By Ridge Mahoney
Senior Editor, Soccer America
He knew this day would come, and while he strives to keep his body as young and fit as possible, Eddie Pope can't forget his status as elder statesman of the U.S. team as it prepares for the first game of 2006 against Canada on Sunday (8 pm ET/5 pm ET รป no TV) at Torero Stadium in San Diego.
''I remember looking up to the older players and trying to figure everything out,'' says Pope, a national team regular for the past decade who is vying to play in his third World Cup. ''Now, I'm the oldest guy on the team. There's 16-year-olds in camp. It's just completely different than when I came in.''
Reminders of youth are all around him. He celebrated his 32nd birthday on Christmas Eve, a week after his wife, Corina, gave birth to their second child. His wife and son and daughter are with him in Southern California, and on fields adjacent to those used by the senior team, other U.S. teams are training as well.
''You think about how big this country and we're not even tapping into all the resources we can,'' says Pope, who earned his first cap for then-coach Steve Sampson in 1996 after Bruce Arena picked him for the Olympic team. ''The under-18s have 58 kids here. Fifty-eight kids. It's going to be phenomenal.''
If Pope does make the World Cup squad, there could be teammates who are older, but not many. Keepers Kasey Keller and Marcus Hahnemann are older, and Claudio Reyna and former North Carolina teammate Gregg Berhalter were born earlier in 1973.
''John Harkes was watching one of our training sessions and said to me, 'The game is moving so much faster than when I remember when you were starting [out],''' says Pope. ''The players are faster, they're stronger, the level of play has gotten better, they come into camp fitter, the camps are harder. And that's the way things should be. If they aren't, obviously we're not moving in the right direction as a country. The young players aren't afraid of anything and they're looking to make this team. It's good to see.''
Age is a crucial element for Pope, but not as critical as health. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure two years ago and has suffered numerous injuries that have limited him to 73 caps, a not insignificant number, but fewer than most of his counterparts who have played their careers in America.
To strengthen himself for this training camp and the arduous months to come, Pope trained rigorously during the offseason on a program prescribed by U.S. Soccer fitness coach Pierre Larrieu. He wasn't the only one.
''I had a conversation with Bruce before this camp about this, and this is probably the fittest I've been coming into a camp in January,'' says Pope. ''I did a lot of work in the offseason to try and stay strong and avoid injuries throughout this camp. It's helped so far. I feel very strong, which is obviously a good thing.
''Pierre gave us a program to follow during the offseason and I followed that strictly. It's really paid off for me. There was a running program, and a lifting program. I knew it would be important for me to follow that so I wouldn't be out of shape and come in and pull something.''
From nearly the first day of camp, sharpness and zip have marked the sessions and scrimmages. More than two dozen players went through two weeks of double sessions before tapering off to one workout per day. Rather than winnow the pool down as the days pass, Arena and his staff decided to keep the entire group together, partially because injuries to players necessitated bringing in replacements.
''All the guys, even though we complain about it, came in fit and we jumped right into it,'' says Pope. ''For me, as an older player, it's important to stay on top of things and not get out of shape in the offseason. It's takes too long to get back in shape. There wasn't any time to get used to things. It was jump right in and if you can't swim, you're in trouble.''
A deep pool of central defenders could indicate Pope's World Cup chances are in trouble, since Oguchi Onyewu, Cory Gibbs, Carlos Bocanegra and Berhalter are all in the picture. Pope has struggled at times the past two years. A rough season with MLS expansion team Real Salt Lake didn't help. He played only 60 minutes in the Gold Cup, and made only one appearance after that, in a 3-0 loss to Costa Rica in San Jose last October.
Yet the experience of numerous qualifiers and two World Cups is impossible to discount. Pope is a team guy, highly respected by his teammates, and an asset even if not in the starting lineup. Among Arena's many talents is a knack for blending youth and potential with experience and proven ability.
''It would be difficult to bring in a whole lot of young guys and cross your fingers and hope things work out,'' says Pope. ''He's always done things the right way and knows how to strike the right balance of young guys and older guys.''
Starting out the year against Canada, which lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the Gold Cup last year, is a good first step. The Scandinavian clubs on which about a dozen Canadians play their club ball are on winter break, and Coach Frank Yallop has brought a good overseas selection as well as many products of the USL.
''The last time we played, we scored both goals in the second half, one was at the end of the game and the other was an own goal,'' says Pope. ''We have to do a much better job of finishing our chances this time. They are very well-coached, obviously, and they do have some good players. It's not going to be one of those games where one team blows the other team out.''