zohn, whose biography lists his occupation as "professional soccer player." He was a goalkeeper for the minor-league Cape Cod Crusaders and Hawaii Tsunami, as well as the 1997 and 2001 U.S. National Maccabiah Team. Boran tribe member Zohn could have an advantage over his opponents in the African edition of Survivor: He played professionally for a soccer club in Zimbabwe. That, incidentally, was also on the resume of former Melrose Place and Los Angeles Galaxy star Andrew Shue. A-League on TV Saturday's A-League championship match between the Hershey Wildcats and the Rochester Raging Rhinos will be broadcast live nationwide on Fox Sports World (8 p.m. ET). In addition, the leauge's official Web site USLsoccer.com will offer a live pay-per-view Digicast for $4.95. The game features a pair of Northern Conference teams with the Wildcats, playing in their first A-League final, visiting the Raging Rhinos, who are gunning for their third second-division title in four years. The Rhinos, hosting the match at Frontier Field, will be playing in memory of forward Mickey Trotman, 26, who was killed in a car accident on Oct. 3 while training with the Trinidad & Tobago national team. Turning blue Citing sources at uniform supplier Nike and the U.S. Soccer Federation, Grant Wahl reports in the current edition of Sport Illustrated that the U.S. national teams will switch to blue jerseys in spring 2002, moving away from the red jerseys worn since 1998. However, a co-founder of Sam's Army, Mark Sapcone, says the fan club will continue wearing red at matches because "white and blue tend to get lost in the stadium." MLS Semifinals, Game 2: Miami Fusion at San Jose Earthquakes, 9 p.m. ET Sunday (Fox Sports Bay Area; Fox Sports Florida) It's the biggest game in the history of both teams; unlike the other semifinal series, neither team has been this far before. The Fusion took round one on Wednesday at Lockhart Stadium 1-0, playing without suspended Diego Serna for the match and without an injured Pablo Mastroeni for 62 minutes. A win on Sunday would send the Fusion to MLS Cup and the Earthquakes home. Any other result and the series will be returning to Fort Lauderdale for Game 3. MLS Semifinals, Game 2: Chicago at L.A., 10 p.m. ET Saturday (Fox Sports Net) Regardless of the outcome, the teams will be coming back to Chicago for Game 3 after Wednesday's 1-1 draw. While the series cannot be decided on Saturday, the winner would have a big advantage going into the decider, needing only a draw to advance to MLS Cup. Game 2 will be played at Titan Stadium in Fullerton because of a conflict at the Rose Bowl. Chicago will be without defender Evan Whitfield after he received a red card for fouling Cobi Jones on Wednesday. Hristo Stoitchkov returned from injury for Chicago in Game 1, coming on after halftime to replace Peter Nowak, who left with a knee contusion. Alex Pineda Chacon Honduran midfielder Alex Pineda Chacon earned Sports Illustrated's MLS MVP vote in this week's issue after his 19 goal season. He's one of three nominees for the league award, along with teammate Diego Serna and San Jose defender Jeff Agoos. In a strange twist, Fusion forward Preki was voted team MVP by the local media but was not nominated for the league honor. Rongen the wrong man D.C. United announced this week that Dutch-born coach Thomas Rongen will not be offered another contract when his current deal expires. United will continue to train under Rongen's supervision this fall in preparation for offseason friendlies and the 2002 MLS season. According to the Washington Post, U.S. national team assistant coach Dave Sarachan is a leading candidate to replace Rongen. Stern turn Joe-Max Moore wasn't the only goalscoring hero for the U.S. when it qualified for the World Cup on Sunday. Former Columbus Crew forward Stern John scored as Trinidad and Tobago stunned Honduras 1-0, putting the host nation on the verge of elimination from next year's World Cup -- and putting the United States in. U.S. fans can also thank Miami Fusion and Jamaica defender Tyrone Marshall for his foul on Landon Donovan that led to the Moore's game-winning penalty kick. Soccer's Pole winner, from the Chicago Sun-Times Cautious Hudson begins to believe, from the Miami Herald News from the U.S. national teams U.S. women's coach April Heinrichs invited 19 WUSA players to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in preparation for the national team's upcoming games. The camp will be held Oct. 23-31, 2001. The oldest players in the camp both are World Cup champions: 33-year-old defender Joy Fawcett and 26-year-old forward Shannon MacMillan. The others players range in age from 21 to 25, and all played in the Women's United Soccer Association during its inaugural season. "I'd just say wait until [Wednesday] night." --San Jose forward Landon Donovan, asked Tuesday about the best goal celebration this season. "We heard the things that Landon said about how he's going to have a great celebration when he scores... I didn't see Landon's celebrations tonight. I must have missed it." --Miami Fusion midfielder Jim Rooney in the Sun-Sentinel following Wednesday's physical victory over the Earthquakes. " Tell [Donovan] if you dish it out, you've got to take it." ... "They're falling like little girls out there. It's a disgrace." --Miami Fusion midfielder Ian Bishop, in separate quotes from the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald. Last week, The Glance asked you where you think U.S. soccer will be in the year 2010. This week, give us your questions or comments on any number of topics, including: U.S. preparations and prospects for the World Cup (who to bring in, who to leave out). The MLS playoffs. MLS postseason awards. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your hometown: Your take here (in 25 words or less) I hope that the U.S. will be in the top 10 of FIFA's rankings, but it will not be World Cup champions. --Sadiq Fazel, Dar-es-Sallam Tanzania I have big hopes for MLS. The league has an excellent point to grow from; success in next year's World Cup will continue the already-growing grassroots movement. The rest of the MLS should and will learn from the Columbus Crew to develop vibrant franchises. I expect to see attendance averaging 25,000 in 2010. I also expect to see European teams coming to compete in "friendlies" with MLS. --Andy Sinsigalli, San Jose, CA "Where do you think U.S. soccer will be in the year 2010?" The World Cup semifinals. The attack will be led by Donovan, Convey, Beasley, Quaranta and Johnson; Gbandi, Gibbs, Bocanegra and Onyewu will be the back four, and Raul Palomares will be the libero right in front of them. Every game we play will end with a 5-3 scoreline, one way or another. Unfortunately we'll meet the French juggernaut in the semis. Donovan's hat trick won't be enough to stop Les Bleus from advancing to their fourth straight World Cup Final, this one to be played in beautiful Johannesburg. Of course, even the French are no match for El Conejo, as Javier Saviola brings Argentina its first World Cup since Maradona by scoring a brace in the closing minutes of the final for the 4-3 scoreline. Many call it "The Greatest Football Match Ever Played," but we here in the states won't get to see it because ESPN instead will show the upper-Missoula Log-Rolling All-Stars -- interrupted for a special update about Michael Jordan [excretory function deleted]. --Matt, NYC CNNSI.com wire services contributed to this report.   Related information Stories U.S. Soccer Week at a Glance: Two wins and in Multimedia Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV. Copyright © 2001 CNN/Sports Illustrated An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. 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