Instead of taking the easy route, the U.S. soccer team will go down the most difficult path.
The United States wasted a chance to clinch World Cup advancement for the first time in 64 years, losing to Romania 1-0 Sunday in the Americans' final game of the opening round.It would take an unusual series of results to prevent the Americans from advancing. But they now probably will have to play one of soccer's powers in the second round.
Dan Petrescu got the Romanians' goal in the 18th minute of the first half, when the Americans got caught on one side of the field and Romania played the ball around with precision. Petrescu sent it between goalkeeper Tony Meola and the right post, with Meola looking out of position on the play.
The United States controlled the action for most of the game, especially in the opening minutes. But the connecting passes just weren't there the way they were in Wednesday's 2-1 upset of Colombia.
The Rose Bowl, site of the Americans' shocking victory on Wednesday, again was filled to capacity at 93,869. This time, the game was played in midday heat instead of late-day shadows. The gametime temperature was 98 degrees, it was 103 at the start of the second half and some thermometers on the field were up to 120.
Increased interest in American soccer was evident before the game. Some fans tied red, white and blue ribbons to their mailboxes on streets leading to the Rose Bowl. A crowd cheered players at the hotel as they left the elevators in the lobby.
Chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" were heard as early as 40 minutes before kickoff, and the crowd was much more involved than in previous U.S. games.
Coach Bora Milutinovic, in a change, didn't make any changes, starting the same lineup consecutively for the first time in 31 games.
Romania did make a big change, starting Florin Prunea in goal in place of Bogdan Stelea, who started his teams' first two games in the tournament.
John Harkes had a chance to put the Americans ahead in the eighth minute, but his right-footed shot clanged off the left goalpost.
Thomas Dooley had a good chance on a header off a corner kick with 14 minutes to go, but it was about a foot outside. Ernie Stewart also had a chance on a corner kick with seven minutes left.
Colombia 2, Switzerland 0
At Stanford, Calif., Colombia, stung by two startling first-round losses, salvaged some of its wounded national pride Sunday.
It was not enough to prevent Colombia from becoming the first team at the World Cup to be eliminated.
With goals by Herman Gaviria and Harold Lozano, Colombia beat Switzerland 2-0, avoiding the indignity of returning home without a win. But the Colombians, a pretournament favorite, are headed home nevertheless.
Romania's victory over the United States meant a last-place finish for Colombia in Group A.
Carlos Valderrama, ineffective in Colombia's losses to the United States and Romania, reasserted himself as the offensive playmaker and helped put Switzerland on the defensive much of the game.
The Swiss had their hands full fighting off Colombian forays and had problems all day mustering counter-attacks that typically died in midfield.
Switzerland picked up the pace in the second half and just missed on a chance to tie the score when Adrian Knup's header sailed above the crossbar in the 67th minute. In the 89th minute, Stephane Chapuisat also had a chance but his shot also went over the net.
In the 90th minute, Lozano, who came on as a subsitute, put in Colombia's second goal, knocking the ball into the opposite corner with a low, hard kick.
Colombia put relentless pressure on Swiss goalkeeper Marco Pascolo, who turned away six tough shots before Gaviria broke through on a header in the 44th minute.
Valderrama set up the score by lofting a free kick over the Swiss defense and Gaviria finished by leaping to meet the ball and snapping it into the net. Pascolo got a hand on it but not enough to prevent it from dribbing through.
The score occurred with Switzerland still arguing with the officials over their failure to see the elbow Valderrama threw a minute earlier that dazed midfielder Ciriaco Sforza. The two were running side by side when Valderrama's elbow caught Sforza in the head. He crumpled to the ground and had just gotten woozily back to his feet when Colombia scored.
Colombia could have easily scored earlier but for a series of brilliant saves by Pascolo.
In the 12th minute, he first stopped a hard left-footed shot by Freddy Rincon. Faustino Asprilla then delivered a shot off a corner kick that Pascolo turned away with a spectacular one-handed deflection, sending the ball over the net.
In the 29th minute, Valderrama, Rincon and Asprilla all failed to connect from up close.
Bulgaria 4, Greece 0
At Chicago, finally, after six World Cups, Bulgaria came up a winner. Then again, winning comes easier at this tournament when the opponent is Greece.
"This is a very important victory," Bulgarian star Hristo Stoitchkov said. "It's Bulgaria's first in the World Cup."
Stoitchkov scored twice on penalty kicks Sunday to lead Bulgaria to a 4-0 victory, its first in 17 World Cup games.
"To me it doesn't matter if you score from penalty or you score from play," Stoitchkov said. "The important thing is to get the victory. Don't forget that Germany became a world champion with a penalty kick (in 1990)."
Iordan Letchkov scored on a give-and-go with Zlatko Iankov in the 66th minute and Daniel Borimirov added a last-minute goal on a rebound off a free kick.
Bulgaria, which first qualified for the World Cup in 1962 and even advanced to the second round in 1986 without a win, disappointed a mostly partisan Greek crowd of 63,160 at Soldier Field.
The caliber of play, however, left much to be desired, with six yellow cards, many fouls and giveaways, mostly by the Greeks, who were the only European team to go unbeaten in qualifying.
Stoitchkov opened the scoring only five minutes into the game by faking the goalkeeper, Ilias Atmatzidis, who went right when the ball went left on the penalty kick. The kick was awarded after Greek striker Alexandris Alexoudis handled the ball in the box.
"I felt self-assured because so far I haven't missed any of those," Stoitckhov said of his first goal. "I felt the gaze of entire Bulgaria on me."
Stoitchkov was around the Greek goal throughout the first half, but could not connect. He got another free chance 10 minutes into the second half when Atmatzidis grabbed him during a scramble. This time, Stoitchkov put it low to the other corner and it was 2-0.
"From what I saw I don't think they were intentional," Greece coach Alkis Panagoulias, the former U.S. coach, said of the two infractions that led to the scores.
"The player fell down and maybe he touched the ball. The second time the goalkeeper said, `We collided.' I couldn't tell.
"The referee should not play for the sake of the rules. He should play for the sake of the game. It's the game that matters, not the rules."
Iankov drew two defenders to him before feeding Letchkov for a breakaway and a 3-0 lead. Borimirov scored in injury time after the Greek defense failed to clear the ball following Atmatzidis' strong save.
Greece lost by an identical 4-0 score in its opener to Argentina, which plays Bulgaria on Thursday. Greece ends its first round that night against Nigeria.
"The early goal helped us relax and assess the possibilities," Bulgarian coach Dimitar Penev said. "This was a very realistic score. It reflected the upper hand that Bulgaria had over the Greek team.
"This victory brings a lot of joy and self-assurance to the players and will advance my career. It will be very hard to play Argentina because they are world champions of the past."