BY RIDGE MAHONEY

To qualify for the 2004 Olympic soccer tournament, much depends on how the U.S. team handles the harshness of playing a crowded schedule in Mexico.

The eight-team tournament, from which two teams qualify, began Monday night with the host beating Trinidad & Tobago, 3-1, and Costa Rica thumping Jamaica, 3-0.

Group B play kicks off tonight when the U.S. plays Panama and Canada faces Honduras.

With a team depleted by injuries and foreign-club commitments, Coach Glenn Myernick is saddled with a streak of 19. That's how many consecutive world championship tournaments U.S. teams, male and female, have qualified for or competed in.

''We know how important this tournament is,'' he says. ''It's important for the continued success of our federation and all our teams, and for the continued development of our players.''

To condition his players for what they would face during the next 10 days, Myernick brought them to Guadalajara last May to play Mexico in a ''friendly,'' which the Americans won, 3-1. About 9,000 fans in the Tres de Marzo berated the Americans from the opening whistle, defender Alex Yi was sent off, and David Testo clinched the win in stoppage time with a 70-yard lob into an open net after goals by Kelly Gray and Alecko Eskandarian had provided a 2-1 lead.

During training camp last month in Los Angeles, the under-23s squared off with Salvadoran club Aguila at East Los Angeles College. About 5,000 fans whistled the Americans and cheered the Salvadorans, yet the U.S. came away with a 2-1 win.

''That's why he has us play these games,'' said defender Nat Borchers, one of 18 MLS players on the 20-man squad. ''We have to be ready for the crowd as well as the teams we'll be facing.''

Last week, the U.S. played scrimmages against UdeG (2-2) and Atlas reserves (3-2) in the shadow of the Estadio Tres de Marzo, where the qualifiers will be held. Landon Donovan was sent off in the first one.

''A Tecos player got him in a headlock and he wrestled his way out of it,'' said Myernick. ''I think the referee just didn't want any trouble, so he sent both players off.

''That might have been the best-attended closed-door scrimmage in the history of soccer. There must have been about 350 or 400 people and they were on us pretty good.''

Donovan, who speaks fluent Spanish, has also been the target of Mexican journalists.

''They keep pushing him to say something about Mexico,'' says Myernick, ''and I heard him say, 'We're not even thinking about Mexico. We're focusing on Panama.'''

If they meet in the semifinals, only one nation can qualify for the Olympics. The semi winners qualify, the losers are eliminated.

DONOVAN, BEASLEY, CONVEY LEAD ATTACK

A first-place finish for one team combined with a second-place finish for the other would set up a showdown.

National-team regulars Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey will spark the attack, which is impaired by the sidelining of Edson Buddle with Achilles' tendinitis. Forward Conor Casey was not released by German club Karlsruhe, which leaves Myernick with Alecko Eskandarian, Eddie Johnson, David Testo and Donovan as his front-line options. Belgian club La Louviere refused to release Defender Oguchi Oneywu.

''Not having those players is a direct result of FIFA not having the balls to uphold its own rules,'' said Myernick. ''When FIFA told teams they didn't have to release U-23 players for the African Olympic qualifiers, a bunch of teams said, 'Well, why do we have to release our [CONCACAF] players?'''

Also out is midfielder Ricardo Clark (hernia surgery), who had been playing on the right side, and central midfielder Kyle Marino (hip flexor). Convey can play on that side as well as on the left or in the middle, but Myernick has pondered playing another lefty, Brad Davis, to add another attacking element.

''It's just a normal foreign trip for us, the fields aren't too bad,'' said Convey, who along with keeper Steve Cronin was named to the under-20 Best XI at the World Youth Championship.

''Some of the fields we've played on haven't been too good, but we have gotten used to them. We just kind of hang out, play cards, play video games, and we've gotten on the Internet, so we keep busy. We're just ready to play.''

Kyle Beckerman is first choice in the holding midfield role. With Beasley on the left side of midfield, Donovan could play up top in the absence of Buddle.

The regular back four is (right to left): Logan Pause, Borchers, Jose Luis Burciaga and Chris Wingert. Zak Whitbread and Chad Marshall — like Convey and Johnson members of the U.S. under-20 team that reached the quarterfinals of the World Youth Championship last December — join Ricky Lewis as the backups.

The starter in goal is D.J. Countess, although Doug Warren's late-season action for D.C. United in place of the injured Nick Rimando has sparked dramatic improvement.

''He's very close if not even with D.J.,'' says Myernick. ''He gives us a solid [second-choice] keeper where frankly we didn't have one a year ago.''

And depth will be vital. The first-round schedule mandates three games in five days, and there are only two rest days before the critical semifinal.

''We're fortunate in that Landon, Bobby and DaMarcus all have very good engines,'' says Myernick. ''We may need to play five games [including the final] in 10 days, so it's possible every one of our 20 players could see some time.

''Do we have our very strongest team? No. Do we have a team capable of getting us to the Olympics? I believe we do.''