|
Sampson and dissension
Lalas, Agoos join critics of U.S. coach; fines planned
Posted: Friday June 26, 1998 06:58 PM
| |
Lalas: "I'm definitely not coming back. The only thing I've ever wanted is for the team to do well -- whether I'm on the field, whether I'm off the field or home watching on TV." (AP) |
PORNIC, France (AP) -- A
team torn and in turmoil, shouldering the worst performance at France '98
following Tunisia's 1-1
draw with Romania,
quickly fled the site of its debacle Friday. But the departure did not go
without more shots fired at coach Steve Sampson -- and subsequent promises
of fines for the most outspoken players.
Alexi Lalas and Jeff Agoos joined Tab Ramos in saying they wouldn't
play for the national team again as long as Sampson remains as coach.
Sampson, in turn, said he deserved to stay on and launched into an attack
on Ramos.
"Here is an individual I essentially held a spot open for eight, nine
months. I didn't have to do that," Sampson said as waves crashed into the
beach behind him at the team's hotel in Brittany. "I played Tab in the most
critical match, against Iran. Tab was
responsible for the first goal against us.
"It's unfair he feels free to voice his opinion about me when I gave
him so much respect. I don't understand where athletes get this freedom to
express themselves."
Players began heading out early Friday, just hours after the United
States completed an 0-3 performance with a 1-0 loss to Yugoslavia.
The Americans wound up at the bottom of the 32-team tournament when Jamaica won,
Tunisia tied and Japan finished
with a better goal differential.
Lalas, looking worn, was among those who left shortly after dawn.
"The pain is definitely still there," he said at Nantes-Atlantique
Airport. "For me, the disappointment didn't hit until after yesterday's
game, 'til it was over. It was over too soon."
Lalas, a star for the team during the 1994 World Cup, was one of three
players on the 22-man roster who didn't see a minute this time. Agoos was
another.
"I'm definitely not coming back," Lalas said. "The only thing I've
ever wanted is for the team to do well -- whether I'm on the field, whether
I'm off the field or home watching on TV."
Following the opening 2-0 loss to Germany,
veterans on the team complained Sampson used too many World Cup rookies.
The dissension grew after Iran eliminated the Americans with a 2-1
victory.
"The basic corps of players did a tremendous amount of work on and off
the field for many, many years," Lalas said. "The payoff was the World Cup.
So I think there's definitely a sense that some off us were let down."
Agoos, who saw the most action among U.S. players in World Cup
qualifying, also went on the attack against Sampson.
"My viewpoints and his viewpoints are at polar opposites on how a
player should be treated," he said. "He has to respect my opinion as well
as his."
Asked to give an example of how Sampson let him down, Agoos cited the
Yugoslavia game.
"Yesterday, he told me I 'was in his mind' to go into the game. He
wanted to get me into the game. Again, everything was the opposite," he
said.
Sampson, who admitted "thinking about" sending some of the
disenchanted players home early, said everyone had been told their World
Cup roles more than a month before the tournament. He said Lalas knew he
would play only if there was an injury to Thomas Dooley, Eddie Pope or
David Regis, the three starting defenders.
"Maybe there's a sense of frustration that international careers are
coming to an end and they needed a scapegoat," Sampson said. "It's unfair
it was pointed at me, the individual who stuck with them for a long
time."
Without identifying individuals or amounts, Sampson said players will
be penalized for "bringing the federation in disrepute."
"There will be fines imposed against those individuals who spoke out
against the federation as a way of directing a message to younger players
that this is not professional behavior," Sampson said.
Sampson said part of the problem was the same group of players had
been on the team for a lengthy time.
"You earn the right to represent your country every time you step on
the field," he said. "No one should feel they have the right to represent
their country. That right is earned every single day."
Lalas said he had no regrets about his actions, even though U.S.
Soccer Federation president Alan Rothenberg cautioned players to think
twice about their remarks.
"I feel completely at ease with what I've said and the way I've
handled myself," Lalas said. "I've stood up for this team at times and told
the truth, maybe paid the price at points. That's part of being a leader,
and I believe in American soccer. That's all that meant anything to me
anymore."
Rothenberg said after Thursday's game he will decide Sampson's fate by
mid-August. The coach said he's comfortable with the job he's done, but
also said the USSF's new job as director of its 2010 project -- to win the
World Cup by then -- was intriguing.
"Was it an issue of poor tactics, poor organization, poor decisions on
the part of the coach during a match? Or was it an issue of players not
executing when they need to? If it's the former, then the federation has
every right to release me," Sampson said. "If it's the latter, I think I
still have a lot to offer."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
