U.S. Loses Two Players to Conflicts With Clubs
The club-versus-country controversy, which plagues coaches and players worldwide and which FIFA apparently is unable to resolve, Thursday claimed two Americans.
Forward Conor Casey and defender Oguchi Onyewu were not among those boarding aircraft when U.S. players left for Mexico for a final week of preparation before the CONCACAF region Olympic qualifying tournament starts Feb. 2 in Guadalajara.
Casey, who was instrumental in the United States’ reaching the quarterfinals of the Sydney 2000 Olympics and who had hoped to be going to the Athens 2004 Games, has been recalled by his German second-division team, Karlsruher, and will not be available to Coach Glen “Mooch” Myernick.
Similarly, Onyewu has not been made available by his Belgian club, Louviere.
“Both players are significant components in the pool; unfortunately, FIFA rules and their relationship to international fixture dates prevented them from being a part of this squad,” Myernick said.
“While I believe that they can possibly help us in the future, I have all the confidence in the world in this team to get the job done.”
Myernick included 22 players in his traveling party. Twenty-one are from Major League Soccer, including World Cup 2002 veterans DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan, and one, defender Zak Whitbread, who plays for Liverpool’s youth team in England.
Two players will have to be cut by Jan. 31 to meet the roster limit of 20.
Athens 2004
Australia and New Zealand advanced to the final of the Oceania qualifying tournament for the Athens Olympics Thursday with victories over Fiji and Vanuatu.
Australia routed Fiji, 6-0, and New Zealand came from two goals down after 20 minutes to edge Vanuatu, 3-2. The Aussies and Kiwis will play a two-game series to determine which country advances to the Summer Games.
In South American qualifying, Argentina shut out Brazil, 1-0, on a goal by Gonzalo Rodriguez, and Paraguay rallied to beat Chile, 2-1, with goals in the 80th and 82nd minutes as the four-team final round began Wednesday night in Valparaiso, Chile. Two teams will advance to Athens.
Costa Rica’s Olympic hopes were dealt a potential blow when striker Erick Scott suffered a left thigh injury that is expected to sideline him for at least 10 days. Costa Rica is in the same CONCACAF region qualifying group as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico.
Mexico’s team will play a warm-up match against Hammarby of Sweden at Cal State Fullerton Saturday at 5 p.m. in a game that will mark former Galaxy and Mexico national team goalkeeper Jorge Campos’ debut as an assistant to Coach Ricardo Lavolpe.
Germany 2006
Germany’s government will invest more than $7.7 billion in the 2006 World Cup, the county’s economics minister, Wolfgang Clement, said in Leipzig.
“We can’t and won’t lose this game,” Clement told a 2006 World Cup investment conference.
“The label ‘Made in Germany’ can be polished to shine again.”
Germany expects the tournament to boost its gross domestic revenue by $10 billion in the years after the event.
Copa Libertadores
An injury-time goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco earned Club America a 2-1 victory over Atlas of Guadalajara at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Wednesday night in the first game of a two-game playoff series to determine Mexico’s second representative in South America’s Copa Libertadores.
The teams traded goals in the first half, with Uruguay’s Carlos Maria Morales scoring in the 16th minute for Atlas and Jesus Mendoza tying the score in the 42nd minute for America.
The second game will be played next Wednesday at Guadalajara, with the series winner joining Interliga champion Santos Laguna in the Copa Libertadores.
Hayatou Reelected
Issa Hayatou of Cameroon was reelected president of the Confederation of African Football, defeating challenger Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana by 46 votes to six in Thursday’s CAF elections in Tunis, Tunisia.
Hayatou, 59, a FIFA vice president who ran unsuccessfully against Joseph “Sepp” Blatter in the 2002 FIFA presidential election, will have been in power for 20 years when his latest term expires in 2008.
Former African player of the year and Olympique Marseille star Abedi Pele of Ghana was rebuffed, 32-20, by incumbent Amos Adamu of Nigeria in his bid to become the first prominent player elected to the CAF executive committee.
Referees Fearful
Angry fans of the Mohammedan Sporting Club attacked the offices of the referees association in Dhaka, Bangladesh, burning furniture and an effigy of a referee after ransacking a stadium.
The attacks, sparked by a disputed goal in a local league match last week, have caused league play to be suspended.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
