GOLD CUP: U.S. COACH NOT DISCOURAGED.

Byline: Fred J. Robledo Staff Writer

PASADENA - Public scrutiny and the pressure of coaching in Mexico, Costa Rica, or some of the other CONCACAF countries might or might not be larger than what Bruce Arena faces as coach of the the United States men's national soccer team.

But that doesn't make Arena's job any easier.

There is not a team in the CONCACAF region, or in this Gold Cup, with as many domestic players on European club rosters than the U.S.

Arena said it's a dilemma few truly understand, which is why he is not concerned with criticism of his lineups, or his team's overall play in advancing to today's Gold Cup quarterfinals against El Salvador at the Rose Bowl.

The United States advanced with a 2-1 victory over the Republic of Korea and a 1-0 win over Cuba. In the first quarterfinal game of today's doubleheader, Mexico will play Korea at noon. The U.S.-El Salvador game immediately follows.

``I'd like to have all of my players right now, but we can't do that,'' Arena said. ``If you look at Costa Rica, their entire roster is domestic with the exception of (Paulo) Wanchope. Mexico's team is essentially all domestic. Those two countries are in situations where they can have their entire team together whenever they want. And their league will shut down for their national teams. We don't have that luxury.''

Other countries in Europe, along with Brazil and Argentina face the same issues as the United States. But in the CONCACAF region, it's only a problem that Arena has to deal with.

``It's difficult, that's the challenge of coaching here,'' Arena said. ``I think it's easier being a national team coach in a country where you're playing just domestic players, and you can control your league and when it shuts down.

``When we played semifinal (World Cup) qualifiers against Guatemala and Costa rica, those two teams had 35 to 40 days together before we played them in July (2000). We had our team together three or four days before those games.

``People don't realize what a big difference that is.''

More than half of the U.S. team's projected World Cup starters are with their European teams. Arena could have called them in for the Gold Cup, but he chose not to.

``If we called in all our players, we would have burned some bridges in Europe,'' Arena said.

With Arena's roster for the Gold Cup almost entirely MLS based, he feels the U.S. has done quite well.

``There are only two teams in this tournament that have won two games,'' Arena said. ``People have foolishly analyzed games by saying this game is only 1-0, it should have been this. It's ridiculous, every game is different.

--Canada 1, Martinique 1 (Canada 6-5 in penalty kicks): In Miami, Jason Bent's goal in the seventh round of penalty kicks gave defending champion Canada a victory over Martinique in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup.

Canada advanced to Wednesday night's semifinals in Pasadena against the winner of today's United States-El Salvador match.

--Costa Rica 2, Haiti 1: Ronald Gomez scored in the eighth minute of the first overtime to give Costa Rica the victory in Miami. He also assisted on Costa Rica's other goal. Costa Rica will play the Mexico-South Korea winner in the other semifinal.

U.S. vs. EL SALVADOR

What: Quarterfinals of CONCACAF Gold Cup regional tournament.

When: Today, 2:30 p.m., Rose Bowl; Mexico and Korea play at noon.

Radio/TV: None.

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U.S. vs. EL SALVADOR (see text)