SÃO PAULO—U.S. men's soccer coach Jurgen
Klinsmann played down the long distances and muggy climate his team will
have to face at this year's World Cup, saying that American players are
used to both.
The U.S. team will be
based in São Paulo, South America's biggest city, and will travel for
first round matches to the Amazon heartland city of Manaus, as well as
the northeastern coastal cities of Natal and Recife. That means the U.S.
will have to travel some 14,000 kilometers in the first round alone,
the most of any of the 32 teams that will compete in the league play
round of the monthlong event that starts in June.
"We
have the worst travel schedule of all teams," Mr. Klinsmann told
reporters after a brief training session at the training grounds of São
Paulo Futebol Clube, one of the continent's top teams.
Twenty-six
players arrived in Brazil Monday as part of the men's team annual
January training, and Mr. Klinsmann is using the opportunity to get to
know the training center as well as a chance to pick new talent for the
team. The squad is made up of players from Major League Soccer except
for Norway-based Mix Diskerud.
"American
players are used to traveling long distances, but we want to minimize
the problem," he said, mentioning th possibility of traveling between game
sites directly, rather than making the long slog back to São Paulo
between rounds.
After two weeks in São
Paulo, the 26 players head back to Los Angeles for another week of
training. The final group of 23 players Mr. Klinsmann picks will be back
in Brazil in June to prepare for a crucial first match on June 16
against Ghana in Natal, some 1,800 miles northeast of São Paulo.
"We
have to win our first game no matter what," he said. That's because
after Ghana, the U.S. will face Portugal—whose star Cristiano Ronaldo
this week won the prestigious Balon d' Or title as the world's best
player—and then plays soccer powerhouse Germany in the final group
match. Germany clinched second place in 2002 after losing to Brazil, and
came in third place in the following two World Cups.
With such a tough group, it will be a challenge for the U.S. team.
"We
still have a long way to go and we know that, but we are getting better
and hopefully we can prove that in the World Cup," he said.
The
rapid growth of soccer in the U.S. following that country's hosting of
the 1994 World Cup has helped improve the quality of American soccer,
Mr. Klinsmann said, but they are still some years away from ranking with
the best.
"We need to develop better players and better coaches, but that's not going to happen overnight," he said.
