Of the three national team players produced by Kearny, N.J., only John Harkes made it onto the field for the final game of U.S. Cup ’95 in the Garden State.
Goalkeeper Tony Meola hasn’t played for the U.S. since last summer’s World Cup, and midfielder Tab Ramos had to sit out because of injuries. Ramos suffered a muscle pull in his right leg that ruled him out of the June 25 match against Colombia.
Harkes played three solid matches at U.S. Cup ’95, scoring against Nigeria with a 30-yard blast and nicking one of the four U.S. goals against Mexico. For the Colombia match, head coach Steve Sampson named him captain for the match in his home state.
“I hear the Kearny boys bought about 200 tickets,” said Harkes, whose parents were present, as well as his wife Cindy and son Ian, 3 months old. “They were all over the place.
“Being captain is always special, and playing in front of the home crowd in New Jersey, growing up here and seeing the support of the fans, is great. Being able to be captain — I’ve been on the national team since 1987 — I guess I’ve been waiting for it, and it’s a great time, to have it here.”
Harkes said conditions were only slightly less hot and humid than during the World Cup, which made holding off the Colombians very difficult in the final minutes.
“We had to play a certain style against Colombia,” he said. “They don’t push around the outside, they like to play through the middle all the time and we have to close it off.”
He also headed away a ball that produced the game-ending corner kick that Jorge Bermudez headed toward the top corner, but was cleared off the goal line by teammate Mike Burns.
“I told him to stay and hug that post as much as he could,” said Harkes. “He was the last one coming into the dressing room, and we all thought he was still out there, hugging the post.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney