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You can go home now
Yugoslavia sends U.S. packing with 1-0 loss in final match
Posted: Thursday June 25, 1998 05:06 PM
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Yugoslavia celebrates after taking a 1-0 lead just four minutes into its match with the U.S. (AP) |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- The U.S. team played more impressively
against Yugoslavia than it had in its previous two World Cup matches,
but an early goal off a set play and the Americans continued inability to
find the back of the net all added up to a 1-0 loss in the Americans' final World Cup match.
Even more depressing for the U.S., which had hoped to show the world how far Ameican soccer has come, was the end result after three losses in the first round. The U.S. currently is 30th out of the 32 teams competing in France '98, and it could finish in dead last.
Yugoslavia, which needed to run up the score against the U.S. in order to pass Germany for
first place in Group F, got on the scoreboard in the fourth minute when
Slobodan Komljenovic headed home a deflected free kick from a tight angle
on the right side.
Yugoslavia's Sinisa Mihajlovic had curved the free
kick over the U.S. wall from 25 yards out on the left wing, and U.S.
goalkeeper Brad Friedel, making his first start, had to dive to his left to
punch the ball away. But the redirection went straight to Komljenovic who
knocked it past Friedel. Still, the Yugoslavs finished in second place in the group as a result of Germany's 2-0 win over Iran. The U.S. spent much of the game in Yugoslavia's
end of the field, pressing forward on offense. The Americans generated many
chances inside of the Yugoslavian penalty area, but just as they struggled
in their last game against Iran, they were
unable to capitalize against Yugoslavia.
Midfielder Frankie Hejduk knocked a shot off the post, substitute Preki Radosavljevic lofted a free kick barely over the crossbar and numerous other chances in front of the net were not converted.
The U.S. returns home having scored just one goal in three games and likely will undergo major changes before the next World Cup.
U.S. coach Steve Sampson, who
may have been overseeing his final match at the helm of the U.S. team, made four
changes to his starting lineup. He reverted back to the 3-6-1 formation that the
U.S. played against Germany in its 2-0 opening match loss. Brian McBride
was the lone striker up front for the Americans, and Tab Ramos, who started
in the midfield against Iran, found himself on the bench, replaced by Brian
Maisonneuve. In addition to that change and the goalkeeper change, defender
Eddie Pope and striker Roy Wegerle took seats on the bench, getting
replaced by Mike Burns in the back and Ernie Stewart in the midfield.
In the second half, Sampson brought Eric Wynalda, Marcelo Balboa and Preki off the bench. But none of those substitutions proved fruitful.
Yugoslavia moves on to face the Netherlands, the winner in Group E, in Toulouse on Monday.
Lineups
Yugoslavia: Ivica Kralj; Goran Djorovic, Sinisa Mihajlovic,
Slobodan Komljenovic, Zeljko Petrovic; Slavisa Jokanovic, Vladimir
Jugovic, Dragn Stojkovic (Dejan Savicevic, 63rd minute), Dejan
Stankovic (Branko Brnovic, 54th); Predrag Mijatovic (Perica
Ognejenovic, 31st), Savo Milosevic.
United States: Brad Friedel; Thomas Dooley (Marcelo Balboa,
82nd), David Regis, Mike Burns; Frankie Hejduk (Eric Wynalda,
65th), Claudio Reyna, Brian Maisonneuve, Ernie Sewart, Joe-Max
Moore (Preki Radosavljevic, 58th), Cobi Jones; Brian McBride.
Referee: Gamal Ghandour, Egypt.
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