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Continental divide

By Jose Alfredo Flores

How the developing soccer nations stack up against the resources of the U.S. women's team:

USA

Jobs: Full-time players. Veterans earn a minimum of $5,000 a month; others, $3,500. With endorsements, speaking opportunities and soccer camps, easily can earn $100,000-plus.

Budget: The U.S. Soccer Federation spends between $5 million and $6 million a year on its women's program, easily the highest in the world. That includes all expenses, such as salaries, staff and game operations. (Other soccer powerhouses, in contrast, spend less: Germany, an estimated $1.1 million last year; Norway, $950,000; and Australia, $465,000, according to USSF estimates.)

Fields: NFL and college football stadiums.

Games per year: About 30.

Costa Rica

Jobs: Owner of abasteyor (convenience stand), liquor distributor, electronics technician, lawyer, nurses, some unemployed, etc.

Budget: Unpaid national team squad. Provides for travel, equipment, lodging and training.

Fields: ''We practice in wide-open fields, with no lines to determine out-of-bounds and more mud than grass,'' forward Jacqueline Alvarez says. ''They are the ugliest fields to play on.''

Games per year: 5.

Trinidad & Tobago

Jobs: Many unemployed. Some work at Petrotrin oil company or on loading docks; some attend U.S. colleges.

Budget: Unpaid national squad. Limited corporate sponsorship pays expenses.

Fields: ''Borderline,'' coach Jamaal Shabezz says. There's hope. Boosted by Trinidad native Jack Warner, president of The Football Confederation (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), five stadiums are being built to host the 2001 FIFA under-17 championships.

Games per year: 4.

Guatemala

Jobs: Physical education teacher, banker, housewife, high school student.

Budget: Unpaid national squad.

Fields: Poor. In the rainy season, good fields are hard to find.

Games per year: More than 10 this year.