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ROAD TO FRANCE '98
 USA! |
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TOMORROW!!! USA vs. GERMANY Monday, June 15, 1998 Parc des Princes, Paris |
What's up. I'm Cole, I'm 17, I'm a junior in Virginia and I play forward for my club team. I've been waiting four years for this. I saw my first World Cup game at RFK in '94 when I was 13 and I've been hooked ever since. I watched us lose to Brazil on the Fourth of July that year and I was so mad I couldn't eat my hot dog. This time we're getting out of the group. Mark my words.
Group F | Lineup | The Roster | Harkes | My Predictions | My Season | Guestbook
| Date | Opponent | Where |
| Mon., June 15 | Germany | Paris, Parc des Princes |
| Sun., June 21 | Iran | Lyon, Stade de Gerland |
| Thu., June 25 | Yugoslavia | Nantes, Stade de la Beaujoire |
Top two go to the round of 16. 32 teams this year, the most ever.
Coach Steve Sampson switched us to a 3-6-1 this spring: three in the back, six in the middle, one guy up top. It worked against Brazil in the Gold Cup in February (1-0, Preki scored and Keller saved EVERYTHING). As a forward I hate it a little, because one guy up top all alone sounds lonely, but if it works it works. Here's who I think starts tomorrow:
| McBride |
| Jones Ramos Reyna Stewart Deering Hejduk |
| Balboa Dooley Pope |
| Keller |
I want Wynalda starting up top with McBride, but nobody asked me. Sampson never tells anybody anything until the day of the game.
| Player | What I think |
| Kasey Keller GK | Plays in England for Leicester City. Stood on his head against Brazil. Best keeper we've ever had. |
| Brad Friedel GK | Plays for Liverpool. Would start for almost any other country in the tournament. |
| Thomas Dooley D | Our captain now. Grew up in Germany (his dad was an American soldier), played in the Bundesliga, now with the Columbus Crew. Imagine playing Germany in the World Cup after all that. |
| Marcelo Balboa D | Colorado Rapids. Almost scored with that bicycle kick against Colombia in '94. I still think about it. |
| Alexi Lalas D | The red goatee. Played in Italy's Serie A for Padova. Plays guitar too. |
| Eddie Pope D | D.C. United! Scored the golden goal that won the first MLS Cup. Fast and smart and never panics. |
| Claudio Reyna M | Plays in Germany for Wolfsburg. Best passer we have. Everything goes through him. |
| Cobi Jones M | LA Galaxy. The dreads, and the fastest guy on any field he's on. |
| Frankie Hejduk M | Tampa Bay Mutiny. Surfer from California with the long hair. Runs all day and never gets tired. |
| Preki M | Kansas City Wizards, MLS MVP last year, best left foot in the country. Born in Belgrade, so the Yugoslavia game is going to be wild for him. |
| Eric Wynalda F | Our all-time leading scorer. That free kick against Switzerland in '94, and the first goal in MLS history. START HIM. |
| Brian McBride F | Columbus Crew. Wins every ball in the air. Bravest header on the team. My favorite player, and the guy I try to play like. |
John Harkes was our captain AND D.C. United's captain, and in April Sampson cut him from the team and never really said why. You don't leave your captain home right before a World Cup. Everybody at United games was talking about it. I'm still mad, and I'll be mad until we win a game, and then I'll be a little less mad.
| USA 1, Germany 1. Germany won Euro '96 and they're always good, but Matthäus is 37 and Klinsmann's 33. A tie would be HUGE. |
| USA 2, Iran 0. Everybody's talking about the politics. Whatever. It's a soccer game, and we're better. |
| USA 1, Yugoslavia 0. They're dangerous. Mijatovic just scored the winner in the Champions League final for Real Madrid. But we'll grind it out. |
| That's 7 points. We go through, probably second behind Germany, and then probably get Holland in the round of 16, which, ugh. But getting out of the group in Europe would be the best we've ever done over there. |
Our club team finished the spring 9-3-2. I had 11 goals and 6 assists, which is my best season ever, mostly because Ben finally figured out I'm open on the far post (I've been open there since September, Ben). We lost in the state cup quarterfinals on penalty kicks, which I'm not going to talk about except to say that Tim's kick was SAVED, not missed, and it was a great save. Coach Klemm says if I work on my left foot this summer I could start for the high school team next spring too. So that's my summer: left foot, left foot, left foot, and the World Cup.
Tomorrow I'm watching at Kris's house. His dad got a big TV and we're all wearing our jerseys. Rob's bringing an air horn and Kris's mom doesn't know yet.
Coming soon: a report after every U.S. game, and my bracket for the whole tournament. Check back after Germany!!
SIGN MY GUESTBOOK! Tell me your predictions.
Visitors since May 1998:
E-mail: [email protected]
Last updated Sunday, June 14, 1998, the night before Germany.