Foreign players and coaches dominate discussions
In several parts of the country, on battle grounds great and small, the tussles have been waged for more than a month.
MLS ’99 is building to a climax wrought by conflict, controversy and confrontation. Debate has been heated, the passions fierce, the gamemanship intense.
There’s been a lot of great action on the field, too. Yet regardless of which team emerges as champion at Foxboro Stadium Nov. 21, what arises from the final league finale of the century will drastically alter the future of the league and the sport in this country.
Not every facet of MLS 2000 And Beyond will be revealed during the week of the league’s championship game, but decisions made and changes invoked guarantee that MLS will look and feel much different than it did in its first four years.
Overtime and oversights
Still raging in the wake of shootout-less games is what occurs thence.
Several MLS honchos may have dropped their stance that shootouts beat ties, but they remain unconvinced that ties should stand as is.
Commissioner Don Garber says MLS is developing a plan by which a short overtime, of undetermined duration, can be squeezed into the time window of a game.
By shortening halftime, and tightening up the 45 minutes allotted per half through clock management, MLS is investigating the feasibility of overtime. If no goals were scored in overtime, a tie would stand, yet clearly it is the league’s preference to reduce the possibility of tied matches by any means possible, short of the dreaded s-word.
“Overtimes are feasible and likely,” said Garber. “But we have to continue to push with our broadcast partners to get our games within our windows so they’ll stay with our games.”
The issue of tied playoff games, and playoffs themselves, is a far stickier mess. The best-of-three playoff format has been under examination, with alternatives proposed, but the scenario of both conference finals going to a third game has restored faith.
“There’s been talk about a two-game playoff, home and away,” said Columbus and Kansas City investor-operator Clark Hunt. “But there’s a lot of excitement this week with the conference finals going to a third game.”
Of the 24 playoff series held since 1999, only eight have gone further than two games. The abbreviated MLS playoff formula has for some reason been skewed toward sweeps, with the exception of 1996, when all four first-round series went to a third game.
That was also the year the league cut costs by letting the lower-seeded team host the first game, rather then using the logical formula now in force of the higher-seeded team hosting Game 1, and if necessary, Game 3.
The league cites the possibility of a first-game blowout as rationale for not going to a two-game playoff. “I don’t think we can afford to be in a position where our playoff games are perceived as meaningless,” said Garber.
“We were really unlucky, it seems, with our playoffs in 1997 and 1998,” said Hunt. “There wasn’t a whole lot of excitement since so many of them were over in two games.”
To bring further excitement into the playoff chase, the league may adopt wild-card teams next season. This would also fit with a proposed realignment into three divisions of four teams.
What is a foreign player?
One change the league must institute is a reclassification of players holding green cards, so as not to run afoul of the U.S. Justice Department.
A green-card holder is entitled to similar rights and protections as those bestowed upon U.S. citizens, with certain exceptions (rights to vote and to run for certain public offices).
One right that cannot be compromised or hindered is that to seek work. MLS limits the number of foreigners it will sign, but cannot continue defining a green-card holder as different than a U.S. citizen.
Only a handful of players currently fall under this category, including Uche Okafor and Mo Johnston of Kansas City. A green-card holder is officially a “permanent resident alien,” not simply a foreigner holding a work visa.
But the league could be flooded with foreign players carrying green cards in the next few seasons, if more and more players – such as Marco Etcheverry, who has reportedly begun the green-card application process – choose this option.
To facilitate its search for younger talent abroad as well as domestically, the league is developing a program similar to that of Project-40 by which young foreign players would temporarily not count against a team’s roster and/or salary cap.
This category would accommodate players coming into the league through agreements like the one the league has struck with the Tahuichi Academy and other programs such as a proposed deal with the Caribbean Football Union. It could also provide opportunities for foreign-born players who compete in U.S. college or club programs.
One proposal outlines a “3/2” foreigner rule, by which every team is permitted three foreign players and two more slots for younger non-U.S. citizens, who would eventually “graduate” onto a team’s roster and salary cap.
Coaching carousel to spin
Whether or not Bob Bradley returns as Chicago head coach could depend on whose contract wins out.
The Fire would like to exercise the option year in Bradley’s contract, but might permit him to take a post with U.S. Soccer. Current Olympic head coach Clive Charles has a guaranteed contract with the federation through the year 2000, so as to receive full value for its money as well as placate Bruce Arena, the federation could move Charles over to the U.S. women’s team and leave the Olympic job open for Bradley.
In addition to changes for the Metros and the Revs, there might be one for the Fusion.
That’s in addition to the dropping of “Miami” in favor of “South Florida.”
Ivo Wortmann has yet to resolve his differences regarding salary and facilities with operator-investor Ken Horowitz.
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney