David Levine
West Bloomfield, Mich.
Now that the MLS players have filed a class-action suit against the league, will this mean the demise of our last hope for a successful professional league in the USA?
Ridge Mahoney: I think this suit is merely a way to force MLS into negotiating terms of its standard player agreement instead of the arbitrary manner in which it deals with players. It’s hard to tell if the league’s single-entity claims would stand up under a court challenge, but I really don’t think either side wants that to happen. The Players Association is trying to force more favorable playing terms for its members, including a bigger cut of licensing and merchandising revenues.
However, since there are very stubborn people on both sides, there’s a slight chance this could flare up into a major legal battle, which could seriously harm the league.
Scott Ward
Detroit
Is it easier for a Canadian citizen to receive a work permit to play in England than it is for a U.S. citizen?
Pete Bailey: According to the British Consulate in Los Angeles, it’s just as difficult for a Canadian citizen, even though Canada is a part of the British Commonwealth. Generally speaking, the foreigners who play in England are either citizens of an EEC country, citizens of a country that has a specific trade agreement with England (such as Norway, thus Espen Baardsen is able to play for Tottenham), or have spouses or relatives from an EEC country (Juergen Sommer’s parents are from Germany; Ian Feuer’s wife is Belgian). Most Canadians that play in England are of EEC ancestry — for example, West Bromwich striker Paul Peschisolido is of Italian heritage.
Sam Register
Hoboken, N.J.
With the possible exception of Eddie Pope and Brian McBride, it’s my opinion that the “new wave” of U.S. players have not distinguished themselves. We’ve an aging team susceptible to injury and not a great deal of depth, and I fear we might be closing in on World Cup ’98 with an overall weaker team than in ’94. Though there’s still a long way to go, what are your thoughts on the national team’s development and their ability to compete with the world’s best?
Duncan Irving: Oh dear! A couple of bad results and the U.S. national team has gone in the tank, is that it? Let’s look at the rest of the world. Normal scenario: there are youth teams, a few make it to the U-21 team and a couple of players actually graduate to the full national team. The rest come from the nation’s pro league. Past U.S. scenario: no pro league — all players come from youth team programs or through creative naturalization.
The point I’m making is that they have a greater pool to draw from than ever before. Is a one-year-old league likely to produce players that can compete with the world’s best? I think that would be a wee bit premature.
The league is developing as are the players but it takes that all-important thing — TIME.
Tim Matthews
San Francisco
Has the inception of the MLS — and the publicity around the second annual college draft — affected the ability of young U.S. players to play overseas? I would hope that scouts from Europe are still looking for the next Eric Wynaldas and Kasey Kellers of U.S. youth soccer.
Paul Kennedy: European scouts are everywhere. They are looking at American players all the time. Until U.S. youth teams have success at the international level, though, we won’t have scouts aggressively seeking U.S. players. It will be interesting to see what happens if the U.S. U-20s (the so-called Project-40 kids) have success in Malaysia this June. MLS may have to up the ante to get the top young players.
Mark Spence
Dallas
What is the league doing to fill the gaps made by the departure of foreign players off the Dallas Burn’s roster? Who other than Peinado might be coming to Dallas, and who might be our Donadoni/Valderrama type international star? I would be very interested in seeing Wanchope or Machon in a Dallas uniform, what are the chances of Dallas landing one of these two young stars?
Ridge Mahoney: Machon has gone to L.A., and Wanchope appears to be too costly for MLS (QPR was very impressed with him during a recent tryout, but backed off on signing him because of his numerous World Cup qualifying commitments). The Burn is interested in two players that were showcased at the recent special combine in Rio de Janeiro, and will be allocated a Mexican and Salvadoran player if the league can sign them. I don’t think the Burn will get a Donadoni or a Valderrama this year.
Mark Baldwin
Perrysburg, Ohio
Your interview with Steve Sampson in the January 20th issue talked all around and never answered the one question I’d like to know. Specifically, if the defense is suspect, Where is John Doyle????
Doyle, without question is the most consistent backline performer over the last 10 years. At 30 he’s got a few good years left. He’s been the A-League defender of the year and the MLS defender of the year. He could provide the mentor Eddie Pope needs to become the next force on the back line, as well as giving Lalas a wake up call. What kind of hole does Sampson have his head stuck in? And, most of all, shame on all of you “soccer experts” for not doing your journalistic responsibility by making this point in your interview. It baffles me that our National program wants to excel, yet allows someone of Doyle’s caliber to sit.
Duncan Irving: Kyle Rote used to joke that being called the best soccer player in America was akin to being the best third-baseman in Italy. The same is true of the best defender in MLS, who happens to be signor Doyle.
For the record, we didn’t skirt around the issue of Doyle in that interview, his name simply never came up. Neither Sampson nor I (I was the one doing it) saw fit to mention him as a possible option. A plague on us “experts”!
Here’s my 10 cents: Doyle is too old, too slow and temperamentally too much of a liability to benefit the national team in any way. He works on a narrow field like Spartan Stadium, because he can either hoof or head the ball clear.
He can also intimidate opposing forwards, which doesn’t strike me as anything to write home about. Put him against a powerful striker and he’ll get his clock cleaned — as happened often with Eduardo Hurtado last year.
But suitably chastened, I rang Steve Sampson last week and asked his opinion.
“Against a particular type of opponent — like Denmark — he could help us,” said Sampson. “These opponents are few and far between. The way Mexico and Peru play, he couldn’t have helped us.
“He plays on a small field and has the advantage of playing on a tighter space, so most teams play over the top. I’d like to see how he does on a larger field and if I could see him playing effectively with teams that went around the back, he’d be a strong candidate for the U.S. national team.”
Translation: Don’t hold your breath.
Jeff Moore
Tampa, Fla.
Bruce Arena recently answered a question for you guys on whether he saw any talent in the NCAA final four that could make an MLS roster. His answer was that the “gap” is widening more and that the college level players now should consider the A-League and other lower divisions to get experience.
This is puzzling to me; does this mean that the college level not only hasn’t improved but deteriorated to lessen the gap, or does it mean that the level of play in MLS is widening the gap?
I fear now, more than ever, the college system may ruin many a good prospect.
Mike Woitalla: The quality of college soccer is better than ever because American players are better than ever. As far as college soccer’s ability to develop professional players, it has regressed. Over the past half decade, the NCAA has put more shackles on the game. For instance, Division I players are banned from playing club ball in the offseason. Previously, a collegian could hone his skills, in the offseason, by playing in an adult league.
Also, the season length has been shortened and the number of games has decreased, thanks to an NCAA that punishes soccer for transgressions in other sports, namely football and basketball, while catering to those very sports because they make the most money. For all its sanctimony, the NCAA is really about some $220 million of revenue (most from basketball TV). When it comes to considering the needs of a soccer-playing student, the NCAA cares little.
Of course, not all of the blame goes to the NCAA. College soccer is by nature an extension of youth soccer. Whereas players of age 18-22 in the rest of the world play with and against adults, college players remain in an age group situation. Believe me, Juergen Klinsmann or Paolo Maldini didn’t spend those four years of their life playing with other boys.
Fortunately, another avenue to top level soccer is being created by MLS. This is particularly important because previously a huge group of players — those not inclined to go to college — had been shut out of the system, as it works in the U.S.
Last year’s Division I final four offered some very good, skillful soccer. This was largely due to the fact that St. John’s and Florida International offered players of diverse backgrounds. They are an exception among college teams in that their coaches did not limit their recruiting to the suburban youth soccer fields.
My guess is that college soccer will continue to attract talented players, but that if they are tabbed as professional material, they will consider leaving school early — after sophomore or junior seasons. If players stay the whole four years, they will likely have to play quite a bit of minor league soccer before being able to compete with pros.
Keith Copeland
Lakewood, Colo.
It’s great that Nike supports the U.S. national team and MLS, but do they have any idea how their dark (navy blue or black) uniforms adversely affects performance on hot, sunny days? Wearing those navy blue jerseys at Central American countries has got to hinder the U.S. teams performance, likewise with MLS teams with black uniforms during sunny, hot afternoon games. Playing night games with dark uniforms is not great either, since the ability to quickly spot teammates suffers. The US should take a clue from Holland, which uses orange for its visibility and also does not perform as a solar collector. The white uniforms are OK, but get a more comfortable and visible second uniform (perhaps red/white stripes). Do you think that Nike even cares that their color choices may adversely affect U.S. team performances?
Ridge Mahoney: I don’t think a dark jersey renders a player invisible at night games, unless the lights go out. Nike has developed a light blue uniform (The U.S. wore it at last year’s U.S. Cup) and is also preparing a red jersey to take the place of the navy-blue uniform for away games played in midday. And the red-and-white striped jerseys that adidas unveiled at the 1994 World Cup were horrible.
Pete Bailey: I think the uniform color is a lot less important than the player that is wearing it. This past season, the Carolina Panthers home uniforms were black/very dark blue with teal trim, and they were undefeated at Ericsson Stadium, which is not exactly located in a mild climate. Likewise, during their heyday the Oakland/L.A. Raiders never seemed to be troubled by wearing the silver and black (and they were undefeated at home on Monday nights until this past fall). And at the ’94 World Cup, Brazil didn’t have any problem when they wore their dark blue secondary jerseys at midday in Dallas or Pasadena.
Also, I suspect that the orange color of the Dutch uniform is not due to visibility concerns, but rather to the historical significance of their most famous ruler, William of Orange.
Brian Surette
Greensboro, N.C.
In the Feb. 3 issue of SA, Duncan Irving’s story on Frankie Hejduk raised an interesting question. Irving stated that Hejduk “seldom watches it (soccer) on TV and missed the World Cup altogether.” Seeing that America’s second-tier players, Hejduk being in this group, at present are disappointing, could this lack of soccer intensity, seen throughout the world by children and players alike, be part of the problem? I’m not saying that Hejduk doesn’t respect or love soccer, rather, the “hunger” that drives players from other countries is, for whatever reason, missing from American youth.
Duncan Irving: I was surprised by Hejduk’s comment, too, although it was pointed out by a number of his coaches that he is a one-off. I’m not so sure. I think that we have produced a couple of generations of participants, who have yet to become sophisticated students of the game. World Cup `94 went a long way to taking soccer from being a participant sport pure and simple, into a spectator sport. MLS is the next logical step, but that process is still very much in its infancy.
I’m not so sure about the “hunger” that drives players from other countries. Do you mean money? Pro soccer is a way for players to escape poverty in some African and South American countries. If that’s the case, then I’m rather glad that’s a missing ingredient here.
Factor in that there are a number of other, more lucrative sporting avenues to try in the U.S. and soccer, at this stage, can’t compete.
I think also that it’s natural for players to want to fill the glamour roles… “They all want to be center-forwards, these days,” was the complaint of one well-known coach recently. If that’s the case, at least they know what a center-forward is. And that’s progress of a kind.
Brooke Tunstall
Arlington, Va.
After reviewing the MLS and A-League drafts, I have some questions about which teams have claims to a player and about teams’ draft strategies. For example, Mike Fisher was drafted by Tampa Bay and the Richmond Kickers and Shawn Boney by Los Angeles and the Connecticut Wolves. Neither A-League team is affiliated with the aforementioned MLS teams. So, if Boney signs with L.A. but the Galaxy want to season him in the minors and assign him to Orange County, can Connecticut claim to have his A-League rights and say he must play for them? And if Fisher signs only with Richmond, can D.C. call him up because of the affiliation between the two teams? Conversely, because of that same relationship, why would Richmond draft Danny Care when D.C. would probably assign him to them anyway and why would California draft Alberto Montoya when he would most likely be assigned to them by San Jose? It seems like not enough planning went into the drafts and the coordination between the two leagues.
Ridge Mahoney: Not really. Teams are free to draft who they choose, and it’s up to the player to make his decision. But once he signs, he is committed to that organization.
If Fisher wants to attend medical school at UVa, he might be able to do that while playing with Richmond — it would be impossible to do so with Tampa. Keep in mind a player could make as much, or more money, with an A-League team as well as have a much better chance to start; with an MLS team, he might not make the squad. It’s possible such a player could play for an A-League team and be called up by an MLS team that didn’t draft him
John Sikora
Erie, Pa.
In the Feb. 3 issue you have an article titled “Summer league launched”. In that article there is a paragraph with the following sentence. “Adidas has also announced plans for a high school boys elite summer camp for boys modeled after the popular all-star basketball camps.” Can you tell me more about this camp or were I can get more information?
Paul Kennedy: You should contact adidas directly. Its number in Portland, Ore., is (503) 972-2300.