June 4: U.S. Update

(Tuesday, June 4, 2002) - U.S. Men's World Cup Team trained at Suwon World Cup Stadium tonight. What some said would be an hour car ride turned into 25 minutes with the help of a police escort. The U.S. team arrived at the new stadium and exited off the bus and walked 35 yards to the gamefield. The set-up at the stadium is extremely efficient, with the bus driving into the stadium and parking just steps from the locker room. The U.S. team trained for just over an hour at the Stadium. The players warmed up for 15 minutes before breaking up into a large 10 v 10 possession game, while the goalkeepers trained on the other end of the field with U.S. goalkeeper coach Milutin Soskic. To finish practice the U.S. played a full-field 11 v 11 match to get used to the field and its conditions. The players enjoyed the new stadium and were impressed by the playing surface.

PORTUGAL CHECKS OUT OPPONENTS

Portugal arrived at the stadium before their scheduled practice time on Tuesday night. And naturally the team wanted to look at the field and the playing surface. However the U.S. team was still training. The Portuguese milled around the tunnel area leading off the field until the U.S. practice came to a close. As the U.S. players exited, pleasantries were exchanged by some. U.S. forward Joe-Max Moore stopped to catch up with his former Everton teammate and Portugal defender Abel Xavier. The two played together at Everton for parts of three seasons, starting in 1999, before Xavier moved to Liverpool during the 2001-2002 season.

ARENA'S RESPONSE TO KOREA - POLAND MATCH

U.S. head coach Bruce Arena watched Korea post an impressive 2-0 win over Poland on Tuesday. Following the game, Arena had this to say: "I thought that Korea played very well tonight. We know from experience that they are a strong team, and we expect a difficult match on Monday night."

SEOUL COMES ALIVE FOR KOREA WIN

Following the Korea win on Tuesday night, the city of Seoul and the whole country took to celebrating the wonderful performance. Fans roamed the street celebrating, and a crowd of more than 100 fans gathered outside one of the U.S. hotels and serenaded the hotel guests with a popular "Korean Team Fighting" chant. An hour after the game, the entire match was being replayed on three separate television channels.

OPENING GAME RECORDS

The U.S. has posted a 1-4-1 record in opening World Cup games in its history. Their only win came in their first-ever World Cup game. The U.S. has been outscored 18-7 in those matches, but has only been shutout once - in 1998.

• July 13, 1930 - Belgium (3-0 W) Montevideo, Uruguay
• May 27, 1934 - Italy (1-7 L) Rome, Italy
• June 25, 1950 - Spain (1-3 L) Curtiba, Brazil
• June 10, 1990 - Czechoslovakia (1-5 L) Florence, Italy
• June 18, 1994 - Switzerland (1-1 T) Detroit, Mich.
• June 15, 1998 - Germany (0-2 L) Paris, France

USA's LAST THREE CUP OPENERS

The U.S. will be opening up play in their fourth straight World Cup on Wednesday. Members of the 2002 U.S. World Cup Team all participated in the previous three openers. Tony Meola started in goal in the openers in 1990 and 1994. Earnie Stewart started in the '94 opener and Cobi Jones came off the bench to replace him. And in 1998 Kasey Keller started the opener against Germany in goal, and Eddie Pope, David Regis, Claudio Reyna, Earnie Stewart and Cobi Jones also started in the 2-0 loss. Frankie Hejduk came off the bench in the second half in that game. The line-ups from each of the last three World Cup openers:

1990: Meola, Trittschuh, Armstrong, Windischmann, Stollmeyer (Balboa), Caligiuri-GOAL, Harkes, Ramos, Wynalda, B. Murray (Sullivan), Vermes.
1994: Meola, Balboa,Caligiuri, Kooiman, Lalas, Harkes, Dooley, Ramos, Sorber, Wynalda-GOAL (Wegerle), Stewart (C. Jones).
1998: Keller, Dooley, Regis, Pope, Deering (Ramos), Maisonneuve, Burns (Hejduk), Reyna, Stewart, Jones, Wynalda (Wegerle).

U.S. vs. EUROPEAN OPPONENTS IN THE WORLD CUP

The U.S. has played 11 matches against European foes in World Cup competition, posting a 2-8-1 record. In the three World Cups held in the 1990s, the U.S. was 0-6-1 against European teams.

• July 13, 1930 - Belgium (3-0 W)
• May 27, 1934 - Italy (1-7 L)
• June 25, 1950 - Spain (1-3 L)
• June 29, 1950 - England (1-0 W)
• June 10, 1990 - Czechoslovakia (1-5 L)
• June 14, 1990 - Italy (0-1 L)
• June 19, 1990 - Austria (1-2 L)
• June 18, 1994 - Switzerland (1-1 T)
• June 26, 1994 - Romania (0-1 L)
• June 15, 1998 - Germany (0-2 L)
• June 25, 1998 - Yugoslavia (0-1 L)
  

U.S. SOCCER SUPPORTERS PARTY IN SEOUL

A contingent of U.S. Soccer fans and Sam's Army members partied it up on Tuesday night, meeting at a Seoul steakhouse to watch Korea-Poland, swap stories and talk about Uncle Sam's squad. More than 100 U.S. fans turned up at Nashville's to watch Korea net a deserved 2-0 win.

SUWON, THE CITY

Suwon is the capital of Kyonggi-Do Province and is the home to many of Korea's high tech companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK, as well as a number of research institutes and universities. Since ancient times Suwon is a city that has been known for its breathtaking scenery and abundant streams and mountains. The city of Suwon has a population of 772,000 and is located 29 miles directly south of Seoul. As part of the city infrastructure modified for the 2002 World Cup, the city has seen construction of the Suwon Convention City 21, along with the Image Theme Park and a World Miniature Castle Park where visitors can see a unique collection of scale models of famous castles from around the world. The Hwaseong Observation Tower will be put in place as a central feature of all these projects to commemorate the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Suwon World Cup Stadium: The Suwon World Cup Stadium was completed in May 2001, and has a capacity of 44,047. The stadium features a design harmonizing the history of the ancient city with high-tech architecture. Suwon is known for having some of the most passionate soccer fans in the country and is the home ot the Samsung Blue Wings, who won back-to-back league titles in 1998 and 1999.

THEY SAID IT

"Definitely, we have been here quite awhile, and when you are a week-and-a-half out you don't really feel why you are here. But now that the Cup has started everyone has been excited watching a lot of the games and we are really looking forward to playing."
--- John O'Brien, on how things have changed for the team now that the tournament has started

U.S. Group D schedule:

June 5 - USA vs. Portugal (4:55 a.m. ET on ESPN2)
June 10 - USA vs. South Korea (2:25 a.m. ET on ESPN2)
June 14 - Poland vs. USA (7:25 a.m. ET on ESPN)