In his 37-plus years on this planet, New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Tony Meola has learned to take in the moment.
He will be the first to tell you that he doesn't know if he will make the U.S. World Cup team roster. But he was soaking in the spotlight Tuesday night when he became only the ninth male soccer player to reach 100 caps for the USA.
It came in the 1-1 draw against a feisty Jamaican side before a standing-room-only crowd of 8,093 at SAS Soccer Park. But truth be told, on the field, Meola had a rather uneventful evening
"I really didn't have anything to do," Meola said. "As Bruce (Arena, the coach) said, the next three games in MLS are important for everybody."
Meola's next game with the Red Bulls is at Real Salt Lake on Saturday, followed by a home match against D.C. United on April 22 and at Chivas USA on April 29.
While Arena did not say it out loud, Meola is fourth in the U.S. keeper pecking order behind Kasey Keller, Marcus Hahnemann and former MetroStars shot-stopper Tim Howard. Arena, who has nixed the idea of naming his 35 finalists -- he was supposed to do that on Wednesday -- will announce the 23-player roster on May 2. The FIFA roster deadline is May 15.
"We haven't made our final decision on our roster at this point," Arena said. "There is nobody on the field who is not under consideration."
Added Meola: "Whatever happens here in the next couple of weeks, Bruce is going to do whatever is the best thing for the team. He always knows when he calls on me, I'm available."
Whether Meola makes the team or not certainly did not spoil from his celebratory mood on Tuesday night. After all, he also became only the 13th goalkeeper to reach that hallowed milestone as the U.S. remained unbeaten against the Caribbean country in 17 games (9-0-8).
"I'm on the same list as some of my idols," Meola said. "Dino Zoff and Peter Shilton and a couple of other guys. It's a nice list to be part of, that's for sure."
Prior to the kickoff, U.S. Soccer honored Meola for his achievement, giving him a specially inscribed watch and a ball autographed by his national team teammates as he was congratulated by U.S. coach Bruce Arena, goalkeeper coach Milutin Soskic and U.S. Soccer executive vice president Mike Edwards. Meola's wife, Colleen, attended the match.
"Tonight for me was just a great night and I did it with a great group of guys who appreciated the first 99 as much as they appreciated tonight," Meola said. "They let me know about it all week."
Meola then laughed.
"We joked a lot about it," he said. "Apparently, I'm like 67 years old instead of 37, according to them. And 1988 was a hundred years ago and not 18 years. It was great. I was so happy I was able to be part of it.
"I never thought about 100 caps. I never thought about playing a game for the national team 18 years after my first one. If it wasn't with Bruce Arena, this probably wouldn't be a goal of mine. So I'm fortunate, no question about it."
Asked what it meant to reach 100, Meola replied, "It means I should never say never because about 18 years ago I never thought I'd be doing this. I'm just happy. The last two years have been really tough on me physically. I wasn't going to give up. One of my goals was to get back to the national team."
Meola made his first international appearance almost two decades ago in 1988.
He entered the match with 32 international shutouts under his belt, although forward Teafore Bennett made sure the Kearny, N.J., native wasn't going to add to the total in the fourth minute. Midfielder Jermaine Hue raced down the left wing and fed an onrushing Bennett, who forced Meola out of the net before placing a shot into the far corner.
"It was probably not the greatest way to start his 100th game," said Arena, who blamed communication problems between defenders Pablo Mastroeni and Frankie Hejduk on the goal.
Taking advantage of the Jamaicans' shaky back four, the Americans shot at will, although it took some quick thinking by Donovan for the hosts to equalize in the 25th minute.
Only seconds after Pat Noonan was fouled outside the left side of the penalty area, Landon Donovan took a quick free kick. He sent the ball to Ben Olsen, who fired a low shot past goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts into the far right corner.
Donovan became the U.S.'s all-time assist leader with 23, moving past L.A. Galaxy teammate Cobi Jones.
"I'm not one of those guys who says a result doesn't matter and blah, blah, blah," Donovan said. "We needed a win before we head over to Germany just for our confidence. We were unlucky tonight.
"I think the worrisome part is giving up the first goal. Giving up an early goal in games like this kills you."
Donovan and the U.S. will have three more games to rectify the situation -- against Morocco in Nashville on May 23, against Venezuela in Cleveland on May 26 and vs. Latvia in East Hartford, Conn. on May 28.
Meola just hopes he will have an opportunity to play in any of those games.
Michael Lewis writes about soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
