
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990                   TAG: 9006190105
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FLORENCE, ITALY                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. TEAM ALREADY LOOKING TO FUTURE

The United States meets Austria today in its final first-round game and probably its last match of this World Cup. Talk already is turning to the future, so much so that coach Bob Gansler told his players Sunday to keep their minds on the present.

"I could see it in their eyeballs, so you had to address it," Gansler said.

Austria must win to have a chance to advance. The Americans also must win, but they must win big because of their minus-five goal differential.

Players admit it is a long shot, and they continue to discuss the future. For Jimmy Banks and Desmond Armstrong, the only black players on the U.S. team, part of the future will be getting more blacks interested in soccer.

"Myself and Jimmy have to go to the inner city and conduct clinics," Armstrong said Monday. "There has to be an opportunity to play there."

Armstrong, a 25-year-old defender from Washington, D.C., was born in the city, but his family moved to the suburbs when he was young.

"If I hadn't moved, I would not have known what soccer is until high school, and that's too late," he said. "And I wouldn't be here."

Both players know they will have a hard time selling the game to black youths.

"For the inner-city minorities, the routes out have been entertainment and sports," Armstrong said. "And what are the sports? Basketball, football and, to some extent, baseball. The reason for this is television. They are the sports on television."

Ralph Perez, an assistant coach for the U.S. team, said Armstrong and Banks have to be the ones to bring the game to the city.

"A white guy telling a black guy doesn't work, because they say, `What? It's foreign sport. You can't use your hands,' " he said.

by CNB