Daniel Kaplan South San Francisco, Calif. Which MLS team has the most current international players on its roster? I believe the two teams with the most are last year’s finalists, D.C. United and L.A. Galaxy. Coincidence? Pete Bailey: By my count, D.C. has the most current internationals, with seven (Jeff Agoos, John Harkes, Eddie Pope, Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno, Ben Iroha and Raul Diaz Arce). The Galaxy presently has four (Mauricio Cienfuegos, Eduardo Hurtado, Cobi Jones and Martin Machon), as Jorge Campos is not in the Mexican national team pool at the moment. When MLS Cup ’96 occurred, D.C. had five internationals and L.A. four. There is little doubt that having a number of current internatinal players was of great help to those teams during the inaugural season of MLS, when teams had yet to gel and roster turnover was often dramatic (witness the changes D.C. made between the inaugural game and the final). However, I think that, with the exception of D.C. United, where on a given day 70 percent of its field players could be internationals, the number of current national team performers is not as important to a team’s success as one might think. Kansas City has just two internationals: Digital Takawira (Zimbabwe) and Uche Okafor (one appearance for Nigeria in qualifying), yet they are atop the Western Conference. A major reason for their success is the sterling play of experienced former internationals such as Preki, Richard Gough, Mark Chung, Mo Johnston and Steve Pittman, as well as contributions from young players like Matt McKeon and Ryan Tinsley. Dallas, which is third in the Western Conference and boasts a pair of shootout wins over D.C. United, has only one current international: Salvadoran Jorge Rodriguez (although forward Dante Washington played 26 minutes as a defender in the friendly against Paraguay. Again, experienced former internationals like Alain Sutter, Damian Alvarez, Mark Santel and Mark Dodd, as well as younger stars like Jason Kreis and Gerell Elliott, have helped the Burn to a fine start in ’97. Conversely, the MetroStars have the second-highest total of current internationals, with five (Giovanni Savarese, Antony De Avila, Mike Sorber, Tab Ramos and Ezra Hendrickson). Granted, Ramos has been injured, but the Metros, despite the experience of Roberto Donadoni and Tony Meola and the young talent of Miles Joseph and A.J. Wood, are mired in the Eastern Conference cellar. Colorado has four internationals (Wolde Harris, Shaun Bartlett, Marcelo Balboa, and Peter Vermes), but they are 6-8. Here are the other teams’ current internationals: New England (4) — Chiquinho Conde, Alexi Lalas, Mike Burns and Joe-Max Moore. Tampa Bay (3) — Carlos Valderrama, Roy Lassiter and Frank Yallop. Columbus (3) — Brad Friedel, Thomas Dooley and Doctor Khumalo. San Jose (3) — Eric Wynalda, Ronald Cerritos and Arnold Cruz. Dave Weigel Muskogee, Okla. What became of Chris Turner, head women’s soccer coach at Wake Forest? Dean Caparaz: According to the Wake Forest Sports Information Department, since resigning Dec. 6, 1996, Chris Turner has coached a girls team at Forsyth Country Day high school in Winston-Salem, N.C. Former University of San Diego coach Tony Da Luz is the new Demon Deacons coach. According to the Wake Forest press release at the time, Turner resigned in order to pursue other opportunities. “I’m proud of what our program was able to accomplish in such a short period of time, but I feel it’s time for a new challenge,” said Turner. “I thank Wake Forest for the chance to start this program and wish the school and athletic department nothing but the best.” Turner had a record of 31-26-3 in his three years as head coach, putting together records of 8-9 in 1994, 9-9-3 in ’95 and 14-8 in ’96. This past season was a breakthrough year for the program as it gained a national ranking and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in its brief three-year history. The Deacons upset 10th-ranked Clemson in the first round of the NCAAs before being eliminated by No. 8 Florida in the Sweet Sixteen. David Watterson Oxnard, Calif. I’m new to soccer and I have a naive question to ask. Why does the NCAA put such heavy-handed restrictions on college soccer? I understand they make plenty of money from other sports, but why stand on soccer’s throat? Why isn’t there a concerted effort among college coaches to change things? Is a five- or six-month season with 30-plus games too much of a strain? Without college soccer being stronger, I don’t see MLS being as popular as it could be. Mike Woitalla: In my opinion, soccer has been the victim of restrictions implemented because of transgressions in other sports. And since college soccer isn’t a revenue-producing sport, it has no lobby. Jeff Moore Hattiesburg, Miss. Okay, perhaps I am just nuts, but John Harkes wants to finish his career as a defender…. actually as a sweeper. He said so. Why not give the U.S. squad some more pace, better foot-skill and better distribution on defense by putting Harkes in the back now? God knows, at this point, would it not be worth a try? As captain, he would be a good leader out there and able to see the whole field and communicate and strengthen a dodgy defense. We have an abundance of midfielders, especially when Ramos returns in the summer. Harkes is also not getting younger. Ridge Mahoney: Bora Milutinovic asked Harkes to play right back, where he performed fairly often for Sheffield Wednesday, and he refused. I don’t think Sampson will have better luck until and unless Harkes feels he can’t cut it anymore in midfield. And playing sweeper is a lot different — and more prestigious — than playing right back. I don’t think he’d play central defender, though, but stranger things have happened. I don’t agree with your assessment of Harkes’ pace and distribution, although he played better against Mexico than in previous games. He forces far too many passes, and has only average speed. Is he a better right back than Mike Burns? Of course. Personally, I admire Harkes for his spirit, determination and willingness to go forward. But at times his judgment has been faulty. He could be a very solid right back, but only if he accepted that role willingly and cut down drastically on his unforced errors. Guy Hail Olympia, Wash. Keep up the good work on your MLS coverage! There is one article that I’d like to read — one that explains why the best and most frequent player allocation go to the same three teams: Los Angeles, D.C. United and the MetroStars. Wasn’t the single-entity system supposed to prevent the richest markets from buying all the best players? Ridge Mahoney: Every team gets the same number of allocations, and every team has the same salary cap. And New York/New Jersey has brought in a few Brazilians this year that are hardly world-famous names. And Columbus had first crack at Marco Etcheverry last year, but told the league `No.’ In the case of Jaime Moreno, he became available at just the right time and D.C. had already demanded a replacement for Juan Berthy Suarez. New England fans moaned and groaned about favorable treatment for N.Y. and L.A., but the Revs also picked Frank Stapleton as their coach, and asked for Jim St. Andre as an allocation. Then Stapleton drafted a bunch of lousy players. New England’s last allocation last year was Joe-Max Moore, who wanted to go to Tampa, but the Mutiny already had its limit of allocations. L.A., despite its players, has the league’s worst record and the MetroStars aren’t much better. Both would love to have Swiss midfielder Alain Sutter, but the league sent him to Dallas. Thomas Dooley dearly wants to play in L.A., but he’s been allocated to Columbus. MLS has at times catered to the needs of certain teams before others, but for the most part, I think allocations have been quite fair. Marc Wasserman New York City I am curious about Marcus Hahnemann. My understanding was that he was considered one of the star goalkeepers of the A-League, and that his signing by the Rapids was considered to be a wise pick for a team that struggled at that position last year. However, he did not play the first few weeks of the season. Paul Grafer was in goal for the Rapids. Who is Grafer, and is he a better keeper than Hahnemann? Pete Bailey: Grafer was an all-America selection during his career at William & Mary. He was a developmental player for Colorado last year, playing 13 games for Long Island and posting a 0.79 GAA in leading the Rough Riders to the USISL Select League semifinals. Rapids coach Glenn Myernick benched Hahnemann for the first several weeks of the MLS season, apparently because he was upset with Hahnemann’s poor work habits. The situation was resolved, and Hahnemann has responded by posting a 1.26 GAA. In fact, he led the league in that category until the Rapids’ ugly 5-0 loss in Washington, D.C. last weekend. Kevin Garrity Boca Raton, Fla. Before the start of the MLS season, the writers for Soccer America made predictions on what place each team would finish. Several writers chose the Tampa Bay Mutiny to finish dead last. I know it’s still early in the season, but does anyone want to recant their predictions with regard to Tampa Bay? Mike Woitalla: Do I still have an option of recanting them in September?