MLS & U.S. national teams
Bob Madaio
New Brunswick, N.J.
With MLS now being the major outlet of American soccer talent, do you believe that certain players who DO NOT play in the league will now be overlooked for the national team? One such player would be David Quesada, who still plays in Costa Rica, if I’m not mistaken.
Ridge Mahoney: I can’t imagine any coach as desperate for players as Steve Sampson overlooking anybody. He must find a core of younger players to replace Caligiuri, Dooley, etc. in the next two years. And Sampson has pointedly said in the short term, MLS will not be of sufficient quality to sharpen players for international duty.
However, I think most players with international aspirations will now shoot for MLS jobs. With Joe-Max Moore and Brad Friedel now in the league, there are very few national-team candidates playing abroad, aside from Kasey Keller (Millwall, England), Juergen Sommer (QPR, England), Claudio Reyna (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Gregg Berhalter (Sparta Rotterdam, Netherlands), Ernie Stewart (NAC Breda, Netherlands) and Jovan Kirovski. Another possibility is 18-year-old John O’Brien, who’s trained the past two years at Ajax.
Dick Waterman
Concord, Calif.
In your July 15 issue, p. 18, the headline says that Hugo Sanchez is 35. Then the story says that he signed with UNAM in 1975 at age 18. One or the other (or both) must be wrong.
RM: The headline is wrong. The person that wrote the headline mistakenly assumed from Sanchez’s comment in the story about `34 or 35 year olds losing their desire to excel’ that he, Sanchez, was of that age. Sanchez meant just what he said; he had seen many players in their mid-30s fizzle out, he wasn’t referring to himself. For the record, Sanchez turned 38 on July 11. Our mistake, we apologize.
Theodore Muttz
Arlington, Va.
At the recent U.S. Cup, the U.S. defense looked very weak on the flanks, primarily because it is very slow. It did not appear that Steve Sampson had a speedy, defensive alternative on his bench, yet there seems to be more than enough midfielders (especially if Joe-Max Moore and Ernie Stewart get healthy and Preki becomes a citizen) that the U.S. could afford to move Cobi Jones to defense (didn’t he play there some in Brazil?) to take advantage of his speed and not jeopardize the team’s attack. Also, do any of the Olympic defenders have the needed speed.
RM: Excellent question. In a recent directive to USSF staff coaches, Sampson reiterated they should look for players with exceptional athletic ability, especially speed.
At the Copa America, Stewart and Jones both played wide midfield spots when Sampson fielded a 3-5-2 system. But I don’t think Jones is a strong enough tackler to play that position against good competition. Of course, if the alternative is sitting on the bench, Jones might just do the necessary work.
Of the Olympic players, Frankie Hejduk is a real burner. Other flank players Sampson likes are Steve Ralston of Tampa Bay and Miles Joseph of the Olympic team.
Iriq Asobad
Washington, D.C.
Can you tell me the status of young Mike DuHaney, a speedy yet raw player I was impressed with when I saw him with our U-23 team. I know he was drafted by Tampa Bay and originally being considered for the Olympics but I have not heard anything about him for months. Also, what is the status of former National team defender Mike Lapper, who I thought signed with MLS but is not on a roster and now appears out of the national team pool?
RM: DuHaney fell out of Olympic contention early in the year because he got hurt. He might stick with Tampa since rosters have been expanded to 20 players. He’s a fine athlete, but hasn’t yet learned the nuances of professional soccer.
Mike Lapper has returned to England to play with Southend. He suffered a broken leg in January and should be able to play soon. Lapper never did sign with MLS, although several teams have inquired about him and the league incorrectly named him as one of its players.
Sam Pierron
Olathe, Kan.
Has there been a good estimate made for the cost and design of soccer-primary stadiums?
RM: The stadium-arena project being proposed in Columbus, for a stadium with a capacity of 30,000, is budgeted at $277 million, but that is a multi-use facility that includes many ancillary buildings. Some similar-size stadiums have been built for colleges at costs ranging from $75 million to $125 million.
Rudy Bustamante
San Francisco
With regards to the unbelievably pathetic coverage that soccer received from NBC’s Olympic team, what would you suggest us soccer fans should do to let NBC know that it is neglecting one of the fastest growing television sports audiences in the country? We’re not only hungry for match results, a few clips from each game every day, or just simply to know that the matches actually did take place (!!), but we also would like to see someone better informed about the game itself making the commentaries.
RM: Like ABC in 1984, NBC is delighted with its ratings and will stack its coverage with the sports it believes the most people want to watch, events the U.S. traditionally performs well: basketball, volleyball (particularly the beach brand), gymnastics, swimming, track and field. (However, that doesn’t explain why rowing dominated several of the late-night wrapups the first few days.)
In 1989, NBC was snubbed by FIFA when it canceled a deal the network had made for a package of U.S. national team games and World Cup coverage. NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol remembers that well.
You can call 212 664-2127 to complain. The network did show snippets of the men’s and women’s finals on short delay, which is barely better than nothing.
You should also call your local NBC affiliate and be as polite as possible. The trick here is to get the station manager’s name, and then call back and ask for that person. You may have to do some fast talking to get past his secretary, so have a good story ready. (For a list of NBC affiliates, see page 15 of our August 12 issue.)
Adam Carney
North Rose, N.Y.
I am an avid MLS fan, and I was wondering how I can get player autographs by mail.
Pete Bailey: Your best bet would be to write to the MLS team each player is with. We recently posted up-to-date club regular and electronic mail addresses — check the SA News Briefs section, or use the search engine.
David A. Morales
El Paso, Texas
Do the first- and second-place teams of the U.S. Open Cup receive a monetary prize to go along with being able to say “we’re the U.S. Open Cup champions” or “Well, we came in second place.”?
PB: According to the USSF, there has never been a monetary prize for any winner of the U.S. Open Cup, and that will be the case again this year. In the future, though, should the Cup develop into a big-time national event, who knows?
Olympics & International
Joe Montalbano
Florida
Who on earth decided to put Italy and Mexico in Alabama? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think there are too many Italian or Mexican fans in Alabama.
Paul Kennedy: Preference scheduling was only given to the four seeded teams (Brazil, Ghana, Spain, and the U.S.). Even so, Mexico was cheered by good crowds in Birmingham. Many Georgia residents of Mexican origin made the trip to Alabama to support the Tricolores. (Note: For complete attendance figures, see the Aug. 12 and Aug. 19 issues of SA.)
Mauricio Gondi
Plano, Texas
You always hear about these million dollar transfer fees that international clubs pay for players. Do the players receive any part of these fees or is the money strictly an exchange between the team owners?
Duncan Irving: A player usually has it written into his contract that he’ll receive a set percentage of a transfer fee — usually somewhere between five and 10 percent. Additionally, he’ll pick up a signing bonus.
Three things, however. Firstly, most players and clubs are reluctant to reveal how much they really earn. The highest paid players normally have the best accountants and actual earnings often vary wildly from the amount they declare on their income tax forms.
Secondly, the Bosman ruling has meant improved personal terms for players moving overseas. An out-of-contract player is a free agent and can negotiate his personal terms free of his former club’s involvement and demands for a transfer fee. Consequently, clubs are keen to unload players before their contracts are up in the hope of recouping some money. A player making a domestic move is still subject to a transfer fee, though, but you can be sure that Alan Shearer picked up a hefty chunk of change when he made his $23 million move to Newcastle.
Thirdly, some players have fixed transfer fees written into their contract, thereby enabling them to negotiate a better personal contract when they signed for a new team: Marco Van Basten had his transfer fee from Ajax to Milan in 1987 set at $750,000, even though he was worth considerably more. And Manchester United’s Jordi Cruyff had a clause in his contract stipulating that the transfer fee would be no higher than $2 million when he moved away from Barcelona. This is an accepted practice in Spain, where transfer fees in the future are negotiated.
John Tonkin
Philadelphia
What are your opinions of the numerous foreign player signings in England and what effect they may have on the other European leagues?
DI: I think it’s a good thing, but opinions in England vary widely. The player’s association is concerned that the arrival of and investment in foreigners will have a negative impact on such things as a club’s youth development policy or buying players from lower leagues.
The quality of certain signings could be deemed questionable, but the amount of money that clubs charge for English-born players makes the search abroad that much more attractive and sensible to English clubs.
As for the level of play, quite frankly it can only get better, but coaches will be faced with the time honored problem of either getting the players to fit a system or making the system fit the players. Given the paucity of the ability of the English-born players on the squad, they’ll opt for the former — much to the frustration of the top-notch imports.
And then there’s the question of the fans, who’ll be paying a ton of money to watch their team. If the team fails, the foreigners will bear the burden of responsibility — as is the case in Italy, Spain and Germany.
What also interests me is the coaching appointments. I’ll be very interested to see how Ruud Gullit does at Chelsea. I was very impressed with his analysis at Euro `96,. and I’ll be fascinated to see how he does at Stamford Bridge, particularly if things start to go wrong there.
As for an impact on the foreign leagues, that’ll be minimal to begin with —
Gianluca Vialli was a great player, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Roberto Di Matteo were average internationals, but time will tell if the English will be prepared to compete with Italian clubs for the “A”-listed players.
Portugal and France, for example, have sold most of their talent early, but again it’s the Italians that have picked up the tab. Most of the English clubs will be looking to Europe for their respective jollies and post-Bosman, they should do much better than in recent years. Again, though, it won’t be a question of the foreign stars, but more will depend on the quality of the English supporting cast.
Brian Sauer
Boulder, Colo.
What happened to Karl-Heinz Riedle from Germany? He was probably their best forward, and I did not see him at Euro 96.
DI: Riedle was hurt for most of the 1995-96 season, and he didn’t return to the Borussia Dortmund lineup until the spring, by which time Berti Vogts’ squad was pretty much settled. He ended up taking Juergen Klinsmann (for obvious reasons), Stuttgart’s Fredi Bobic (a good season and a useful prospect) and Stefan Kuntz (an old bruiser) and Oliver Bierhoff (the only German playing in Italy and a favorite of Mrs. Vogts).
Certainly, Riedle would walk onto most national teams, but as Berti won the tournament — admittedly with a fairly ordinary offense when Klinsmann was absent — I guess the point is moot.
Dick Harmon
Dallas
I was at Euro ’96 from the quarterfinals through the finals. Stores were selling videos of the England-Scotland game. I am trying to find a video of the England-Germany game. Can you assist me?
PB: Soccer Learning Systems has game videos for England-Scotland, England-Holland, England-Germany, and the final between Germany and the Czech Republic. They also have a Germany highlights video, a tournament highlights video, and a video with every goal of Euro ’96. They also have a wide variety of highlight and instructional videos. Call them at 1-800-762-2376 or visit their web site (http://www.soccerlearningsystems.com).
J. Sites
Plantation, Fla.
I’m planning on going to World Cup ’98 and I’ve been told that you need to purchase tickets and travel packages well in advance. I was also told that the tickets will soon be going on sale. I called up the FIFA site and I could not get any info on how to contact tour operators for World Cup 1998. Do you have any recommendations of tour operators to use from prior World Cups that you have attended? Any suggestions on the best way to plan for 2-3 weeks of World Cup mania would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.
DI: Try contacting France `98 at: 17-21 Avenue Du General Mangin, 75116 Paris
Phone: 011-33-1-44-14-1998
Fax: 011-33-1-44-14-1300
Ticket sales for the French soccer family began this June, much as the U.S. did for the 1994 World Cup, but no plans have been unveiled for the general sale as yet.
In the normal course of events, tickets to competing nations are allocated after the World Cup draw has been completed (i.e. the winter of 1997). Tickets are sold to federations on a sale-or-no-return basis and the competing federations normally distribute them to their approved travel agents.
Therefore, my advice is to wait and contact U.S. Soccer (phone: 312 808-1300) and ask them about their plans.
I can’t endorse or slam any specific agents as we lucky souls at SA travel under the media umbrella and we make our own arrangements for travel, etc.. While we could bore you at length about the abilities and inabilities of various organizing committees (a big boo! to Euro `96, by the way), it wouldn’t have any relevance. Perhaps our readers could shed some light…
As for France `98, I attended the qualifying draw last September and they seemed very organized — they had to run the draw in the midst of a general strike and pulled it off quite nicely, thank you.
Tickets will be cheaper than at USA `94, but there won’t be as many available because the stadiums are a lot smaller. They’ll be renovating some of their existing stadiums and building a new one in St. Denis (88,000 seats), but they still seemed streets ahead of their American counterparts!
Youth Soccer
Bill Carmalt
Milan, Pa.
As president of our local youth soccer organization, I was asked about the need for additional protective equipment — especially for goalies, especially for the head.
From what little I have learned about this subject, it appears that the best ways to avoid injuries are: 1) make sure refs call the games according to the rules, and 2) pad the goal posts. Would you please comment on this subject.
Dan Woog: I think referee protection of keepers is crucial. I’m not sure about padding the goalposts — that would change the game dramatically. How would a ball carom off the post? It might also have the unintended effect of making keepers MORE reckless in their dives. I’ve never heard of this before, and have no idea if it’s ever been attempted.
SA Editorial Roundtable: The World’s Best Strikers
Ray Mansfield
Austin, Texas
Do you feel that Romario from the Brazilian national team is the best striker in soccer right now? If so why. If not, who do you think is the best and why.
PK: Romario hasn’t played at the highest level since his return to Brazil, and he’s no longer on the national team.
RM: He was certainly one of the world’s top strikers in 1994, but not right now. He really hasn’t dazzled since leaving Barcelona for Brazil.
Mike Woitalla: He’s been erratic since World Cup ’94.
DI: He got homesick after setting USA `94 alight and suffered a very, very long World Cup hangover — arguing with Johan Cruyff at Barcelona before engineering a move back to Flamengo and Brazil. Despite the addition of Edmundo to the team, Romario seemed more interested in the beaches and the nightlife in Rio De Janeiro and his form suffered. His main interest was playing on the Brazilian Olympic team, but given his lack of form, Mario Zagallo wisely left him off the roster. He’s now back in Europe with Valencia, but at 32, his best days are probably behind him.
Poul Swain: I think Romario is still one of the best. He has a low center of gravity, which gives him great stability. Combine that with excellent ball control, ability to shoot with either foot, a great burst of speed and a keen nose for the goal and you have the makings of a world class striker.
There are several others, however, who also warrant consideration. Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta, England’s Alan Shearer, Germany’s Juergen Klinsmann, Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoichkov and Romario’s countryman, Bebeto, would also make my short list of the top strikers in the world — they’ve all proved themselves at the international level.
MW: I’d have to say that Batistuta is the best in the world right now. He has scored consistently for Fiorentina and no league is less kind to strikers than Italy’s Serie A. Also, Batistuta has the most consistent strike rate in Argentine national team history, having tied Diego Maradona’s record of 34 goals in fewer games. “Batigol” is strong enough to fend off thuggish tackles — although he did suffer a severe ankle injury thanks to a hack last season — and is skillful with both feet. Marcelo Balboa, the United States’ most experienced defender, has said that Batistuta is the toughest opponent he has ever faced.
DI: Batistuta and George Weah certainly seem to be the most dangerous marksmen in Italy.
RM: I’d put Batistuta, Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer, Juergen Klinsmann, and Weah higher than Romario, but picking one of them is difficult: Cantona didn’t play for France in Euro ’96 and Klinsmann missed part of that tournament due to injury, Weah is a dominant striker in Serie A but plays internationally for an African minnow. If you require a player to earn highest marks both for club and country, I’d have to take Batistuta, followed by Klinsmann, then Shearer (based on his goals — finally — for England at Euro ’96.) But would any club not love to have Cantona or Weah?
PS: If I had to choose one, based on most recent form, I’d have to go with Shearer, who was leading scorer at Euro `96. But Shearer is of a different mold than Romario — he has speed and power and scores many of his goals with his head — the one thing they have in common is that nose for the goal.
MW: Juergen Klinsmann set the UEFA Cup scoring record last season as Bayern Munich lifted that cup, and then helped, despite injury, Germany to the European Championship. He is definitely among the top strikers and his leadership qualities and intelligence — on and off the field — are a coach’s dream.
PB: I’d certainly agree with Batistuta and Klinsmann — they have a tremendous uncanny ability to find the back of the net, and tremendous skills to boot.
PK: I think Batistuta, Weah, and Klinsmann are the best in the world right now. Perhaps Davor Suker as well.
DI: The three strikers that emerged from Euro ’96 with their reputations enhanced were Klinsmann, Shearer and Suker.
RM: I like Suker, too. Others to watch are Gianluca Vialli — headed to England! — and Chilean Ivan Zamorano, bound for Inter Milan.
PB: He may not quite be on the level of all these top strikers, but for a good long-range bomb, I like Leeds United’s Ghanaian international, Tony Yeboah.
DI: And for a pair of up-and-comers, look at Dutchman Patrick Kluivert (he can only get better) and Ronaldinho of Barcelona and Brazil.