A Change Fits U.S. in Victory

FOXBORO, Mass. — Playing a more familiar alignment in the second half, the U.S. national team rallied Sunday for a 2-1 victory over Ireland in the U.S. Cup ’96 exhibition tournament.

Claudio Reyna’s goal in the 75th minute broke a 1-1 tie and the United States held off Ireland’s attacks over the last 10 minutes to preserve the victory.

U.S. Coach Steve Sampson tried a 3-5-2 alignment during the first half and his team had problems adjusting. In the second half, the United States reverted to its 4-4-2 alignment and everything clicked.

“You have to blame me for our first-half problems,” Sampson said. “I wanted to try the alignment but we haven’t had a chance to have all our players together long enough to work on it.”

Ireland opened the scoring in the 56th minute. A counterattack by Ireland caught the United States with several players forward and Niall Quinn found David Connolly with a through pass just inside the penalty area on the left.

Connolly’s shot along the ground bounded just inside the right post for a 1-0 lead.

The Americans tied it two minutes later. Tab Ramos picked up a loose ball about 40 yards from the goal and blasted a right-footed shot that Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given could only tip as the ball settled into the net.

“We shouldn’t have conceded the goal so quickly,” Ireland Coach Mick McCarthy said. “This is a young team that learned a tough lesson. The goal was a good shot but we should have done something to avoid giving up the shot.”

In the 75th minute, Eric Wynalda brought the ball down the left side and spotted Reyna as he was cutting to the middle. Fighting off a defender, Reyna was able to cut in front of Given and get his foot on the ball, redirecting it into the net for the winner.