North Carolina State University Athletics
World Cup Close to Many Wolfpack Soccer Players
6/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
June 9, 2006
Raleigh, N.C. - The worlds biggest sporting event starts this morning, when host Germany kicks off against Costa Rica in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. For the fifth straight time, the U.S. has qualified for this grand international tournament, and also for the fifth straight time NC State will have a player on the U.S. roster. Tab Ramos played in the World Cup in 1990, 1994 and 1998, and Pablo Mastroeni will be competing in his second straight World Cup as he was also a member of the 2002 squad. Mastroeni will be writing updates during the World Cup for fans to read at usasoccerstars.com. You may go to the NC State men's soccer home page and click on the link to read those columns.
During the three game `Send-Off Series' for the U.S., Mastroeni played extremely well in his attempt to win a starting position for the World Cup. After captain Claudio Reyna went down with an injury in the 16th minute in the first game against Morocco, Mastroeni came in and played a defensive midfielder role. For his efforts, Mastroeni was named the Sierra Mist Man of the Match. Most of the starters, including Mastroeni, got the day off in the second game against Venezuela, but in the third game the lineup returned to normal. In that win over Latvia, Mastroeni started as the defensive midfielder, and despite suffering the flu played 83 minutes.
Mastroeni has made 48 career appearances for the U.S. National Team, including starting three games as a defensive midfielder in the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan. The U.S. fell to Germany in the quarterfinals, its best showing in World Cup action since 1930.
The fifth-ranked United States will be part of Group E, which also includes the No. 2 Czech Republic, No. 11 Italy , and No. 44 Ghana. The first game for the U.S. will be on Monday against the Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen, Germany with a start time of 11:55 a.m. eastern time shown on ESPN2. The U.S. will then take on Italy on June 17 and Ghana on June 22. The northern port city of Hamburg will serve as the base of operations for the U.S. throughout the World Cup. All games for the World Cup will be shown on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
Aside from the U.S. playing in the World Cup, the NC State men's soccer team has ties to other countries. Head coach George Tarantini grew up in Argentina, and his brother played in two World Cups for one of the perennial favorites in Argentina. Senior Santiago Fusilier and junior Ernesto Di Laudo also came to NC State from Argentina.
Two smaller countries new to the World Cup scene will have Pack players cheering for them. Junior El Hadj Cisse moved to the U.S. when he was 14 from the Ivory Coast which happens to be in the same group as Argentina. Sophomore Jack Weedon who has previous experience playing with the U-17 National Team in Trinidad and Tabago, is back in his home country as the nation celebrates its first World Cup appearance.
