WORLD CUP ‘94: 29 DAYS and COUNTING : Tempered Tantrums : A More Mature Wynalda Eager to Erase Memories of His 1990 Red Card

He wore his notoriety proudly, like a medal.

Eric Wynalda was determined to do things his way on the soccer field, to vent his feelings how he pleased and when he pleased. If other people didn’t like it, too bad. He was sure of himself--too sure, some said--headstrong and undisciplined.

And one of the greatest natural scorers the United States has produced.

His knack for finding the net was never in doubt. The only question was which would win out: his temper or his talent.

Until he left home nearly two years ago to play in Saarbrucken, Germany, a small town on the French border, Wynalda figured he could get by on his athletic gifts. He always had, during his three years at San Diego State and before that at Westlake High. But in a country where he didn’t speak the language and was held to impossibly high standards on and off the field, he couldn’t slide anymore.

Forced to fend for himself, Eric Wynalda grew up.

“When I was in college, I liked the idea of being the bad boy of soccer. I had 32 letters to the athletic director complaining about my conduct on the soccer field. I was basically volatile and uncontrollable,” he said by phone from Saarbrucken.

“In Germany, you’d never know that. They’ve never seen that side of me. As a soccer player, you learn, as time goes on, not to sweat the small stuff. Here, you don’t have time to worry about things that might ruin your day. Things have happened, but I look at it as water off my back.

“People can come down on you really hard as far as the press and the fans (are concerned), but you can’t dwell on it. Every single day of your life, you’ve got to figure out how to do your job better.”

This season, his job varied between forward--which he has always preferred--and midfield, where he sacrificed his goal totals to serve as a link between the forwards and the defense. He performed both roles well enough to be named Saarbrucken’s captain when it resumed play after its winter break, an honor not given lightly and only rarely to an American.

Having proved he can handle those responsibilities, Wynalda would like to prove he can handle a starting role on the U.S. World Cup team.

Nothing will be handed to him. For Wynalda, who acknowledges everything else has come so easily on the field, this will be a fight.

His skills are indisputable. In 50 appearances for the national team, Wynalda has scored 14 goals, the third-highest total in team history. The all-time leader, Bruce Murray, scored 21 goals in 93 appearances.

Wynalda, who scored 12 goals for Saarbrucken before rejoining the U.S. national team Monday, is too good not to play--especially for a team that lacks offensive punch and is eager to put on a good show as the host nation of the monthlong competition that starts on June 17.

“Talent is important, but it is not only talent that makes a great player,” said Bora Milutinovic, the U.S. national team’s coach. “You must have many things to be a great player.

“I think for Eric, it is not a problem of technique. It’s very important to have maturity.”

Wynalda’s immaturity has left blots on his extraordinary record. There was the time he was supposed to play for the national team against Brazil in February 1992, but arrived at the Miami airport without his passport and was sent home by Milutinovic and fined $1,000. Three months later, he elbowed a teammate in the face and was again banished by the coach.

There were problems with his contract and with his teammates when he played in the American Professional Soccer League for San Francisco, which released him. And most notably, there was his ejection in his World Cup debut, in 1990, for stomping on a Czechoslovakian player’s foot after he had been warned for elbowing another player in the face.

It wasn’t the kind of fame he had envisioned.

“Two and a half years ago, when I was in my apartment in San Francisco, a buddy called me,” Wynalda said. “He said, ‘I’m playing “Trivial Pursuit” and got the question: Who is the American who got a red card in the World Cup? And I won the game because of it.’ ”

Also counting against him is the improved caliber of the U.S. team. Ernie Stewart, who has played in the Netherlands, will probably be one of two starting strikers.

Milutinovic isn’t saying where Wynalda fits. He kept track of Wynalda’s German season and visited Europe to chat with Saarbrucken’s coach, Gerd Warken.

“It’s very difficult to play in another country, and it is much more difficult to play in the Bundesliga (German First Division) and Second Division (than in other European leagues),” Milutinovic said. “He came to be captain, which is not very simple. For that, I am pleased for the progress he made. . . .

“Normally, he is a great player, but now we need to speak and see what we need to do and which way we will go.”

So eager is Wynalda to erase the memories of 1990 and prove his maturity, he doesn’t care where Milutinovic asks him to play.

“If Bora says sweeper, I’d play sweeper,” said Wynalda, who will turn 25 on June 9. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever had. He sees things in you that you don’t know about. If he says it would be best for me to play midfield, I’ll play midfield.”

All he wants is a chance to show the child who overreacted to pressure four years ago has become a man who can turn adversity to advantage.

“He has definitely matured,” said U.S. midfielder Cobi Jones, who has known Wynalda since their days at Westlake. “Living in Germany by himself, going through tough times over there, as well as being captain of his team, there are many things that have made him more mature.

“Being captain put a lot of pressure on him, as does being an American in Germany and having to prove yourself and win the respect of your teammates. It takes a lot of swallowing your pride.”

That maturity has come slowly, and not altogether easily.

When Saarbrucken acquired his rights from the U.S. Soccer Federation for $450,000 in the summer of 1992, it had just been promoted from the German Second Division to the Bundesliga, widely considered one of the world’s top leagues. He was an immediate success, scoring eight goals in the first half of the season, but he and the team slumped in the second half. Saarbrucken finished last and was relegated to the Second Division again.

Wynalda, unhappy over the team’s demotion, asked to be traded to a First Division team. Saarbrucken’s management agreed--but then put a $2-million price tag on him, far above the going rate. He threatened not to play but relented when Saarbrucken made him “an unbelievable offer” to stay. His contract is over, and he hopes to move on next season.

“I was very disappointed when the team went down (to the Second Division),” he said. “I had a very bad hamstring injury and missed four games, and Saarbrucken lost all four.

“People (in Germany), they don’t care if you’re injured, they’re just mad if you’re not playing. People were blaming (the team’s losses) on me and I wanted to leave. Plus, I talked to Bora, and he indicated it might be a problem for me preparing for the World Cup if Saarbrucken were playing in the Second Division. But the club was great to me, and they told me they considered me a very influential player. I communicated that to (Milutinovic) and he said, ‘I’ll be watching you.’ We talked at the break and he said, ‘You seem happy and the team is doing well,’ so I stayed.”

This season, despite two coaching switches and repeated changes of his position, Wynalda had 12 goals and 17 assists by his last week of play.

“The second half of the season has been probably the best form I’ve been in in my life,” he said. “I’ve scored a lot of goals and assisted on more goals and been really vital to the team. We’ve been unlucky.”

He’s not leaving anything to luck with the U.S. team. He desperately wants to earn Milutinovic’s respect and create happier World Cup memories than the ones he took from 1990.

“I deserved the red card. There’s no sense in saying, ‘I got cheated,’ ” he said. “Looking back, I can say I’m 10 times the player I was then. There’s no reason for me to forget it. I don’t want to forget it. It may have changed my life as a soccer player. . . . Either you dwell on it and let it affect your life in a negative way, or you analyze it and say, ‘What was I thinking? What was my problem?’ I had a temper, but it was that I had a will to win that needed to be channeled into other ways.

“(U.S. assistant coach) Sigi Schmid, who has known me since I was 14, told me, ‘You made it a personal vendetta. Now you have to go out and play soccer.’ I’ve been in Germany and scored 25 goals in 60 games. That’s something I’m very, very proud of.”

That experience benefits him in many ways. He has faced players he will encounter in the World Cup, “and I can say, ‘This is so-and-so. He has a good left foot and he’s very tricky on the ball.’ This means my defender has second-hand information that can help.”

It also means his skills have improved immensely.

“You look back at (1990) and our attitude and you see how much our team has changed since then,” he said. “We were, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, totally amateur. In regards to the soccer world, you play for your club team and compete in the World Cup. We had no players who had played in Europe. Now, we do. Almost everybody has played professionally. . . .

“For us to play well, which is definitely within our capability, we can prove to the world we can play. That can be our main motivation: to finally see America be enthusiastic about the sport. If America decides to accept soccer, so be it. I don’t think it’s good to put extra pressure on us, to say that our success will make the game successful here.

“It’s senseless for us to try and oversell the sport. It will sell itself. Those people living in Boston, you’re going to have foreigners dancing in your backyard, waving flags. I hope Americans pick it up. (The World Cup) is Cinco de Mayo, Mardi Gras and (Brazil’s) Carnival all in one, and people should embrace it.”