BY RIDGE MAHONEY
in Lyons
The tournament for which Coach Bruce Arena had put little emphasis on results ended with the only American point in the Confederations Cup, virtue of a 0-0 tie against African champion Cameroon.
In being blanked by the Indomitable Lions the Americans were in good company.
Cameroon didn't conceded a goal in its three first-round games and topped Group B by beating Turkey and Brazil by 1-0 scores.
Cameroon coach Winny Schaefer rested nine of his 11 starters yet retained his scheme of a three-man defensive core, four midfielders stretched across midfield, a pair of supporting attackers and a lone striker.
Arena did not start Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, who had played all 180 minutes of the first two games, and gave Kyle Martino his first action of the tournament and just his second cap. Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra and Cory Gibbs kept their places in the back line that had played against Brazil, and Danny Califf came back into the team in place of Gregg Berhalter.
Bocanegra played free some of the time, leaving Califf to duel with lone striker Joseph-Desire Job. Bocanegra had to be wary of Achille Emana and Valery Mezague coming from deeper positions and stopped them on a few occasions with strong tackles deep in the defensive third.
Bobby Convey started on the right side of midfield and contributed several crisp passes but t his finishing again betrayed him.
Sent clear on the right side by Martino following a throw-in, Convey could only roll a weak shot to Cameroon keeper Eric Kwekeu despite using his supposedly stronger left foot.
Also lacking sharpness was Jovan Kirovski. His failure to hold the ball and find space dragged on the U.S. rhythm. Despite the absence of Brian McBride, the U.S. often resorts to playing as if he were on the field and Kirovski is not as adept winning balls in the air or holding them on the ground.
Kirovski and forward partner Clint Mathis had little luck finding each other, although Kirovski did force a scoring chance midway through the first half with a cross from the goalline. Eddie Lewis got a touch to pull the ball back for Mathis to shoot right-footed, but Pierre Njanka had no trouble clearing the ball off the goal line. Late in the first half Martino played the ball wide left to Mathis, whose attempted cross for Kirovski on the opposite side was embarrassingly off-target.
Martino's sharp passing and confidence on the ball sparked several promising sequences Having learned a lesson by being crunched a couple of times by rugged tackles, Martino elected to keep himself and the ball moving. Minutes after testing Kwekeu with a powerful 28-yard shot the keeper turned aside, Martino stripped Thimothee Atouba of the ball and took it towards goal before being cleaned from behind. Atouba's two-footed hatchet job knocked Martino out of the game. Martino hobbled off and was taken to a hospital, where X-rays revealed no broken bones. Still, he will miss some time with a severe sprain of the left ankle.
Donovan replaced Martino, but his dribbles and runs lacked explosiveness. Convey and Lewis couldn't supply the incisive wide play needed to stretch the massed Cameroon defense.
Tim Howard faced fewer shots than he had against Brazil yet several times had to be sharp. Howard dove to reach a ball along the ground in the first half and again displayed his amazing prowess one-on-one when he stoned Job with 21 minutes left after Gibbs had blown an offside trap. A close-range blast by Mezague was punched away by Howard at the near post late in the match. A Howard punch that barely grazed a dipping free kick caused momentary panic before the U.S. got the ball out for a corner.
The U.S. kept its shape in midfield and shifted intelligently, but the powerful dribbles of Emana left Chris Armas and Co. trailing more than once. Joel Epalle also bested Gibbs a few times to cross dangerously; one ball found Job behind Califf but the header flew a yard over the bar.
In three games the U.S. conceded three goals and scored just one in gaining its single point. For the measure of experience against tougher foes than they had ever faced before, the benefits to Howard, Bocanegra, Califf, Gibbs, Martino, et al. will be seen later.