Arena Vows To Revise U.S. Lineup

By Steven Goff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 14, 2006

HAMBURG, June 13 -- U.S. national soccer team coach Bruce Arena said Tuesday that he would make changes to the starting lineup for Saturday's World Cup match against Italy, a game his deflated squad almost certainly must win in order to advance in the tournament following a crushing 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic in Monday's opener.

"It's obvious we need to make a couple changes," Arena said. "What they are, I don't know at this time."

Judging from Arena's comments during a lively half-hour news conference at the team's downtown hotel, however, midfielder DaMarcus Beasley does not appear to be in his plans.

Beasley was ineffective against the Czechs -- continuing a disappointing few weeks for the 24-year-old winger -- and was among several players criticized by Arena in the postgame press briefing in Gelsenkirchen.

Later, Beasley responded to the coach's review with both irritation and sarcasm, and said he didn't think he would end up starting against Italy.

On Tuesday, Arena said he hopes Beasley realizes he did not perform well.

"If he's any kind of player and man, he understands it," he said. "If he doesn't, he's not going to be able to help us in Games 2 or 3, either."

Neither Beasley nor any of the other U.S. players were made available for interviews Tuesday. Arena said he had met with the players who appeared in Monday's game as a whole, but had yet to hold individual meetings. Asked if there might be a need to have such a discussion with Beasley, he said, "There might be."

Beasley has consistently played on the left side during his five years with the U.S. team, although he often finds himself on the right for his Dutch club, PSV Eindhoven. The U.S. coaching staff decided to move him to the right for two reasons: to combat the Czechs' powerful left-side attack and to create a starting slot for Bobby Convey, who plays exclusively on the left.

If Beasley does not start against the heavily favored Italians, Clint Dempsey or John O'Brien might end up in the lineup. On Monday, O'Brien entered at halftime and played a defensive midfield role, while Dempsey did not play. Arena could also move right back Steve Cherundolo into midfield.

During Tuesday's news conference, Arena alternately was solemn, defensive, funny, defiant, optimistic, contradictory and humble as he touched on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to the loss:

· On whether rebounding from the loss will be the greatest challenge of his 7 1/2 years at the helm of the U.S. program, Arena said: "It's right up there. It's never easy coming off a loss. It can be done. We have a group of players who are resilient and I think we'll respond well and play a good game on Saturday."

· On his team's performance: "Defensively we actually played quite well, which I am sure most of you would probably not agree with. We were pretty good, especially in the first half, oddly enough, when we were down two goals. . . . We were much poorer on the attacking end of the field than we were on the defensive end. . . . Technically, probably it's the worst I've seen our team play in a long time. You've got to be a little bit sharper to give yourselves a chance, and we didn't do that."

· On forward Landon Donovan's lackluster performance: "Landon could've played better and he knows he could've played better. Landon's lack of aggressiveness in the attack, his running off the ball, his desire to make plays and be part of the game was not on [Monday] night. I'm sure he'll pick it up on Saturday."

· On taking responsibility for the loss: "I take all the blame. You can check all of the boxes. You can blame it all on me. I accept it. The players play a little bit of a role, too, but I'm willing to take the big hit on that one."

· On the lingering effects of such a one-sided loss: "The result is not going to go away, that's for sure, so we need a day or two to regroup, lick our wounds a little bit, learn what we can learn from last night's defeat and move forward, and put it past us. There are still six points out there, and that's the way you've got to look at it."

· On the team's confidence level, "We're not in a coma yet."

· On his substitutions during the Czech game: "We could've made seven or eight changes and they only allow three. Everyone was under consideration at some point."

· On whether he'll make tactical changes for the Italy game: "We're not going to go with the 3-0 loss game plan. We threw that page away after the game and we'll try to come up with a new one."

· On whether the Italian league's match-fixing scandal is affecting Italy's national team: "They're used to scandals, they're playing right through the scandal, they'll be fine. I think we need a scandal."

U.S. Note: X-rays performed on starting central defender Eddie Pope's left wrist were negative and he is expected to return to training Wednesday, team spokesman Jim Moorhouse said. Pope was injured late in Monday's game.