European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday May 22, 1990the stars and stripes a a a Page 23u.s. Gaining Confidence new York apr it could be Blind Faith. Maybe its Well founded optimism. Either Way the . World cup soccer team claims it is jelling at the right time. The 22 players who will represent the United states in Italy next month received a rousing reception last week Complete with a Telegram from president Bush and a visit by mayor David Dinkins. Maybe the festive atmosphere got to the players who oozed optimism As they approach the first world cup appearance by the United states in 40 years. No team could be a More decided dark horse. A at this Point we be set a goal for ourselves and that is to make the second round a midfielder Tab Ramos said. A we have to steal Points from the other teams. Ali be favored. A a we re All Happy to go. Its a great accomplishment for this team this country. But we do not feel satisfied. Its our goal to get to the second to do so the United states must emerge from a grouping that includes Italy Czechoslovakia and Austria. A we might play our Best and lose All three games a Ramos said. A we have to be at our Best in All three games and if we catch one of those three teams not at their Best i feel we can win. But we have to take them out of their coach Bob Gansler was cautious in his assessment of the teams chances. But he also was smiling something he Hadnot done often until recently when the americans began playing better. A can we play with these teams i think so a he said. A Are we the underdogs i know so. A a we re in with one of the real european heavyweights Italy and two hungry teams Czechoslovakia and Austria. We re trying to reach a Peak at the right time in three weeks and i think we re doing Gansler and his players pointed to How the team has performed since returning from Eastern Europe where it lost 2-0 to Hungary and 3-2 to East Germany. Since the americans have won four games tied one and lost one. A Hungary showed us what its All about a midfielder John Harkes said. A that threw us Back. They were a lot quicker than us quicker getting to the Ball releasing thinking faster. A we lost but we gained something. I think it turned us around because we knew what it was like the level we needed to get to. A playing the East germans so Well showed us we the . Team then beat Iceland 4-1, Malta 1-0 and Poland 3-1 and partizan Belgrade of Yugoslavia 1-0, while also losing 1-0 to Colombia another world cup team and tying Ajax of Amsterdam 1 -1. A the game with Poland was important because that is one of the Power teams in Europe even though it did not qualify for the world cup a Ramos said. A beating them was a great result for cup �?T90 to team Usa miss spells a missed out by Brian Trusdell new York apr the United states making its first world cup appearance in 40 years is doing so without any players from this country a largest professional league. Not one player who has played regularly with the National team since june is on a major indoor soccer league roster. A i done to think they have the Best players a san Diego sockets coach Ron Newman said. A the Best american players Are easily in the major indoor soccer league. The most professional the most competitive the most finely tuned players arc in the Only a Strong performance in the world cup will prove that the americans belong at International soccer Stop level and quiet critics who say the United states should not have been picked As site of the 1994 world cup. A this is for real now a said Cleveland crunch player coach Kai Haas Kivi who has played for Finland. A you play with the big boys. You have to put whatever feelings or whatever you have aside and get the Best boys out there. I honestly think they can put a much More competitive team out Bob Gansler the coach of the . National team disagrees. A i believe we have the Best players available a he said. A a miss players have Little or no International experience outside of Chico the feud Between the indoor league and the . Soccer federation is not new. Since the miss began 12 years ago indoor soccer has irritated purists who say that with its smaller playing Field Liberal substitutions and artificial surface it is not the same game As outdoor soccer. However the Usuf has had to rely on the miss for players. Tired of fighting the now defunct North american soccer league and miss the Usuf offered All members of the 1988 olympic team a contract immediately after the Seoul games. Starting salaries were $20,000 �?$60,000 less than what a top player could expect in the miss a and Brian Bliss Paul Krumpe John Stoll Mcyr and Mike Windischmann and Desmond Armstrong eventually signed with the Usuf. Kevin Crow and Jim Gabarra of san Diego Brent Goulet of Tampa and Ted Eck of Kansas City returned to the miss and All failed to make the 22 Man squad that will play in Italy in june. A in All honesty there a not a lot of players who could just jump into the outdoor game at an International level and play the next Day without some sort of preparation Quot Crow said. Quot outdoor soccer physically takes much More out of after the United states qualified for the world cup Many players asked Gansler for tryouts. Quot with the exception of Chico there was no interest in helping us out Gansler said of the miss. Quot and now that we qualified maybe their timing is a Little still in 1986, half of Canadas world cup team was from the miss. A most of the Guys made a big Impact on the team and looked As though they have been playing outdoor All season Quot defender Carl Valentine of the Baltimore team said. A the Guys had a lot of experience and i think what carried us through was that experienced despite its complaining miss itself has created barriers for players wanting to join the National team. Players say it takes about two weeks to go from indoor soccer to outdoor soccer. Miss teams play five games in that Span and teams have not been generous about releasing players. A a in be always had a problem even in the Nail. With the United states soccer said Newman who coached the sockets when they played outdoors. A they would always go on these Tours of four and five games to Central America or somewhere else and expect you to give up your players for that amount of a i think if they want our players i think they certainly could get them a lot easier on a per match basis. And that May not be want they Cleveland general manager Al Miller a former . National coach knows what Gansler is going through. A Gansler preferred to have a unit together for an extended period i give him credit for that a Miller said. A they figured out a plan and stuck to it. On the other hand. Bob Gansler is working in a Comfort zone. I think he took the least line of resistance where he could get the players All the time. We re All pulling for Bob Gansler. But we re wait continues for . Coach by Mike Barnes la Jolla California up a Bob Gansler has been waiting for soccer to take off in the United states since 1962, when he made his first pan american team. Today As coach of the National squad bound for this Summers world cup he a still waiting. In the words of a . Soccer federation spokesman most people in the United states done to know if a soccer Ball is stuffed or pumped full or air. The sports Lack of popularity in his country once bothered Gansler but no longer. A soccer becoming a . Fan favorite is not going to happen overnight a Gansler said. A what we re trying to do is get closer to the heavyweights up there like baseball basketball and football. But we be got to move up slowly. A for anyone to say that in five or 10 years we re going to be As popular As those sports is unrealistic. You have to set realistic goals. Its an evolutionary process. I was a Young Buck once too and i was looking for a revolution. It does no to work that Gansler 48, witnessed the last . Soccer revolution a the one created by the North american soccer league in the 70s. The sport burst upon the Ameri can scene a and faded just As fast. A we had the roof but we did no to have the underpinnings the foundation the columns to hold things up a that was the Nail a Gansler said. A it was a fools Paradise. A Pele made it happen for a couple of years and everyone thought that was the successful formula the Cosmos formula of bringing big name foreigners to the United states. The trouble was there was Only one Gansler though feels the Cornerstone for the future is in place. In fact some of those who got hooked on the Nail May have helped the United states to its finest soccer year in history. In separate world wide tournaments in 1989, the . Five a Side team and its under-16 team each placed third and the under-20 team beat soccer Power Brazil and finished fourth. The Pinnacle of All this of course was the securing of the United states first world cup berth in 40 years. The americans earned the trip to Italy this summer in dramatic fashion edging Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 on the Road in their final qualifying game. A these Guys Are the product of 20 years of soccer evolution in this country Quot Gansl or said. A the individuals in the trenches the youth coaches and administrators have done a great Job. A a american players Are better now than we were 20 years ago. They re better technically. And if you have that solid technical base from a coaching standpoint you can do so Many More Gansler has been trying to bring out an american style on inc Field. What he has produced according to midfielder Paul Caliguiri is one that reflects the makeup of the United states. A we have a Little bit of the West German style running olt the Ball and creating space a Caliguiri said. A we also have a blend of highly skilled players like midfielder Tab Ramos who a very last year kicked off a crucial period for american soccer that includes the 1990 world cup the 1992 olympics and the 1994 world cup which will take place across the United states. A the main Challenge soccer has in the �?T90s is More off the Field than on the Field a Gansler said. A it must make the transition from a participatory sport to a Spectator sport. I think this is where the world cup a us participating in Italy and us hosting it Here will help greatly. National team coach Boh Gansler. A revolutionary process
