Page One

U.S. advances to quarterfinals

The Associated Press
Tuesday June 18, 2002

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Mexico had tradition and the crowd on its side, and for much of the match it had the ball. But the United States got the goals — and a place in the World Cup quarterfinals, its best showing since 1930. 

“Amazing,” defender Pablo Mastroeni said after a 2-0 victory Monday put the Americans into the final eight. “It’s been a long drive coming in and this is the icing on the cake.” 

Brian McBride scored in the 8th minute and Landon Donovan in the 65th. Although North American neighbor Mexico had possession for two-thirds of the game, goalkeeper Brad Friedel leaped and dived to block the Mexicans’ six shots on goal. 

“Sometimes in games past, other things have let us down,” Friedel said. “But our effort and our heart never were lacking.” 

Hours before the game, President Bush called Arena and the players listened in on a speaker phone. 

“The country is really proud of the team,” Bush said. “A lot of people that don’t know anything about soccer, like me, are all excited and pulling for you.” 

The United States will play Germany on Friday at Ulsan, South Korea. 

“We got a very difficult opponent in Germany,” coach Bruce Arena said. “I think when Friday comes around our team will be ready to play.” 

In Monday’s other second-round game, Brazil played Belgium at Kobe, Japan. 

At Jeonju, South Korea, battles for the ball led to five yellow cards on each side. Mexico’s Rafael Marquez was ejected in the 88th minute for crashing into Cobi Jones with a high kick and a blow to the head. 

“It’s a rivalry. We know each other,” said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. “There has been a lot of bad blood over the years. When the game’s over we’re friends again.” 

A U.S. team reached the semifinals at the first World Cup in 1930, losing 6-1 to Argentina. They reached the second round at home in 1994, but were last among 32 teams in 1998. 

Mexico, where soccer is the No. 1 sport, was in its 12th World Cup. It reached the quarterfinals in 1970 and 1986, and lost in the second round in 1994 and 1998. 

“We played very good football,” Jared Borgetti said. “But in football, you win by scoring goals and we didn’t score. 

“The United States has a very good team, very fast with a very dangerous counterattack.” 

About 10,000 Mexicans were in the predominantly Korean crowd of 35,000 at Jeonju. The Koreans joined them in cheering wildly for every attack by Mexico’s team. The crowd vigorously booed every U.S. advance. 

Ironically, South Korea’s team helped the Americans into the second round by eliminating Portugal. The Americans finished the first round with a win over favored Portugal, a tie with South Korea and a loss to Poland. 

Also in the Americans’ half of the draw, Spain was awaiting a quarterfinal match against the winner of Tuesday’s game between co-host South Korea and three-time champion Italy. 

On the other side, England was awaiting the Brazil-Belgium winner, and surprising Senegal will play the winner of Tuesday’s Japan-Turkey game. 

Difficulties in obtaining tickets touched off another wave of outrage in South Korea. 

Fans camping outside Daejeon’s World Cup stadium hoping for last-minute tickets to South Korea’s match against Italy discovered belatedly that Korean organizers sold 1,465 tickets on the Internet. 

“We’ve become idiots,” said Hur Jin-beom, a 26-year-old student who had been camping out since Friday. “Organizers knew we were here. If they had any tickets, they should have been sold to us.” 

Added Oh Taek-hoon, a 32-year-old retailer: “I’m going to barge into the stadium, whatever it takes, even if I die trying,” 

Lin Byung-taik, a spokesman for the organizing committee, said Monday: “I understand the fans. But our basic policy is to sell leftover tickets on the Internet until the day before match day.” 

In a number of first-round matches, there were empty seats inside stadiums. Disgruntled fans had difficulty logging on to the ticket Web site or, later, couldn’t get through on phone lines set up to purchase tickets. 

In Japan, 64 people have been arrested for crimes related to the World Cup. Police have detained 40 Japanese nationals and 12 Britons since soccer’s showcase began May 31. The remaining 12 people arrested were from a half-dozen other countries, including Ireland, the United States and Argentina. 

More than a third of the arrests have been for ticket scalping.