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For U.S. water polo coach Terry Schroeder, teamwork is the path to Olympic victory.
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The U.S. men's water polo team begins three weeks of intense competition this evening with the opening of the five-day America's Cup tournament at Oaks Christian School.

Split into two squads, the Red and Blue teams, the U.S. will play Canada and the Premier All-Stars — a team selected from the just-concluded Premier League championship tournament for the nation's top club teams in Los Alamitos — as part of the seven-game tournament at Oaks.

The tournament will be a key step toward selection of the team for the Beijing Olympics, as the squad currently at 24 players will be cut to 16 after the America's Cup, which coach Terry Schroeder calls "the closest thing that we have to an Olympic trial for water polo."

With cuts approaching, Schroeder says, "this proves to be a very competitive tournament."

Those cuts will come after Schroeder has had the full squad together for less than a week after the last of the team members playing in Europe returned from their club seasons there.

"It's become more and more of a European sport," Schroeder said recently, "where a lot of our players go over there to play and make a living and play with and against the best players in the world. And they've gained tremendously individually."

The challenge now, though is to transform that individual talent into team success and a medal, something the U.S. men haven't earned since winning a silver in 1988, when Schroeder was still playing.

"We'll have less than three months together as a team," Schroder said, "so it's very challenging. We have Tony (Azevedo) and Ryan Bailey back now, so two of our three-time Olympians and two of our leaders are back with us. That's going to help tremendously.

"But it is a team sport and we have to become a team if we're going to have a chance to win a medal."

And so, to that end, will come the roster trims following this tournament, as the men move toward the final Olympic roster of 13 players and one alternate that must be selected by June 30.

Both U.S. squads open the tournament against Canada, with the Red team playing today at 6:30 p.m. and the Blue team meeting the Canadians on Wednesday. On Thursday, the two U.S. teams meet, and on Friday and Saturday, each team is in action as part of a doubleheader, with Friday's games beginning at 5 p.m. and Saturday's starting at 4 p.m.

After this tournament come two games with reigning world champion Croatia — May 29 at Corona del Mar High and May 31 at Oaks Christian — followed by a three-game series with Australia that begins June 7 in Berkeley and continues June 8 at Dos Pueblos High before concluding at 6 p.m. on June 10 at Cal Lutheran.

The Croatia games will be part of a period of joint training with the 2007 world champions, coached by Ratko Rudic, who was the U.S. coach for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"It's kind of a homecoming for Rakto," said Christopher Ramsey, chief executive officer of USA Water Polo, "and a great opportunity to train with the current world champions."

That training is highly competitive, said goalkeeper Merrill Moses, explaining the value of joint training.

"You're playing a lot of scrimmage games, not keeping score, just playing and playing and playing," said Moses. "It helps them get used to us, and helps us get used to them. Croatia's the No.1 team in the world right now, so, yeah, we'd love to train with them for as long as we can."

The idea of training with a key competitor may seem unusual, but it's not all uncommon in water polo. The U.S. men have already had joint training sessions with Canada and Serbia this year.

"I guess it's just the camaraderie of the sport," said Moses. "The coaches get along with opponents; we get along. Like out of the water, we're great friends. In the waters, it's a battle. It's something that I think is really cool, to train with other teams. It makes you learn a lot."