MLS: 1999 Western Conference Preview

There’s no sense in expecting something new, something different from the Western Conference in 1999. Chicago and L.A., L.A. and Chicago — no matter which way you look at it, the West remains the province of its two finest practitioners. Possessing alternate philosophies, embodying the personalities of their coaches — Chicago’s Bob Bradley and Los Angeles’ Octavio Zambrano — the structured, blue-collar Fire and glittery, freewheeling Galaxy blossomed into Major League Soccer’s most intense rivalry in 1998. The climax: Chicago’s thrilling sweep of the conference finals, with wins on an 86th-minute goal and in a shootout. The Fire, which has five starters 32 or older, must again overcome L.A., with seven starters younger than 25, to get a chance to defend its league crown at Foxboro Stadium come Nov. 21. The Galaxy, kept from MLS Cup ’98 — on its home field — after setting nearly every regular-season record imaginable, wants nothing more than revenge. Well, revenge and that elusive championship. Colorado and Kansas City spent the offseason tinkering, and Dallas worked at getting healthy; all hope to offer a challenge to the big two. Rebuilt San Jose would be happy just to be in the hunt for a playoff berth. CHICAGO A new dynasty? After bringing Major League Soccer’s first dynasty to an end, the last thing Chicago Fire coach Bob Bradley and his players want to consider is creating one of their own. Repeating the phenomenal success of their inaugural season — MLS crown and the U.S. Open Cup title — isn’t the objective; duplicating the process that got them there is. If it leads to similar reward, all the better, and with every significant piece of Chicago’s championship puzzle still in place, it’s impossible to escape talk of a repeat. The Fire tries. “We’re not so concerned with what people are saying [about] defending [the title],” says Bradley, MLS’s coach of the year. “We realize we need the same kind of effort as last year to have a chance. That’s what we try to be about every day.” The Fire quickly became a force through savvy construction, prodigious work ethic and suffocating defense coupled with flair in attack. Bradley built around a spine of playmaker (and MVP finalist) Peter Nowak, defensive midfielder Chris Armas and sweeper Lubos Kubik, importing a fine “Eastern Bloc” (including Pole Nowak and Czech Kubik), maneuvering Los Angeles into surrendering Armas, and culling from little-knowns (Zach Thornton and C.J. Brown) and castoffs (Ante Razov). It paid off with an emphatic triumph over D.C. United at MLS Cup ’98, but the Fire’s seeming reliance on defense has spawned aspersion. “I feel strongly we play intelligently, skillfully…,” Bradley argues. “When we get the ball, regardless of where we are, we try to move for each other, put plays together. We’re a good passing team, we move the ball quickly. And we try to be organized, try to defend as a team, defend intelligently. “We try very hard to play what we think is good soccer, and we’re not going to let anybody change our view of what we’re trying to do.” Ultimately, the Fire is trying to win another championship. There’s no reason they can’t. “We need to re-establish a way to work together every day, do those things right, re-establish good habits,” Bradley explains. “If we do that part right, then hopefully we’ll have a chance to defend our championship. “But we also know that it requires a lot of work. Cut any corners, and we’ll pay for it.” COLORADO Getting defensive Colorado’s emphasis this season will be defense, an answer to the propensity of Rapids’ opponents to score scores of goals, 187 in three years, more than every other MLS team has surrendered. Things hit bottom in ’98, with an MLS-record 69 goals finding their way into Colorado’s net, and Coach Glenn Myernick’s plan to guide the Rapids back into the title game can’t afford a repeat. To that end, Matt McKeon has been brought in from Kansas City at defensive midfielder, allowing Marcelo Balboa to slot alongside Peter Vermes into central defense, and former New England goalkeeper Ian Feuer has arrived to challenge incumbent Marcus Hahnemann. Throw in a full season for outside backs Jason Bent and David Vaudreuil, who arrived deep into last season, and Myernick feels his defense can do the job. “Last year we gave away far too many goals,” says Myernick, who took Colorado to MLS Cup ’97 after finishing fourth in the West. “A big emphasis in preseason was to be aware of that, and we’ve seen a conscientious effort on everyone’s part. We’ve been spending a lot of time working on defensive organization. … “As long as the other team hasn’t scored, you always give yourself a chance. Last year, too often we were forced to play catch-up.” To get McKeon, the Rapids had to part with Chris Henderson; their other winger, Adrian Paz, also is gone, so they’ll likely attack more through the middle. They’ve added Swedish midfielder Anders Limpar, a two-time World Cup veteran who will share creative duties with Ross Paule, and burly Panamanian forward Jorge Dely Valdes. The Rapids have long struggled in their search for foreign stars; can they reverse the trend? “We’re not exactly at the top of the league list in terms of allocation of household-name foreign players, but we’re very aware of that now,” says Myernick, who has watched Paz, Tote Castaneda, David Patino, Marquinho and Waldir Saenz depart since taking over two years ago. “It’s up to us to put that right — we can’t wait for that to be handled by somebody else. “We feel this year we’ve done quite good.” DALLAS A healthy approach Anything Dallas might have accomplished last season was finished off in the trainer’s room, home away from home for far too many Burn players. A glut of injuries, to the most pivotal performers, made for a grim campaign, one the Burn can’t expect to repeat. Some 81 games were lost to injury, with as many as six starters sidelined at once. Alain Sutter missed virtually the entire season — he won’t be back — and Leonel Alvarez, Jorge Rodriguez, Dante Washington, Mark Santel, Gerell Elliott and Mark Dodd spent time on the sidelines. “In 18 years of coaching, I’ve never had anything like that happen,” Coach Dave Dir says. “It was a weird thing. We couldn’t put our finger on anything, it was just the way it went.” And so Dir was rather pleased with Dallas’ 15-17 performance, good for fourth place and a brief playoff appearance. The Burn scored the fewest goals in MLS — just 43, with one or none in 21 of 32 games — and only three players managed as many as five goals, with Jason Kreis’ nine tops on the team. Foes scored 59 times, eight of them in the worst loss in league history. “We really felt last year, considering we lost all seven of our all-star players [during] the season, that we overachieved,” Dir says. “I’m not sure another group of guys in the league would have made the playoffs [with] the adversity we went through.” To ward off injury, Dir brought back fitness trainer Gerardo “The Terminator” Bruni, who prepared the Burn for the ’97 season. Players swear by him, but the team’s health continues to be a concern. A knee sprain knocked down Santel in preseason, forcing a change of plan in the back. Doctors aren’t sure what’s wrong with Dodd’s knee. Alvarez is nearly done with rehab from groin surgery. Even rookie Lazo Alavanja has been out, thanks to a heel injury. And although Washington is back from a badly sprained right ankle that left Dallas’ attack in trouble late last season, he still complains of pain. That could mean bad news down the road. KANSAS CITY Drawing new blood Everything that could go wrong seemingly did for Kansas City in 1998: The attack — so deadly the year before — disappeared, and the Wizards withered, slipping from best in the West to, well, worst. Coach Ron Newman, subject of rampant late-season speculation, gets a chance to right things, and he’s injected new blood into a tired team. Deals to bring goalkeeper Tony Meola and defender Alexi Lalas from the MetroStars and winger Chris Henderson from Colorado, coupled with Preki’s rejuvenation, have done wonders for Wizard spirit. Newman hopes it will pay off on the field … and in the stands. “We probably had been the most consistent team [in MLS’s first] three years, as far as roster — we made the fewest changes,” he says. “Change is often good.” K.C. dipped from 21-11 in ’97 to 12-20 last year, scoring just 45 goals — only Dallas had fewer — after ranking second with 57 the year before. Acquiring Henderson should help — he takes over for Mark Chung, shipped to the MetroStars in the Lalas-Meola trade — but most important is Preki, the 1997 MVP and scoring champ, who will be 36 in June. “The only thing wrong last year was offense,” Newman says. “We were the most exceptional offensive team in MLS, and it suddenly dried up. We got no goals from Preki, Digital [Takawira] and Chung [they combined for 30 goals and 31 assists in ’97, just 19 and 24 in ’98]. … “Now Preki is the Preki of two years ago. There’s a smile on his face. If he plays like he feels, look out rest of the league.” Meola and Lalas offer strong personalities, extensive international experience and an intense desire to win after suffering through losing campaigns in New Jersey and New England the last three seasons. Their biggest impact might be at the gate. Kansas City fans have dwindled steadily since the start, and only 8,072, on average, showed up last season. If attendance doesn’t improve, the Wizards could be on the move. “Our fingers are crossed that the fans come out,” says Newman. “It’s not much fun playing in front of small crowds.” LOS ANGELES Youth movement Everything the Los Angeles Galaxy accomplished in 1998 — all those goals, the lopsided victories, the panache with which it dispatched foes — counted for nothing. A repeat could prove costly: Coach Octavio Zambrano has been instructed to win the MLS title in ’99, as he was last season; anything less won’t be accepted. With aggressive new ownership — Philip F. Anschutz, whose properties include the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids — ensuring the Galaxy occupies a higher profile in its marketplace, expectations have climbed. That’s fine with Zambrano. “Every year we want to win the championship, we expect to win the championship,” he says. “Every year we’ve come up short. [We] will forever be expected to win — if you don’t, you have to pay the consequences.” To deal with those, and work toward a future he’s confident he’ll be part of, Zambrano has embraced a youth movement. He sent captain Dan Calichman to New England to keep rising star Steve Jolley in the center of his defense, and loaned out Guatemalan Martin Machon (to Santos in Mexico) and Ecuadoran Wellington Sanchez (deal with an Ecuadoran club pending) to provide second-year midfielders Clint Mathis and Daniel Hernandez more playing time. “I firmly believe players like Steve Jolley, Clint Mathis and Daniel Hernandez are good enough and should be given the opportunity to shine,” Zambrano says. “The time is now — it’s always been my belief to give younger players a chance.” Seven players younger than 25 — Jolley, Mathis, Hernandez, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, defender Greg Vanney, midfielder Joe Franchino and forward Welton — are likely starters. Mathis, who enjoyed an inspired rookie season, will take on more responsibility, feeding Welton and MVP finalist Cobi Jones in playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos’ absence. The Salvadoran, holding out while seeking a richer contract, has been suspended by the league without pay and might not return in ’99. Cienfuegos was the engine behind the Galaxy’s record-breaking attack, which shattered the league’s scoring mark (85 goals, breaking the record with more than six weeks to season’s end) while winning 24 games for 68 points, also records. But L.A. went 2-6 against D.C. United and Chicago, scoring only six times. That must change. SAN JOSE Starting over The San Jose Clash missed the playoffs again in ’98, becoming the first MLS club to do so in successive seasons. What better time to start over? Coach Brian Quinn has overhauled his roster, waiving eight players and letting three others get away after a dismal 13-19 effort. He’s rebuilt his defense almost from scratch and brought in MLS’s most deadly striker to put away the chances the new Clash is supposed to create. It’s all part of a larger rebuilding effort, one in which control of the club has passed from the league to New England’s Robert Kraft, who purchased the team as a deal involving Alan Rothenberg fell through. “I don’t know if it’s rebuilding,” Quinn says. “The guys here are familiar with the way things run. It’s more integrating new players into what we’re doing. “Sometimes it takes time to get the kinks worked out.” Whether the Clash, a league-worst 40-56 over three seasons, can work them out at all is one of myriad questions for which Quinn is seeking answers. As season’s start nears, he still is searching for a playmaker and a defender to replace Marcelo Vega, released because he wasn’t fit, and Richard Gough, who wouldn’t play for Quinn. He is waiting to see if his biggest acquisition — all-time MLS scoring leader Raul Diaz Arce, holding out (and now suspended) in a contract dispute — will ever arrive to join fellow Salvadoran Ronald Cerritos in the Clash attack. And he’s wondering how well the new players, 14 in all, will mesh with what’s left of the old Clash. Cerritos and winger Eddie Lewis — off a fine winter with the U.S. national team — are crucial if the Clash is to succeed in ’99, and finishing fourth, worth a postseason berth, would constitute success. “I think [the playoffs] are obtainable,” Quinn says. “There’s not a lot between most of the teams, and the wonderful thing about soccer — as Chicago proved last year — is that a new team can win it all.” By Soccer America Senior Editor Scott French