Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990 TAG: 9006060494
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TIRRENIA, ITALY LENGTH: Medium
So when foreign reporters question American players, it's like a cross-examination.
"How are you going to play against Czechoslovakia? Offensive or defensive?" an Italian writer asked Eric Wynalda on Tuesday.
"I don't know," the 20-year-old forward from San Diego State said.
"How about against Italy?" the reporter asked. "This is important."
"I know. I know," Wynalda answered. Then he pondered the query for a little while.
"Mmmm," he said. "I don't know."
The United States team seems a little bit out of its element. Back home, almost no one knows about the players or even cares.
"I'd like to see us qualify for the second round," Wynalda finally said. "Once you get among the 16, anything can happen."
The United States makes it first World Cup appearance in 40 years on Sunday against Czechoslovakia in Florence and then plays Italy on June 14. For now, the players seem a bit restless at their isolated training camp on the Tyrrhenian coast.
"A lot of our guys have problems as far as television is concerned," forward Peter Vermes said. "They need their ESPN. They need their CNN."
The days this week start off with breakfast followed by 9 a.m. practice. Then there's media interviews and lunch. Players have open time before practice from 5-7 p.m. After that comes dinner and a video. The subject is always the same - tapes of the Czechoslovakia soccer team.
"It's a difficult situation to be in a camp. You take it," Vermes said. "You're here, and you're all by yourself or you're with the team day in and day out. Players get on each others' nerves. So you need your room to be comfortable. That's your outlet to get away from everybody else."
On Monday, players were served rolls and jelly for breakfast and were a bit upset. So, with the help from a cook from nearby Camp Darby, the Italians made pancakes and muffins on Tuesday.
"We got some big boys on the team. You know what I mean?" Vermes said as he pointed at 205-pound goalkeeper Tony Meola. "Sixteen rolls aren't going to fill this guy."
The players say they want to feel as much at home as possible. Vermes, who played for FC Volendam in the Netherlands this season after a year with Raba ETO in Hungary, said it's hard to simulate America.
"Sometimes you're fortunate. In Amsterdam they had CNN 24 hours a day," he said. "But I used to drive 15, 20 minutes every day to get a USA Today, to the train station in Amsterdam. Anything English."
There are cars for the players to use. But so far, they haven't had a chance to go out on their own. Their families don't arrive until Friday and Saturday.
"There is a lot of time to think about it," midfielder Tab Ramos said of Sunday's game against the Czechoslovaks. "You need rest, so you try to go back to your room. Yesterday, we had a little tour. We're in a place right here where there's not really much we can do. There's really nowhere we can go.
"We just have to deal with it and get prepared as much as we can. That is what this place is for, to get prepared."
The players wanted to go to the beach after lunch on Tuesday, but it was cloudy. Instead, they went shopping at Camp Darby, the U.S. Army base a few miles away.
"You get anxious," Ramos said. "Come on, let's play. You want to get to the game. But you have to be able to deal with the time on your hands. You have to be able to use it to your advantage."
by CNB