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USSF Media Releases For the Week of June 16, 1997
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USA-ISRAEL SET FOR TUESDAY IN JACKSONVILLE, FLA. USA-ISRAEL Friendly will air live on ESPN: The U.S. Men's National Team will face Israel at Alltel Stadium (formerly Jacksonville Municipal Stadium) Tuesday, Jun. 17. The match will kick off at 7.30 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN. Tuesday's match marks the first time the teams have met since November 15, 1973, a 2-0 victory for Israel in Beersheba, Israel. Both squads are preparing for critical matches in World Cup France '98 qualifying. The U.S. will travel to E1 Salvador for a June, 29 encounter at Cuscatian Stadium, while the Israelis, face a must-win situation when they travel to Bulgaria for their final Europe Group 5 qualifier August, 20.
World Cup '98 Qualification:
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El Salvador at Costa Rica; Sept. 7, Costa Rica at USA; Sept. 7, Canada at Jamaica
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U-20 Men ready themselves on eve of World Youth Championship After a final week of preparation in Alor Setar, Malaysia, U.S. Men's Under-20 National Team will open its World Youth Championship campaign tomorrow with a match versus China. The match will be played at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar, one of the country's northernmost cities. Other first round matches for the U.S. will be versus Ireland (Thursday, June 19) and Ghana (Sunday, June 22).
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Said U.S. U-20 coach Jay Hoffman: "This (the Chinese team) is the group which trained in Brazil for nearly three years. These young men were playing 70 games a year and are technically very, very good. They play a Brazilian style, very good on the ball. That's what we found when we played them in March, so we know what to expect. We will have to click on a collective effort."
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Tournament Pedigree This is the USA's sixth appearance in the FIFA World Youth Championship.
Previously, the USA competed 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989 and l993. China is back in the tourney after a long absence, having qualified only in 1981 and 1983. For Ireland, it's tournament # 3 ('85,'91), and for Ghana it is the second time around. The Ghanaians took home the silver behind Brazil in the 1993 event held in Australia.
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New Rules The FIFA World Youth Championship will be played under the new FIFA rules, which are scheduled to go into effect worldwide on July 1. The rules require a goalkeeper to release the ball within 5-6 seconds of his having gained possession and forbid him from directly catching a throw-in from a teammate. National associations were notified of FIFA's desire to implement the new rules for the Under-20 tournament in late April, and coach Jay Hoffman's squad has been training according to those regulations since that time.
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Rongen to assist Sampson New England Revolution head coach Thomas Rongen, the 1998 Major League Soccer Coach of the Year, will serve as assistant coach for Tuesday's game vs. Israel. Clive Charles, the USA's full-time assistant coach, is scouting the U.S. U-20 National Team at the World Youth Championship in Malaysia. Charles will coach the U.S. Olympic Team at the 2000 Summer Games in Australia and many of those players will come from the current U-20 squad.
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Word on Harkes Steve Sampson and D.C. United coach Bruce Arena agree U.S. captain John Harkes is playing some of his best soccer ever right now. "That was the best overall game for John Harkes in a long time, Sampson said, referring to Harkes' performance in the USA's O-O tie with Paraguay. "He had an unbelievable work rate and his ability to play-make in the middle created goal scoring opportunities for himself and others. Arena had similar comments in USA Today this week. "John over the last two weeks has played his best soccer for D.C. United," Arena said.
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USA-EL SALVADOR PRE-NOTES El Salvador's head coach was suspended for two games last week because of violent fans during a World Cup qualifying loss to Mexico June 8. FIFA, soccer's world governing body, also fined the El Salvador Federation $35,000. Coach Milvan D'Joric received a $5,000 fine and will miss the next two World Cup qualifying games against the USA (June 29) and Costa Rica (Aug. 10) Officials for June 29 will be Ortube Betancourt Rene (referee), Soria Quisbert Oscar (assistant referee), Aliaga Acuna Humberto (assistant referee) and Saucecdo Rodriguez Pedro (fourth official). All four are from Bolivia ... The following 14 U.S. players have received one yellow card in World Cup qualifying: Balboa, Burns, Friedel, Harkes, Joseph, Keller, Lassiter, Moore, Ramos, Renya, Sanneh, Vasquez and Wynalda. A player receiving a second yellow card in World Cup qualifying must sit out the next qualifier. Agoos, Caligiuri, Jones, Lalas, and Wynalda have already sat out one game due to two cautions. Stewart has sat out two games ... The U.S. team will train in Miami June 22-27, before flying down to San Salvador on Friday, June 27. The team will stay at the Miami Airport Hilton (305-262-1000). Media interviews can be sat up through team press officer Jim Froslid.
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Media Travel El Salvador Those media interested in traveling to San Ssivador for the USA's next World Cup qualifying match and would like the finalized travel arrangements should contact Jim Froslid (312/808-1300 ext. 133). The team will train in Miami June 2-27, and depart for San Salvador June 27. The folowing media have contacted U.S. Soccer and will cover the match. |
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1997 U.S. Open Cup The 1997 Open Cup will begin next week with eight first round matches across the United States from June 18-24. Open to all amateur and professional teams in the U.S., the annual Open Cup is an 84-year old single-elimination tournament in which 32 finalists will be competing for $100,000 in
prize rnoney in 1997. First-round pairings (below) show matches between eight amateur quailfiers and eight D3 Pro League (Division III) teams:
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Wilmington Hammerheads (N.C.) vs. Mid Michigan Bucks (Mich.) Central Coast Roadrunners (Calif. ) vs. Alburquerque Geckos (NM.) Inter S.C. (San Francisco, Calif.) vs. San Francisco BAY Seal (Calif.) Chicago Stingers (11.) vs. Region II Amateur winner (Chicago or Milwaukee) Lincoln Brigade (Neb.) vs. Philadelphia Freedom (Penn.) Los Lobos (Tulsa, Okla.) vs. Central Jersey Riptide (N.J.) Tucson Amigos (Ariz.) vs. Austin Lone Stars (Tex.) Rhode Island Stingrays (R.l.) vs. Bridgeport Italians (Conn.)
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