FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

He seems to have been around for ever and Eric Wynalda can indeed lay a strong claim to being the United States’ emblematic player as he prepares for a third World Cup campaign.

Wynalda is, in fact, not the most-capped of several highly-experienced players in the US squad with Cobi Jones beating his 98 appearances by half a dozen, while the hirsute Alexi Lalas remains instantly recognisable. Yet strikers take the lion’s share of the plaudits and that’s where Wynalda has shot to fame, his 31 goals making him the Americans’ all time top scorer.

Now playing his trade with the San Jose Clash in the Major Soccer League, Wynalda slammed five goals in 11 qualifiers to take the USA through to their third straight finals. And he has long ago buried the sad memory of his first taste of finals action eight years ago, when he was sent off during a 5-1 drubbing by Czechoslovakia in Italy. Minnows again as hosts in 1994, when Wynalda netted a brilliant freekick against Switzerland to book a place in round two where they gave Brazil a fright the team’s fortunes have progressed solidly in three years under coach Steve Sampson.

And the strong and speedy Wynalda, 29 on June 9, the day before the World Cup starts, believes he and his teammates could spring a few surprises. Wynalda fully expects to be in there come June, despite several weeks on the sidelines after spraining ligaments in his left leg in April playing against Dallas Burn.

That came on the back of persistent groin trouble, but Wynalda is hoping to be back in the squad for their final warm-up against Scotland on May 30 before the real thing arrives with matches against Germany, Iran and Yugoslavia in Group F.

“It would be just great to play the Germans. I’m really looking forward to that one,” says the man who along with Tom Dooley trod a successful path to the German Bundesliga in the early 1990s. Dooley won a league title with Kaiserslautern but Wynalda’s time in the Fatherland ended unhappily when, after a bright start with Saarbrucken and a flurry of goals, the rot set in and the team ended up relegated. Not long afterwards, Wynalda returned Stateside and is now looking to strut his stuff once more on the world stage.