U.S. soccer team begins quest for Gold Cup

SEATTLE — Team USA got the soccer world’s attention in South Africa last week.

Now comes the hard part: keeping it.

The U.S. national team’s surprise run to the Confederations Cup championship game — which included a 2-0 semfinals win over then top-ranked Spain — thrust the Americans into the global soccer spotlight. Starting today against Grenada in its CONCACAF Gold Cup opener, the United States will try to prove that a strong showing in South Africa was no fluke.

The Americans also have the added pressure in this month’s tournament of being the defending champions of the Gold Cup, an every-other-year contest that crowns the champions of CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.

“The pressure is on this team to continue to play well and do well,” said forward Brian Ching, a Gonzaga graduate who played for the USL Seattle Sounders in 2001 and 2002.

For Ching and his teammates, living up to those expectations starts at 6 p.m. tonight at Qwest Field against Grenada (Honduras and Haiti play today as well at 4 p.m.).

Ching missed the Confederations Cup because of injury, but is one of the few experienced national team members on a young Gold Cup squad. One of the young players who did play a big role in South Africa and who is in Seattle this week is Charlie Davies. He said the U.S. team is more confident after beating Spain and pushing Brazil to the brink in a 3-2 championship game loss.

“After this Confederations Cup, I think everyone got a taste of what we can do and the potential that we do have, so I think that’s the biggest difference,” he said.

Davies also has noticed an increase in attention paid to U.S. soccer since last week’s success.

“I think it did a whole lot,” he said. “From a publicity standpoint, I think a lot more people are focused on our team. Hopefully, with the potential we have, we can live up to it. If we can continue to play well and develop as a team, I think a lot more people will follow us and really support us. So, if we can win this Gold Cup, which is the ultimate goal for us, it would really help our following.”

Of course, this isn’t the first bit of success tasted by the U.S. team, and for more than a decade, expectations have been increasing. But with the 2010 World Cup less than a year away and a win over Spain fresh in soccer fans’ minds, this Gold Cup is a chance for U.S. soccer to take a step in the right direction.

“The expectations are high, and we understand that,” said U.S. coach Bob Bradley. “Whenever we step on the field people want to see us compete with the best teams and they want to see us beat the best teams. That’s part of the responsibility, but we’re excited that we’re at that point.”

Home, sweet home

Sounders FC midfielder Brad Evans hopes to make his U.S. team debut tonight on his home field. Evans played on the U-20 national team, but this is his first call-up to the senior team.

“If I get on the field it’d be nice,” said Evans, who has been practicing at defense for the U.S. team. “It’s great to play in front of your home fans for sure.”

Sigi connections

The U.S. team has been sharing the Sounders FC practice facility in Tukwila this week, and Seattle coach Sigi Schmid has seen plenty of familiar faces wearing the red, white and blue.

In addition to Evans, who played for Schmid at Columbus before coming to Seattle, the national team also features Columbus Crew players Chad Marshall, last year’s MLS defender of the year, Robbie Rogers, a midfielder who was named to the MLS Bext XI, and Jon Busch, who played for Columbus under Schmid before being traded to Chicago. Additionally, Jimmy Conrad played for Schmid at UCLA.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.