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Pot of problems boils over for U.S.
Team begins pointing fingers with one match to play
Posted: Wednesday June 24, 1998 10:21 AM
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Alexi Lalas (22) was critical of the plan used by coach Steve Sampson (AP) |
NANTES (Reuters) -- With nothing left to play for at the World Cup
except pride, the United
States squad is beginning to bicker. "Everybody's ready to explode,
you can get ready for it," Alexi Lalas told the Washington Post.
Lalas, who is yet to play in the finals, was critical of coach Steve
Sampson's constant changing of line-ups and formations. "If this was
the master plan, good God, it was pretty masterful," he said sarcastically.
"He [Sampson] has got a wierd definition of a master plan." After
two days of seclusion in Brittany chewing over the disappointing 2-1 defeat
by Iran, the
American players are now trying to concentrate on what is, for them, a
meaningless game against Yugoslavia
on Thursday. Wednesday was not a happy 35th birthday for striker
Preki Radosavljevic who told reporters he did not expect to start in the
final game before the U.S. fly home. "I was expecting to play but
it doesn't look like it," he said. "For me now it really doesn't matter any
more." Preki could hardly contain his anger and disappointment at
not starting against the country of his birth. "This World Cup has
been such a disappointment for me. It would have been a nice game to play.
For two years I was never really given a fair shot. "I've never
started two consecutive games ... I scored some important goals but it
seems that was overlooked." After losing 2-0 to Germany and
Iran, Sampson's job appears in serious jeopardy. On Wednesday he
told reporters he did not believe he should be fired for the poor U.S.
showing. After Sunday's defeat by Iran, United States Soccer
Federation president Alan Rothenberg said it would reassess after the World
Cup whether Sampson was "the right man."
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