TOUGH ROAD TO WORLD CUP.

Byline: Matthew Zimmerman Staff Writer

CARSON - The U.S. national soccer team faces a challenging road to the 2006 World Cup. It begins Wednesday in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, where the Americans take on Trinidad and Tobago to start the final round of qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

A 10-game, round-robin tournament, running through October, will send three of six CONCACAF teams - the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago - to the 32-team finals field in Germany, with the fourth-place finisher meeting Asia's No. 5 team for an additional berth.

It's a tougher assignment than it perhaps appears - it is extremely difficult to win road games in the region - and the Americans' quest was made no easier by contentious labor negotiations that limited U.S. coach Bruce Arena's preparation time with his players.

``Obviously, the collective-bargaining process has put us behind a number of weeks and will make it difficult for this first game to use a number of our domestic players, but we'll do the best we can,'' said Arena, who guided the United States to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup. ``Hopefully, we'll have perhaps half a dozen players that are ready to join in with our players from Europe to form, hopefully, a good team.''

The U.S. team, which prepared at Home Depot Center for Wednesday's game, plays March 27 in Mexico, where it has never won, and March 30 against Guatemala in Birmingham, Ala. Games will follow in June, August, September and October.

The Americans are seeking their fifth consecutive World Cup berth and their eighth in 18 World Cups.

``I think every time qualifying comes around, you can label it as 'This is the most important one,''' said Kansas City forward Josh Wolff, one of 13 domestic players in a 23-player camp from which Arena will select his 18-man roster. ``Qualifying is always of the utmost importance.''

Negotiations between U.S. Soccer and the national team's players' association reached a head last month when the federation briefly called into camp players from minor American pro leagues as replacement players. An agreement was soon reached, enabling Arena to field a full team for the qualifying opener.

``It was getting to be a little bit of nail-biting at the last minute ... but we worked together, and it got done,'' said Columbus defender (and former UCLA star) Frankie Hejduk, who played in the past two World Cups. ``The main thing is we're all fit here now, we're all training, and we're getting ready for the game.''

Arena said his team's fitness isn't great. Major League Soccer clubs are just beginning training for the 2005 season.

``Once our domestic players get into their league play, they'll start catching up to the Europe-based players,'' Arena said. ``So I would anticipate not until the matches in June are we really going to be fully fit and coordinated as a team. The challenge is keeping our head above water the first three matches.''

Matthew Zimmerman, [phone]

matt.zimmerman(at)presstelegram.com