U.S. Slows Romario, but Brazil Wins

By GRAHAME L. JONES

March 4, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

No one will ever mistake Clint Mathis for Romario.

Or vice versa, for that matter.

But by the time both players walked off the field at the Rose Bowl on Saturday afternoon after Brazil’s 2-1 victory over the U.S. in front of 45,387, neither player’s expression matched the outcome.

Romario, whose team had won the exhibition, was a little downcast.

Mathis, whose team had lost, was upbeat.

The reason was simple. Mathis had scored a goal but Romario had been shut out, mostly because of a good marking job by Greg Vanney and the rest of the U.S. defense.

“It has always been a great joy to play in the United States,” Romario said. “It is a great honor to be back here at the Rose Bowl, a stadium that brings me great memories. But overall I am not too pleased with my playing today because I did not score.

“I am much happier when I’m able to score goals.”

The last time he was in the Arroyo Seco was in 1994, when, as the tournament’s most valuable player, he led Brazil to its World Cup triumph.

Mathis’ memory of the Rose Bowl is less pleasant. He was quite happy playing here before he was traded by the Galaxy last spring in the deal that brought Luis Hernandez to Los Angeles.

It was a game of differing halves, with the Americans having the equal of the play in the first 45 minutes and Brazil dominating the second half.

The first goal came in the 25th minute when a foul by Richie Williams on Ronaldinho led to a Brazil free kick. Ronaldinho sent a swerving shot over the U.S. defensive wall and in at the left post, beyond the reach of diving goalkeeper Tony Meola.

Fifteen minutes later, Mathis tied it up.

His angled shot from the right off a pass from Chris Armas caught Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni flat-footed and ricocheted into the net off the left post.

Mathis is only the second U.S. player to score against Brazil in the last nine games between the countries, Preki having done so in 1998. Mathis yanked his jersey over his head in celebration, then sprinted back to the halfway line, arms waving wildly.

“Soccer’s a lot about confidence,” he said of playing the top-ranked team in the world. “You go out there and you see these guys and you try not to be too intimidated. If you pull off a couple of plays, then you look at yourself and say, ‘Hey, we can compete with these guys.’ ”

U.S. Coach Bruce Arena said he was satisfied with Mathis’ performance.

“He did well,” Arena said. “I told him I thought at times he could have done better making decisions whether to run with the ball or distribute a little quicker.

“But overall he had a solid game and a good goal. Certainly, it’s been a good week for Clint.”

It was Mathis whose astute pass to Josh Wolff set up the first U.S. goal in Wednesday night’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Mexico at Columbus, Ohio.

Mathis, who plays for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, even got an unexpected boost from Brazil’s coach, Emerson Leao.

The former World Cup goalkeeper was asked which American player had caught his eye.

“One player who impressed me the most for his physical [prowess], his playing capacity and his technical ability was No. 5 [Mathis],” Leao said.

Leao brought Edilson, Ricardinho and Euller into the game for the second half and the trio immediately livened up the match.

Nine minutes into the half, Silvinho dodged past U.S. defender Frankie Hejduk, fed the ball off to a teammate and then got it back near the endline. Meola came out to narrow the angle, but Silvinho dragged the ball wide, then crossed it into the goal area.

Euller was on hand to finish the move from close range.

“If he [Meola] comes out, he’s got to either stand up the play or get a piece of the ball,” Arena said. “Once Tony’s out of the goal and it’s played across the six-yard box, we’re obviously in trouble.

“I thought we played a pretty good first half, but fatigue set in. If we could have passed the ball better today I think we would have given Brazil a better game.

“Overall I’m very pleased with our effort. It’s been a great week for us.”

It even ended well for Vanney, who did not play against Mexico. It’s not every day that a defender can shut out one of the world’s top goal scorers.

“I was just really trying to keep an eye on where he [Romario] was and not dive in [with tackles], keep him in front of me and not let him get loose on goal,” Vanney said.

“If you’re really concentrating on a guy that much, then he’s got to do a lot of work to get himself a goal.”

For Romario, the goal never came.

All-time series:

Aug. 17, 1930

Brazil 4, USA 3

Feb. 26, 1992

Brazil 3, USA 0

Aug. 2, 1992

Brazil 1, USA 0

June 6, 1993

Brazil 2, USA 0

July 4, 1994