Mixed emotions as U.S. qualifies

Updated: Friday June 14, 2002 12:47 p.m. ET

TAEJON, South Korea (Reuters) -- With Poland leading 3-1, the United States faced a nail-biting final few minutes of their last World Cup group match on Friday, praying the crowd's deafening cheers meant South Korea were beating Portugal.

Looking up at the American, South Korean and Polish supporters, confused U.S. midfielder Landon Donovan tried to guess what was going on in the other group D match in Seoul being played simultaneously.

"Initially when I heard the shouting, I thought 'what's happening here?' as there was nothing going on in our game," he told reporters.

"All the fans were jumping around -- the Americans were jumping, the Koreans were jumping, the Poles were jumping -- so I assumed Korea had won. It made for a good atmosphere."

Only after the final whistle did they hear for sure that South Korea had beaten Portugal 1-0, meaning the U.S. go through in second place by a point behind leaders South Korea.

The Americans greeted the news with mixed emotions, delighted at their qualification for the last 16 but shell-shocked at their 3-1 defeat by Poland, who scored twice in the first five minutes.

"It was weird," said striker Brian McBride. "I haven't really felt like that after a game of soccer, especially after a game you've lost."

"I was disappointed with the way we played, but this time we had a little bit of joy because of the things we did before today."

U.S. HOPES FOR BEST

News of South Korea's goal was greeted with cheers from virtually everyone inside Taejon's World Cup stadium -- Koreans and Americans alike. Even the Poles, their side eliminated from the competition, joined in.

Hearing the roars, U.S. players said they hoped for the best, but tried to concentrate on the match in hand.

"We weren't playing the game necessarily with one ear on the radio either, but we realised around the 70th minute mark that Korea were ahead," said coach Bruce Arena.

"I'm very happy that I wasn't informed about the last five minutes of that game because I heard it was rather hectic."

Both South Korea and Portugal came close to scoring in the dying minutes of their match. Had Portugal equalised they would have nudged out the Americans on goal difference.

The U.S. now face neighbours Mexico in Chonju on Monday, without defender Jeff Agoos, who was carried off with an injured calf muscle in the first half of the Poland game.

"It's going to be a battle," said Donovan. "We know we can beat them, they know they can beat us on any day. If they beat us, fair enough, but I think we've got a decent chance."

Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.