Rich Lee
Washington, DC
It appeared that Steve Sampson’s decision to go with a 3-5-2 formation had the U.S. players confused and disorganized, especially in the back. There appeared to be a lot of conversation (arguing) by the players as to what their roles were. It was only after Agoos entered the game and we went back to a 4-4-2 that the US seemed comfortable. By then it was too late as Jamaica had taken control of the game and outplayed the U.S. for most of the game. Why did Sampson elect to go with a 3-5-2 formation in such a critical game, as opposed to trying it in say a friendly where the stakes were not as high?
Duncan Irving: He has tried a 3-5-2 on a number of occasions — at odd points in the Copa America in 1995 (his finest hour), against Trinidad & Tobago (Gold Cup) and Ireland last year and Canada in Hexagonal action this year. The latter two produced mixed results — burned by T&T and Ireland and effective against Canada (then again what formation wouldn’t have worked against Canada?). Re: Jamaica. Let’s put it politely — Sampson screwed up. He underestimated his opponent and got his tactics horribly wrong. But let the players take a share of the blame. Good pros can play in just about any formation. Similarly, good pros can make adjustments. The collective performance of U.S. players was woeful on the night: carping at the ref and each other, unable to turn things around, coughing the ball up in midfield and being physically outfought by what they termed “an inferior team.”
Brooke Tunstall
Arlington, VA
In recent months SA has occasionally reported about foreign players who played college soccer in the U.S. and are now with their respective national teams. Though I can’t remember their names, I seem to recall a Scot from Evansville, a Peruvian from LIU, a Bolivian from South Carolina and an Argentine from a Division III school in New Jersey. First of all, what are the names of those players and secondly, are there other former foreign college players playing for their respective national teams (besides the ones in MLS like Giovanni Savarese and Wolde Harris)? And were any of them enamored enough with the U.S. to consider playing in MLS?
Paul Kennedy: The players you mention are: David Weir from Evansville was called up for Scotland, but I don’t believe he’s actually appeared for the Scots yet. Alvaro Barco from LIU has played for Peru in the past, but not during ’98 qualifying. Ruben Tufino out of South Carolina has seen significant time for Bolivia, though the Bolivian effort is all but dead. Santiago Solari, who stayed in the U.S. for a year to play for D3 Richard Stockton after his uncle and father (head and assistant coach) coached Saudi Arabia at the ’94 World Cup, is one of Argentina’s top young midfielders with River Plate. Argentina has a lot of midfield prospects, though, which may limit his chances. Rikki Dadason of Columbia plays for Iceland. Jonathon Akpoborie (Brooklyn College) plays for Nigeria. There are a few other players who represented Caribbean teams like Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines in qualifying. Almost all the players in question finished up or left school before MLS got going. None, except perhaps Barco (now getting up in age) or Tufino, has any market value here.
David Kelogg
Bloomington, IN
I recently saw something about MLS renegotiating a new contract on September 22. It involved 12 games being shown on ABC and ESPN/ESPN2 getting the same number of games next year and increasing by 10 or so in 1999. I was just wondering if this was a rumor because no one has reported this yet.
Pete Bailey: What you saw was a recent proposal being discussed by MLS and ABC/ESPN. As you say, it calls for 12 matches on ABC and about 35 on ESPN/ESPN2 (like this year), with ESPN and ESPN2 showing 50 or so games in 1999. This would be a beneficial deal for MLS in that it would no longer have to pay for air time and production costs for telecasts, as well as giving the league more network exposure. It should be noted, however, that this deal is NOT official. For more information, see Ridge Mahoney’s article “Can Better Packaging Improve the Product?” in the Oct. 13 issue of SA.
Steve Pierce
Limerick, PA
I would like to know what actually constitutes a shot on goal; is it any shot that is inside the box? Also, what constitutes an actual save by the goalkeeper? Is it any shot between the posts or anything the keeper handles? I am an assistant coach on a U-13 girls travel team, and the statistician and I would like to know if I have been keeping an accurate description of shots and saves.
Paul Kennedy: There are no set rules for shots or saves. My definition would be: shot — (1) any ball that is struck by an attacking player with the intention of going in the goal and either goes in for a goal, is saved or knocked over the line by the goalie, blocked by another defending player or goes over the line. (2) a ball played or deflected by a defender that would go into the goal for an own goal. The distance doesn’t matter. save — a save would be any time a keeper stops (holds or knocks away) a shot (see above) or stops a ball played or deflected by a defender that would go into the goal for an own goal. You’d have to give the goalkeeper credit for stopping a ball his defender whacks at him, wouldn’t you?
Elwood Del Gato
Charlottesville, VA
For next year’s Project-40 class, will underclassmen who are age-eligible for the Olympics like Matt Chulis and Josh Wolff be eligble for the program, or, assuming they wish to turn pro, will they have to declare themselves available for the college draft a la Ross Paule and Imad Baba? And on the subject of underclassmen declaring early, MLS has said repeatedly that college soccer doesn’t properly prepare players for First Division soccer yet it discourages seniors – at least publicly – from leaving school early. That seems to be contradictory advise, especially when they are trying to snag the younger players for Project 40. Why doesn’t MLS just go on the record and say “The sooner they turn pro, the better their chances for success, and we encourage them to do so.”
Paul Kennedy: MLS has enough political problems with college coaches to simply declare that the sooner any player turns pro the better. (If it is posted on the NCAA’s web site [www.ncaa.org], you should check out a remarkable article in the 9/22 NCAA News on the Project-40 issue to see how seriously the colleges view the problem … even after a year in which few players actually turned pro and most of them had little interest in academics as it was.) Bottom line: MLS will discourage players it doesn’t want and it will encourage (quietly) players it wants. I’m not sure what distinction MLS will make between Chulis and Wolff (both part of the U-20 program that produced most of the P-40 players) and a player who decides to turn pro on his own (like Paule, who did make it, or UNC Charlotte’s Jon Busch, who never even got drafted and struggled to play in the A-League). They would likely be Project-40 players. MLS can’t stop other underclassmen from “turning pro” and having MLS clubs draft them, but they may take no responsibility for them like they do P-40 kids, who get the tuition trust regardless of whether they spent more than a day in training or not.
Ethan Talbott
Bethel Park, PA
I am 8 years old. Recently I got a knee injury and had 32 stitches and staples in my right knee. Who was the last MLS player to have a serious knee injury and how succesful was he in coming back to play pro soccer?
Pete Bailey: Ethan, look no further than the U.S. national team. Tab Ramos tore his ACL in a qualifying match against Trinidad & Tobago last fall, and he was out of action until July. He seems to have recovered quite well — he scored the gamewinner against Costa Rica in his first qualifier since returning, and was one of the few bright spots in the Americans’ 1-1 tie against Jamaica. Tab’s MetroStars teammate Manny Lagos suffered a torn ACL last season as well. He struggled this season with a variety of injuries, but expect him to be a key figure for NY/NJ next season. Not everyone returns to their previous form after a knee injury, though. San Jose’s Dominic Kinnear struggled after missing much of last season due to one. Paul Holocher, who tore an ACL while with the Clash, spent this season with the A-League’s California Jaguars. It remains to be seen how well players such as Kansas City’s Diego Gutierrez (who missed the entire season after tearing a ligament) and Tampa Bay’s Jacek Ziober (who did the same) will fare next year.
hatrik
Tacoma, WA
I see there’s a player named Twellman playing for the U.S. U-17 team. Is he related to former NASL players Tim & Mike Twellman? Even if he isn’t it provokes another question… Many of the players who played in the NASL during its heyday in the late 70’s/early 80’s will have children “coming of age” shortly or within the next decade. Are there any signs that this group will make a significant impact on the college and pro game in the U.S., or will it just be a familiar name (like Kozic) popping up here and there?
Paul Kennedy: Taylor Twellman’s dad, Tim, played in the NASL. Like others in his dad’s family, he’s a big-time baseball player. Alen Kozic’s dad played for the Rowdies. I can think of two other NASL players from the ’70s and early ’80s who have sons in the U.S. national youth team program: Elson Seale, himself a product of Barbados, and Kurt Kuykendall, the former Washington and Cosmos keeper. Will these and other kids have significant impact? Impact perhaps, significant impact, unlikely. The involvement of pro soccer players’ sons should be no more than the sons of famous athletes in other sports in their fathers’ sports. I can think of almost as many pro soccer players whose fathers were pro athletes in other sports than in soccer itself. A few examples off the top of my head: Roy Lassiter, Shawn Medved, Kyle Rote (football), Jeff Stock (baseball).