MLS CONFIDENTIAL: Razov's move; No Clint?

RAZOV REDUX: More than two weeks after Ante Razov told his former Columbus teammates that he was on his way to the MetroStars, the trade happened.

In yet another MLS trade involving "a portion of an allocation," which in every other sport would be simply described as "cash," Columbus accepted forward John Wolyniec in exchange along with about $100,000.

Also bidding for Razov was D.C. United. Coach Peter Nowak played with Razov in Chicago, and to ease what might be a logjam at forward, a source says had Razov come to D.C., Alecko Eskandarian would have been tried as a left wing so he, Razov, Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez could get on the field at the same time.

In exchange for Razov, D.C. had offered Dema Kovalenko, but Columbus continued negotiations with the MetroStars and eventually landed a replacement in Wolyniec.

Razov's departure is the second such move from Columbus by an American player who'd spent time in Europe. Tony Sanneh arrived last summer from Germany, played a few months, than was dealt during the offseason to Chicago — in exchange for Razov.

The move to Columbus reunites Wolyniec and Cornell Glen, who was traded by FC Dallas to the Crew in April. Glen scored six goals and Wolyniec 10 for the Metros last season.

NO CLINT? Coach Bruce Arena had a simple reason for excluding Real Salt Lake forward Clint Mathis from his U.S. squad for recent matches against England, Costa Rica, and Panama despite the absences of several national team regulars.

"If he moves forward with his club team, he's in a position to come into the national team," said Arena. "He's not here because I don't think he'd make a dent in this roster right now.

"He's playing OK. He's probably not scoring as many goals as I'd like to see."

After the U.S. beat Costa Rica at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Mathis and Real Salt Lake were shut out for the third straight time in a 2-0 loss to FC Dallas. Mathis fired two long-distance shots narrowly wide, and couldn't reach a ball Brian Dunseth drilled across the goalmouth to the far post.