The quality of play in the A-League is improving. Numerous players have moved down from MLS to extend their careers. Exciting young players like Greg Howes (Seattle), John Menyongar (Minnesota) and Edson Buddle (Long Island) emerged this season out of nowhere. And thereÆs RochesterÆs Onandi Lowe, one of the stars of World Cup qualifying in the CONCACAF region this year. Unfortunately, many clubs begin the offseason with questions about their future.
When the Rochester Rhinos beat the Minnesota Thunder, 3-1, to lift the A-League championship trophy Sept. 30, it brought to a close the most competitive season yet in the circuitÆs history.
Although the final featured the same two combatants that battled it out for the A-League title the previous two seasons, many teams around the league made significant strides.
ôThe level of play has definitely improved,ö said Rochester Rhinos coach Pat Ercoli. ôWhen you look at our division rivals, in the past there have always been a few teams that have been difficult to beat. Now, you look at the whole league and there are very few teams that had a winning road record.ö
An infusion of new talent, American and foreign, has improved the level of play.
Zimbabwean Digital Takawira (Milwaukee), American Greg Howes (Seattle) and Liberian John Menyongar (Minnesota), who finished among the top five in A-League scoring, exemplify the different routes taken to get to the A-League.
Takawira, a two-time MLS All-Star, got a chance to revive his career with the Rampage after being released by the Kansas City Wizards last season. He tied CharlestonÆs Paul Conway for the A-League scoring crown (42 points) and was named the A-LeagueÆs MVP in leading the Rampage to the semifinals.
Howes, who played collegiately at Oregon State, was a SoundersÆ draft pick. He had previous experience in the USL system with the nearby Willamette Valley Firebirds in the PDL. All Howes did was score 17 goals in 27 games to lead the Sounders to the Pacific Conference regular-season title and win Rookie of the Year honors.
Howes got a run for his money from Menyongar, a walk-on for the Thunder after playing at NAIA power Lindsey Wilson.
He emerged as perhaps the most exciting young player in the A-League, pacing the leagueÆs top offense with 17 goals.
As good as the product was on the field, however, there are still some question marks hovering over the A-League.
Yes, league attendance was up, but the average was still only 2,681 ù and that number was boosted considerably by RochesterÆs 11,268 average.
Five teams that averaged between 318 and 1,807 in 1999 didnÆt return in 2000.
Five other teams didnÆt even draw 1,000 fans a game in 2000, and it remains to be seen how many of them will return in 2001.
æBUILDING CHAPELS AND CHURCHES.Æ Ever the optimist, A-League commissioner Francisco Marcos believes the league is stable. For him, the key to the attendance puzzle is soccer-specific stadiums. It bodes well, Marcos says, that many A-League franchises are actively pursuing the construction of their own facilities, like CharlestonÆs Blackbaud Stadium, which opened in 1999.
ôWe need to tighten up management and encourage the process of building chapels and churches [read stadiums] around the league,ö Marcos said. ôThat is something that is critical.ö
Charleston general manager Buckley Andrews agrees.
ôI really think that is the key to the long-term success of the game in this country,ö Andrews said. ôYou have a much better chance to be successful. Until more teams start doing that, even with good strong owners itÆs always going to be a challenge.ö
There are some organizations in the league that cause concern.
ôOn the field, weÆre definitely making progress,ö said Andrews, ôbut as far as the health of the league, there are still some shaky franchises. Sometimes you have to wonder when the owners will stop the bleeding, so to speak.ö
Marcos points to Cincinnati and Tennessee, and to a lesser extent Indiana, which made the Central Division practically a cakewalk to the playoffs for Minnesota and Milwaukee, as weak link franchises. In particular, Cincinnati and Tennessee need to improve considerably to reach the A-League standard.
Cincinnati finished with a 2-23-2 record and averaged 486 fans, a league low. Tennessee was 6-22-0 and averaged just 778 fans.
Marcos says he approached Cincinnati about dropping a level for a season or two to bring its organization up to speed but was rebuffed.
ôThey absolutely insisted we couldnÆt do that legally,ö Marcos said, ôand we didnÆt want to push it, but they are a major concern.ö
æA FALSE SENSE OF REALITY.Æ For MinnesotaÆs first-year general manager, Jim Froslid, the ThunderÆs easy Central Division schedule may have taken its toll in the final against Rochester.
ôWe obviously ran into a very good team, but I also felt that if we were challenged more regularly throughout the regular season, we would have had a better showing in the final,ö Froslid said. ôWhen you win games 5-0, 6-0, it gives you a false sense of reality.ö
To try to balance the field, the league will be reformatted in 2001 into three divisions instead of four. Minnesota will, in all likelihood, be moved into the West, although the placement of teams has not been finalized.
ôWe need to go to the map, because the map wonÆt come to us,ö Marcos said. ôWe canÆt think we are going to have a Central Division just because it would be nice to have teams in the middle of the country.ö
Marcos expects to have 24 teams in 2001, which would then be split into groups of eight.
MLSÆs Pro 40, also a whipping boy in the Central, is gone after enduring a season in which it struggled on a regular basis just to field a team.
Raleigh is also out. The Express faced the imminent arrival of the WUSA, the new womenÆs league that is expected to move its Orlando team to North Carolina.
æROCHESTER WEST.Æ New in 2001 will be Portland, a team which will play in Civic Stadium under an ownership group that also operates a AAA baseball team.
The addition of the Portland franchise creates intriguing prospects in the Northwest, where a natural rival exists nearby in Seattle, which begs comparison to the old NASL, where the Timbers and Sounders played in front of big crowds.
ôPortland is an organization which weÆve been discussing for a year and a half,ö Marcos said. ôI expect them to be æRochester WestÆ in terms of marketing, besides the quality of the team. They will really be the proof in the pudding that we are taking a very slow, deliberate approach toward expansion.ö
Another potential franchise is Calgary, but that situation is less certain.
ôWe are having serious talks with a Calgary group and we are hopeful that the team will be in for 2001, if not 2002,ö Marcos said.
If Calgary joins, other Canadian teams may follow, and Marcos even envisions an all-Canadian division at some point in the future.
ôWeÆre in the very early stages of that thought process, but itÆs being investigated,ö Marcos said. ôThe CSA and an outside group are looking at a concept of getting some kind of corporate sponsorship involvement with what could become a single-entity Canadian division in the A-League.ö
Marcos is also working on developing the A-LeagueÆs relationships with foreign clubs.
Already Seattle has a working partnership with Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, while others are looking to form similar liaisons.
ôNext season, you are going to see an influx of more young foreign players as a result of the relationships we are working on,ö Marcos said. ôYouÆre going to see at least half a dozen of those types of things happening across the league. ThereÆs a lot of discussions. Clubs are trying to figure out what might be the best fit, whether it be an English club, a Central American club, a South American club. WeÆre looking into African situations.ö
æTRYING TO SURVIVE.Æ A-League clubs would also like to get into the business of developing and selling players, a lucrative aspect of soccer that so far has eluded them. MLS sold John Stern to Nottingham Forest in a multi-million dollar deal, much to the chagrin of his former A-League club, New Orleans.
ôOur business is trying to survive, and in the rest of the world clubs survive by selling players,ö CharlestonÆs Andrews said. ôWhatÆs starting to happen is the A-League teams are starting to say weÆll send our players abroad and make money that way.ö
Pittsburgh coach John Kowalski, who also has connections in Poland, recently returned from Trinidad & Tobago, where he scouted potential players.
ôThere were some interesting players,ö Kowalski said. ôThe best players are being gobbled up by England, but there were still some others that showed well, that we may take some interest in.ö
A hot commodity at present is MinnesotaÆs Menyongar.
ôWhen you consider Stern John and the asking price ù for some A-League clubs thatÆs an entire payroll,ö Froslid said. ôWe would be foolish not to consider it, and you know what? Some of these European clubs would be foolish not to look this way because the A-League and MLS are developing some great players.ö
by Soccer America associate editor Poul Swain