Mike Fekula College Park, Md. I would like to hear your thoughts about all this fuss raised by the USSF about the comments made by the Costa Rican coach (Juan Luis Hernandez) who drew an analogy between discussing his soccer tactics and a terrorist announcing that he is going to shoot a missile at the White House. I thought that U.S. Soccer in general and Hank Steinbrecher in particular were way over the top with their righteous indignation. First of all, it was obviously an analogy and nothing more — most rational people should have been able to figure that out. Secondly, I served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica in 1995 and I can tell you that Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world that does not have a standing army. I give you my solemn guarantee that the Costa Rican national team is not armed with Scud missiles. Yet, Hank Steinbrecher says that the USSF has informed the Secret Service. That is absolutely absurd and the Costa Ricans should have never issued an apology for that kind of stupidity. This only serves to make the USA look like the bullies that we have always appeared to be in Latin America. Paul Kennedy: Steinbrecher’s remarks were clearly gamesmanship. A lot of it has gone on during the Hexagonal, most specifically before the Costa Rica-El Salvador game. Unfortunately in this day and age, the Secret Service will take any remarks seriously, though I’m sure Steinbrecher wasn’t the first to inform them of Hernandez’s remarks. Hernandez, though, had to make an apology or the controversy would never have died down. Otherwise, he’d be going against everything he was brought in to accomplish: get his players to concentrate on their games. (He’s banned them from among other things from having cell phones or accepting endorsements.) Joe Hope Santa Maria, Calif. For a number of years, I’ve being concerned about defensive players kicking the ball out of bounds. This tactic to me is a negative dimension in soccer. Many times, the defensive player is not capable of outplaying the opponent who is attacking the goal, so the defensive player neutralizes a dangerous attacking play by kicking the ball out. I’d like to see this ruled as a foul, with the restart being an indirect free kick at the spot where the player who kicked the ball out was when the ball was kicked out. I’d like to know your thoughts about this type of play. Mike Woitalla: Having a throw-in deep in your opponent’s half — which is what happens when unskilled defenders boot the ball out of bounds — is already somewhat of a punishment for teams who insist on fielding oafs in the back. In fact, I think we find that teams are consistently paying for fielding defenders who can’t play their way out of the back. Teams whose defenders can play out of the back are indeed winning. For example: Brazil (1994 World Cup, 1997 Copa America), Nigeria (1996 Olympics), Argentina (1997 U-20 World Cup). Domestically, we saw D.C. United win MLS with some fairly skilled defenders like Jeff Agoos and Eddie Pope. I think making kicking the ball out of bounds a foul would be detrimental to the rhythm of the game, but I’m definitely with you in wishing that such play appeared much less often. William Fisher Santa Cruz, Calif. After Tom Liner left the Clash, reports had him heading to Europe the next day. Do you have any information on where he landed? Also, how many of the MLS inaugural game players are no longer with the Clash or D.C. United, and what happened to them? Pete Bailey: Liner became friends with German star Bernd Schuster during San Jose’s tour of China after the 1996 MLS season, and left for Germany after being released by the Clash. Schuster is currently coaching in the German Second Division, and Liner had hoped to play there. Unfortunately, Schuster had a full complement of keepers, so Liner is back in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently coaching the women’s team at Foothill College. Let’s look over the participants in the MLS inaugural game: San Jose — Liner, Martin, Emenalo, Doyle, Dayak, Bravo, Iroha (Lewis, 89), Mella, Rodas (Holocher, 79), Wynalda Baicher. For the Clash six starters (Martin, Emenalo, Doyle, Dayak, Wynalda and Baicher) are still with the squad, along with sub Eddie Lewis. Paul Bravo and Ben Iroha are both still in MLS, with Colorado and D.C. United, respectively. Victor Mella was released by San Jose and had a brief stint later in the 1996 season with New England, but he was also cut by the Revs and returned to his native Chile. Jorge Rodas is playing for Comunicaciones in his native Guatemala, and Paul Holocher, cut by San Jose after recovering from an ACL tear, is now playing for the A-League’s California Jaguars. D.C. United — Causey, Fazlagic, Agoos, Lee, Gori, Williams (Imler, 87), Harkes, Etcheverry, Medved (Huwiler, 71), Suarez, Diaz Arce. Six United starters are still in the nation’s capital (Agoos, Gori, Williams, Harkes, Etcheverry and Diaz Arce), while Jeff Causey and Erik Imler are currently with New England and Shawn Medved plays for San Jose. Juan Berthy Suarez never panned out as a striking partner for Diaz Arce, and returned home to Bolivia. Mike Huwiler spent this past A-League season with the Milwaukee Rampage, and Thor Lee is currently with the CISL’s Anaheim Splash. Fazlagic went in the CISL draft after being released but he has not played there this summer. Scott Spires San Francisco Recently, I found out that Cobi Jones was a walk-on selection at UCLA and I believe Eric Wynalda was the same case at San Diego State. Could college recruiters really be this out of touch and missing the best talent? Paul Kennedy: There is probably some truth to what you ask. The bigger point is the lack of scholarship opportunities, leading to a player like Cobi having to “walk-on.” Wynalda was a big star his freshman year and was a known quantity. It should be noted that few teams outside of California recruited Californian players at the time. Greg Stensrud Belfair, Wash. Now that the MLS has gone to the television territorial restrictions, and even though I pay to get all the local sports networks on my C-band satellite dish, they are now blacked out during MLS games. Do you feel that they are going to make enough money charging devout fans to watch the games that it will offset all the ex-fans (like me) that they lost due to their greed? Mike Woitalla: The only way MLS will ever profit significantly from TV is by convincing a network to pay for rights, rather than having to buy time to air its games. My guess — and I am surely speculating here — is that pay-per-view income will be nickel and dime stuff for MLS. Keep in mind, without buying games, we still get a good amount of MLS on free TV. Between ESPN, espn2, Univision and the San Jose Clash’s regional coverage, San Francisco Bay Area residents like myself probably get enough MLS soccer without being inclined to pay for more. Don Lasowecky Fleetwood, Pa. When watching European or South American matches, it seems that keepers punt the ball much less than their American counterparts. They tend to opt for controlling the ball more. Does “American” soccer tend to like the violence of the 50-50 ball more than our foreign counterparts? I notice this in both youth, college, and even MLS ball here in the states. Brazil rarely punts as does Ajax or various teams from Italy. Paul Kennedy: MLS teams don’t punt any more than most European clubs. If there is a reluctance for some U.S. teams (especially at lower levels) to play the ball out of the back, it is simply due to the lack of (or lack of confidence in) backs who are decent with the ball at their feet. Ralph Culver Burlington, Vt. I always loved to watch Hugo Perez. It seems like only a few years back that he was national Player of the Year. Where is he now? He would have been perfect for MLS not so very long ago. Is he in shape enough to play now? Man, what style! Mike Woitalla: Hugo Perez was the most talented U.S. player of his generation. He was a true example of someone attaining the American Dream. Having come to the U.S. from El Salvador as a boy, he started playing in semi-pro L.A. leagues while still in high school. So skillful was he, that he landed a pro (NASL) contract as a teenager. When El Salvador showed no interest in using him at the 1982 World Cup, the U.S. grabbed him for the 1983 U-20 World Cup, where he starred alongside players like Tab Ramos and Paul Caligiuri. Perez played in the 1984 Olympics but had to resort to the indoor game when the NASL folded. His omission from the 1990 World Cup remains a controversy in U.S. soccer history. Coach Bob Gansler claimed he wasn’t recovered from injury. Perez says he was fit. Fortunately, Bora Milutinovic welcomed him back to the U.S. team, and he shined in the 1991 Gold Cup title and in the first U.S. Cup. Come the 1994 World Cup, Perez looked like a player for whom the wear and tear of years of indoor play had taken its toll. He played in only one game — against Brazil. I believe he should have been part of Italia ’90. He deserved it. The U.S. would not have qualified without Perez. Everybody talks about Caligiuri’s goal against Trinidad & Tobago, but Perez scored a crucial goal in a 1-0 win over El Salvador, on the road. Also, in the first round of qualifying, an injured Perez came on at halftime and orchestrated a 5-1 win over Jamaica. (It had tied 0-0 lost in Jamaica and tied 1-1 on aggregate, i.e. trailing on away goals, in the second leg.) He finished his career in style, winning a league title in his native El Salvador. He has retired to devote himself to Christian causes in El Salvador and Los Angeles. Perez had become deeply religious and he dedicated his life to “working for Christ.” The MLS came too late for Perez, now 33. My memories of Perez are of his fantastic left foot and the fine skills he brought to the U.S. national team during an era when skill wasn’t in abundance.