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Hard knocks Keller, Mathis go down as U.S. rips Jamaica 5-0Posted: Thursday May 16, 2002 10:04 PMUpdated: Thursday May 16, 2002 11:38 PM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- One by one, they hobbled off the field: Greg Vanney, Kasey Keller and Clint Mathis. The U.S. soccer team was losing players faster than it was scoring goals. For a while, it appeared Thursday night's 5-0 victory over Jamaica would prove costly to the Americans, who leave next week for the World Cup. But after the game, U.S. coach Bruce Arena didn't think the players were seriously hurt. "Man, these games are starting to hurt us more than helping us," U.S. forward Josh Wolff said. Keller bruised a bone just below his left knee, Mathis broke the nail on his right big toe while scoring and Vanney sprained his right knee. During Sunday's 2-1 win over Uruguay, defensive midfielder Chris Armas tore a ligament in his right knee, which will force him to miss the tournament. Now it seems like the goal for Sunday's game against the Netherlands -- the Americans' last World Cup warmup -- is to not get hurt. Still, the games are a must for a team trying to rebound from a last-place finish at the 1998 tournament in France. "How do you prepare for a World Cup? You don't play and you don't get touched?" said Arena, who had his 31st victory to surpass Bora Milutinovic as the winningest coach in U.S. national team history. Young players drove the offense for the United States, which improved to 10-3 this year. Josh Wolff scored twice, and Mathis, Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley got one each. None of the four have ever appeared in a World Cup. Mathis and Wolff are both 25, Donovan is 20 and Beasley is 19. When the Americans play Portugal, co-host South Korea and Poland at the tournament next month, their performances probably will be the keys to U.S. success. "The younger guys have been doing well," Wolff said. "When you come on the field, you expect to be doing this." Keller, competing with Brad Friedel for the starting job in goal, was hurt in a 51st-minute collision with Jamaica's Deon Burton. Keller, wincing, stumbled as he tried to walk around the goal area and was replaced two minutes later by Tony Meola, a New Jersey native who was the U.S. starter in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. "I thought I could shake it off a bit," Keller said. "If it had been a World Cup game, I don't think I would have come out." After the game, the knee hurt and was swollen. "I think they're going to take a look at him," defender Jeff Agoos said. "He seems to be walking with just a little bit of a limp." Mathis, who plays at Giants Stadium for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, entered as a halftime substitute and provided an immediate spark, scoring in his second minute on the field off a pass from Wolff, his former teammate at the University of South Carolina. Connecting from 16 yards out, he was hit on the toe as he took the shot. He stayed in the game until the 63rd. "Somebody either landed on it or kicked me," Mathis said. "I scored so I didn't notice. Then it got worse and worse. I thought I could walk it off, but I couldn't. There was a lot of blood going there, and the nail was hanging off. It's no problem. It will be fine in a couple of days." Vanney, an alternate who appears the likely choice for Armas' spot on the 23-man roster, sprained his right knee and came out four minutes into the second half. Arena experimented with his shaky defense, starting Frankie Hejduk and Vanney as his outside backs and replacing Vanney with Tony Sanneh. Claudio Reyna dropped back into Armas' spot, John O'Brien took over as a playmaking midfielder and Donovan started on the right side. After a listless start, the United States went ahead in the 32nd minute when Donovan picked up the ball near midfield and sent a long pass to Joe-Max Moore, who crossed to a wide-open Wolff for a diving header from 6 yards. Mathis made it 2-0 with his ninth goal in 21 international appearances and Wolff, who has six goals in 17 games, scored again in the 60th from 18 yards off a pass from Donovan. Donovan, whose bad backpass led to Uruguay's goal last weekend, beat goalkeeper Aaron Lawrence from a sharp angle in the 84th minute and Beasley scored two minutes into second-half injury time. "I kind of wanted to come out and just do a better job and score, and to try to make up for it," Donovan said, "and luckily that happened." Notes: Sunday's win over Uruguay got a 0.8 rating and 2 share on ABC, meaning it was watched in about 844,000 households. ... Meola made his 99th international appearance. Summary1 2 F USA 1 4 5 Jamaica 0 0 0
Lineups:USA: 18-Kasey Keller (19-Tony Meola, 53); 24-Greg Vanney (22-Tony Sanneh, 49), 3-Gregg Berhalter (16-Carlos Llamosa, 46), 4-Pablo Mastroeni, 2-Frankie Hejduk; 10-Claudio Reyna (Capt.;12-Jeff Agoos, 46), 21-Landon Donovan, 5-John O'Brien (7-Eddie Lewis, 46), 8-Earnie Stewart (11-Clint Mathis, 46); (17-DaMarcus Beasley, 63); 9-Joe-Max Moore, 15-Josh Wolff. Subs Not Used: 1-Brad Friedel, 6-David Regis, 13-Cobi Jones, 20-Brian McBride, 23-Eddie Pope. JAM: 13-Aaron Lawrence; 4-Linval Dixon (Capt.), 14-Tyrone Marshall (16-Fabian Davis, 86), 24-Robert Scarlet, 17-Marco McDonald; 11-Theodore Whitmore (12-Jermaine Johnson, 46), 8-Keith Kelly (18-Deon Burton, 46), 6-Fitzroy Simpson (9-Andrew Williams, 61); 10-Ricardo Fuller (20-Omar Daley, 62), 31-Onandi Lowe (21-Kevin Lisbie, 61), 7-Winston Griffiths (15-Milton Griffiths, 56).
Subs Not Used: 1-Shawn Sawyers, 25-Claude Davis.
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