Eddie Lewis: ‘I intend to be a big part of qualifying’

Left-winger Eddie Lewis left MLS for London, but his tenure with Fulham hasn’t turned out as he’d hoped. His national team career stalled, too, but he’s back and ready to demonstrate he can be a pivotal player on the Americans’ road to the 2002 World Cup. SA senior editor Scott French caught up with Lewis at the U.S. training camp in St. Louis. The Californian gives a detailed account of his trials and travails in London, his future options and his hopes of reestablishing himself with the USA. INTERVIEW BY SCOTT FRENCH in St. Louis SOCCER AMERICA: What is your situation at Fulham these days? EDDIE LEWIS: I’m under contract as a foreign player, and hopefully in the summer, with the team going up [from the First Division to the Premier Division] and buying a bunch of new players, they’ll try to balance the books and let the players go who can go to new clubs. If I can do that, that’s definitely my top priority. SA: Another First Division club? EL: Yeah, I think so. There are a few teams around who are aware of me and know the situation. I’m sort of waiting on what Fulham’s going to ask for me. Assuming it won’t be too much, I’ll get something worked out. SA: Fulham will have a new squad next year? EL: Half the starters on the team are thrilled we won the [First Division] championship, but at the same time they’re a little bit scared because [Manager Jean] Tigana hasn’t offered one player who’s under contract a new contract. He’s made it pretty clear he wants to get into Europe. There are a few players on the team who have been on teams promoted before and haven’t made it into the Premier League. I think by Christmas, most of them either will be sitting on their contracts or trying to get to other clubs. But that’s normal. It’s weird, a totally different ballgame over there — although I think over here it seems like kind of a strange situation, it’s very common over there. Tigana didn’t buy me — the previous manager [Paul Bracewell] did — and he’s under pressure to play some of the players he brought, regardless of how well they’re doing at the time. It’s a pretty normal situation. It’s really the first time I’ve not been able through just hard work and ability to break into the lineup. That was difficult to deal with. But at same time, it was a good learning experience. I think, overall, I was still very happy with the year, what I was able to gain from it. Hopefully, next year I’ll be somewhere that probably won’t play as stylish of soccer, but, hopefully, I’ll get more games and as a result be a little bit sharper and more comfortable. That will make lot of other people happy. SEEING RESERVE GAME ACTION SA: Are you getting a lot of reserve-team action? EL: Yeah. [Tigana is] pretty insistent that anyone who’s not playing, subs on down to other first-team players, play in reserve games. One reason being he wants to get the reserve team into — there’s a Premier League for reserve teams, as well, and one team goes up. There’s like four or five games left, and we need to win three or four of them to go up. By no means is it making me a better player, but it’s good to get 90 minutes when you haven’t for awhile. SA: It seemed like you were scoring a lot of goals with the reserves awhile back. EL: Yeah. It wasn’t the highest standard in the world, but at the same time I was trying to be as professional as I could, make the most of what was there. Hopefully, that would translate into possibly more playing time. But it didn’t really seem to have too much of an effect. Fair enough. SA: How much of that was stylistic? Tigana came in and changed the style of the team. EL: We play with four sort of central midfielders, but in the end it’s still 11 against 11. … I mean, I started the first game, and most of the players were there, but then I left for two weeks with [the national team] and he wasn’t very happy about that. When I came back, [Fulham] had won the previous game, and I was on the bench. And I think it was a week later [when] I got my spot back, and then directly after that game, I left again. It just seemed to be like I fell a little further and further away from the team. He never really held that against me — he wasn’t standing in my way from going, but at the same time, I wasn’t in a position where I could just come back and pick up right where I left. That’s something that hinders a lot of players overseas. It even was a massive problem for Dwight Yorke, and he’s a top, top player. It’s just a situation you have to deal with, but I would never use it as an excuse. I didn’t play much this year for a number of reasons, most I can’t really explain, but I’m not the first person it’s happened to, and I won’t be the last. At the same time, I’ll only do it for a year. I’ve been a good professional, and I think Tigana respects that and will feel comfortable about me going someplace to help my career. THE TIGANA EXPERIENCE SA: Using hindsight, any regrets at all about coming to Fulham? EL: No chance. All my life, I’ve wanted to know what it was like at the top, and in so many ways I lucked out so much this year. We were given a manager who by no means deserves to be coaching in the First Division of England. He’s one of the most sought-after coaches in Europe, probably one of highest-paid coaches in Europe, and it won’t be long before he’s in charge of a Champions League team. To have that experience and see how he ran a club — he was for me one of the best coaches, one of best systems of coaches, that I’ll maybe ever see. It’s very clear where Fulham is going, and just a matter of time before they get there. In a lot of ways, I feel I was just lucky to be part of something that was really taken to a completely different level. You sort of see how detailed and professional and organized it really becomes, you know? From a playing sense, there were disappointment, but the way I’ve grown as a player — from the way I see the game, the way I see how the game is run — I wouldn’t trade it for anything. SA: What Fulham has done might be the best story in English soccer this year. EL: I think so. He didn’t have a lot of open arms coming in; they were disappointed about hiring a foreign coach — “What do foreigners know about the English game”; it’s the same story over and over — and right from the get-go, he demanded the ultimate level of professionalism, he would never back down to any challenge or pressure, whether from the media or whomever. There was a big problem with him never speaking to the media, and he said right from the beginning, “I’m here to win games, and if the chairman has a problem with me not speaking to the media, I’ll leave.” That was the end of it. SA: He never speaks to the media? EL: Never. We have couple players who do most of that. He goes about it his way, but he wins. He always has, and he probably always will. SA: Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed has put so much money into the club. What is the club like? EL: It’s weird. It’s changing so rapidly. It’s really an old, old club, a very poor club before Al-Fayed took over, and our stadium is probably one of the worst in the First Division. They just got plans approved to finally build a new one. Parts of the training ground are very, very old, and certain things seem barbaric, but at the same time, everything is under construction. Plans for some of the things they’re doing are just outrageous, and at the same time we’re given pretty much every tool needed to help improve your game, whether it’s training equipment or new gym equipment or anything else. You can see once that’s all in place, it’s going to be quite a club. BITTERSWEET TITLE WIN SA: Given your personal situation, was it difficult to enjoy winning a championship? EL: Yeah, definitely. That’s been an odd feeling. I’ve never had so much success with a team but felt not so part of it. It’s a detached sort of enjoyment. It was weird. I was happy and part of the team, but at the same time, I wasn’t. SA: Is the atmosphere in England everything you hoped for? EL: It’s probably the reason I’ll always want to stay. Every single game, it’s so loud and so passionate. Although I’d never say the First Division is the most beautiful league in the world, it’s a fun league to play in. It’s very competitive, very fast and sort of end-to-end. The crowds are right on top of you, just feet from the field, and it’s thrilling. By far, that’s one of the best parts about being there. SA: Do the fans treat you well? EL: Yeah, surprisingly, very well. I was very concerned last year when I first went over there — “the American” — but they’re very aware of what’s happening in the game, and in America, and how the game’s progressing here. … They were all very friendly people. SA: And London’s a great city. EL: That’s one of the downsides to maybe moving clubs. I think I started at the best place there is. Southwest London is about as good as it gets. I know my wife won’t be too happy if we move. … I thoroughly enjoy where I live, and I was not happy that possibly two London clubs [Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers] are being relegated this year from the First Division. I’d like to stay in London, that’s for sure. MIDLANDS CALLING? SA: I’d think the last thing you’d want is to end up in some old coal-mining town in the Midlands. EL: I know. I wake up in cold sweats that I’ll be stuck up in Burnley next year. SA: Have you got any thoughts about returning to MLS, not necessarily now but at some point in the future? EL: I haven’t really thought about it. I thought MLS was good and it’s arguably in some ways a better league than the English First Division, in all honesty. I think it’s good for young players to get games at an early age, and, gosh, I’m sure it’s just getting better every year. But I really like it in England. I know the work-permit situation sometimes is a little tricky, and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay — I know three years for sure — but I’d like to stay in Europe as long as I could. There might be a time I come back to play in MLS, but if I did end my career in Europe, I think I’d be very happy with that. Not really because of MLS, or anything about the playing in MLS — that’s very, very good. But the atmosphere and the things around the game in Europe make it so much more exhilarating. You feel, I guess, more appreciated in a lot of ways. [The game] is just so much more important [in Europe]. I don’t think in my career, that will be ready in America. I think it will be here, but probably not while I’m playing. SA: Do you have a sense of the timeline when you would change clubs, if all goes as you would hope? EL: It would be over the summer. Probably in June sometime. They’ll never get it worked out until the end, probably a couple weeks before preseason. That’s fine. It really comes down to Fulham. If I move, I’ll have to reapply for a work permit, and I’m still fine with that, but everything’s kind of contingent on how well that goes. There’s a few little hiccups, but I intend to get it worked out. STRUGGLES IN QUALIFYING SA: After you went to Fulham, you went through a rough stretch with the national team. There was question whether we’d see the Eddie Lewis we saw before, and we haven’t for awhile. EL: I think I never really got fit going over there. I left right during [MLS] preseason, and I played 10 games [at Fulham], felt pretty good, but in the last game I got injured and was out for about three weeks before could even run again. There was U.S. Cup, which I didn’t play in. Then I went on break again for three weeks before our [World Cup] qualifying started. I was just about 100 percent in terms of my injury, but I wasn’t fit. I think I had been such a regular in the team that Bruce [Arena, the U.S. coach] felt good about sticking me in there, and I didn’t want to not be in there. I really didn’t play well for the first two games. I was tired from the very beginning, and it showed. The games were [played in] hot [weather], and everybody was tired, but I was very tired. That was really it. After that, I came off the bench against Guatemala got a red card after 10 minutes, and things didn’t seem like they were getting much better. At that point, I was starting to feel like I was getting fit. I was going through preseason with Fulham, but things weren’t getting much better. That was about it for this season. Bruce sort of left me out for a little bit, which I think was the right thing to do. And he brought me back the last camp, and I trained very well — he said the same thing. I think he didn’t throw me right back in there because maybe he sort of wanted me to get back in the groove. Hopefully, I can continue to improve on that. I know Bruce feels strongly about players playing on their teams, and I think he’s right about that. It’s one of the reasons I’m really hoping to get sorted out for next year. It’s a very big part of it. One of things that helps so much the domestic players: Maybe there’s questions about the quality of certain things in the league, but the bottom line is players are playing week-in and week-out, 90 minutes, and they’re growing from that, and that’s a big part of it. I’m fit and I’m healthy, and I intend to be a big part of this final qualifying. SA: Bruce has been very complimentary about your play at the last two camps. EL: Yeah. I mean, it took awhile to get fit. Even at the beginning at Fulham, I think I started the first game, and the next 10 I came off the bench. I was getting a couple minutes, but I wasn’t playing reserve games — I was just with the first team — and I still wasn’t very fit. And it wasn’t until probably around Christmas, when I was just playing with the reserves more or less week-in and week-out, that I really was fit. That felt good again. I’ve continued to sort of build on that. SA: Do you get any sense if or how Bruce will use you against Costa Rica? EL: Not really. I know he’s used Earnie [Stewart] there before, and Earnie has played pretty good the last couple games. I don’t think anyone particularly played well the last game [at Honduras], but he’s done good things in there, and we’ve got two good results out of the first two games, so in a lot of ways, [Arena] doesn’t want to change much. I would probably agree with that. I think he feels good knowing that if there’s a problem on the left side, he can feel very comfortable with me there. I’m content with that for the moment, too. I believe in him as a coach, and I think he’ll do the right thing. I’m not here to push or force anything, but at the same time, as long as he knows I’m ready and I’m capable, then I’ve done my job. SA: Do you feel you’re back with this team now? EL: Definitely. And it’s been strange. Because at the last camp a little bit, and even at the beginning of this camp, it took me awhile to really feel comfortable, and that was strange. Definitely now I feel comfortable again. I’m glad the Fulham season is sort of over now and I can kind of push it aside and start over. Because emotionally, I definitely had some ups and downs this year. It was a good learning experience for me. COPING WITH COSTA RICA SA: What do you see as the real keys to success against Costa Rica? EL: I think as a team, one thing we’ve struggled with a little bit is sort of establishing our game and our play. I didn’t see the Mexico game — I’ve only read bits on it and talked to some of the players. But when we’re at home, I think we really need to look like we’re at home and play as the home team, put other teams under pressure, maintain most of the possession. For that matter, just overall dominate. If given a chance to score, we’ll score goals. In the last game [at Honduras], we wanted to drop off, but we didn’t want to just pack it in. I felt we sort of did that. I think Bruce wanted to be upset about how some of the things were going, but we got the result we wanted. It was 1-nil at halftime, so maybe disappointed about certain things as he was, he couldn’t say much. I think, overall, the defense has been super, all through qualifying. If we continue to be strong defensively and try to impose ourselves a little more going forward, I think we’ll get enough chances to score. SA: Costa Rica has been what in England they’d call the United States’ “bogey” team. EL: Yes, they have. SA: Why is that? EL: I don’t really know. I think they have a pretty good style of play in that they’re Latin in the sense that they keep the ball fairly well. But I also think they have a sort of get-the-ball-wide, whip-it-in, crash-the-box mentality, which I think is similar to the U.S. in a lot of ways and tough to defend and play against. They’re a strong team, unlike some of the smaller CONCACAF teams, and they get forward, and it seems with [Paulo] Wanchope and [Hernan] Medford, they’re big around the box and they impose themselves well. They’ve always managed to put us under pressure and get goals, especially late in games. I think other teams don’t have as big and powerful of players as they do. Trinidad’s close, but they’re much more carefree in the way they play, and more sloppy. Costa Rica, I think, is a legitimate team, and although they have lapses — when they play bad teams, I don’t think they play well — but when they play good teams, I think they always manage to bring it. At this point, they have a lot of belief. They have no real reason to feel America has got their number. They’ll always feel good about that, and that always helps them. At this point, we’re playing pretty well, and we definitely got the ball rolling a bit, and we know that a win on Wednesday will really put us in the driver’s seat. I know everyone’s really excited, and it’s got to be one of those games where we take our chances, ’cause I know we’ll get them. They might get one or two as well. We’ve just got to take our chances. SA: Win and it’s nine points from three games. I don’t think anyone expected that. EL: No. If we win — and again, nobody’s going to get too far ahead of themselves — it’s pretty well wrapped up. But we got a big one Wednesday, and if we don’t win, we’re a long ways away. It’s that easy that things can turn on you a little bit. In the back of our heads, everyone knows a win Wednesday will put us well out in front. [Qualifying] is going to get sticky — it always does — and if just separate ourselves early on, maybe we can stay out of the fight. It always seems to come down to the last game or the second-to-last game. SA: Well, there’s got to be a little drama. EL: I’d rather not. Like with Fulham this year: All the rest of the clubs are fighting for dear life, and we’re just breezing through it. That’s much more enjoyable, that’s for sure. (Scott French is a senior editor at Soccer America.)