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Home-field disadvantage U.S. team expected to be 'visitor' again in Rose Bowl
Posted: Thursday January 13, 2000 07:00 PM
CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) -- When the U.S. soccer team plays in the Los Angeles area, players usually hear jeers, not cheers. For Sunday's exhibition game against Iran at the Rose Bowl, the predominant flag is expected to be green, white and red -- not red, white and blue. "Welcome to Southern California," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said, shaking his head and smiling. The Americans seem like the visitors when they play Mexico and other Latin teams, although they were cheered during their 1994 World Cup upset of Colombia at the Rose Bowl. There are as many as 600,000 Iranian-Americans living in and around Los Angeles, and for many of them, Sunday's game will be their first chance to see Iran's national team, which this month is playing its first three games in the United States. "I have many relatives flying in from San Francisco, Texas, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C.," said Ali Ghalambor, a native of Iran who came to the United States in 1984. "We are very excited about it. I went to games in Iran and have watched the team on TV, but this is my first chance see them in many years." Ghalambor is taking his 7-year-old son, Moji. "I'm sure it will be something for him to remember," Ghalambor said. U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna said he and his teammates are accustomed to fan opposition. "I've been around it so many times, so I'm used to it and I think everybody knows it's going to be like that again," Reyna said. "In California, where you have so many ethnic people from different countries, when their national team comes to play, they'll travel for 10 hours for a game because it's their only chance to watch them play." Goalkeeper Tony Meola, the starter at the 1990 and '94 World Cups, thinks the U.S. team still will have lots of support. "We've been lucky with our fans the last five or six years, as far as pro-American crowds," he said. "It might be a pro-Iranian crowd. I'm sure any part of the Iranian population here would want to see their national team. I'm certain there's a lot of pride in the people that are from Iran and living in America." A crowd of about 50,000 is expected at the Rose Bowl for a rematch of the 1998 World Cup game, when Iran shocked the United States 2-1 at Lyon, France. The Americans then lost to Yugoslavia and finished last in the 32-nation field. Not all those cheering for Iran will be doing it in that country's language, and some in the crowd are likely to have the flags of both nations painted on their cheeks. "A lot of them will be American-born Iranians, like my kids," said Reza Ghalambor. "Most of them don't even speak Farsi." Whether they're yelling in Farsi or English, Reyna thinks the crowd will be lively. "It makes a great atmosphere. It's good for us and it makes the game fun on the field when you have fans that are into it," he said. "And they are going to be into it." Reyna hopes that spirit will rub off on American fans. "It shows the passion that these fans have in other parts of the world and hopefully it makes people here realize how important soccer is in other countries," he said. Reyna plies his trade professionally in the midfield of one of Europe's top clubs, Glasgow Rangers, and his departure for national team duty has become a sore spot for Rangers manager Dick Advocaat. Arena wishes soccer moms and pops would pack their kids into minivans and head to Pasadena. "California has one of the biggest youth soccer populations in the country and we'd love to have some of their support," he said. "The time has come that our country has to get behind our national team if we're going to be successful. Sunday would be a nice day to get some of those people out."
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