Tampa Bay bosses at odds over striker’s fourth move

WASHINGTON, D.C. ù Members of the D.C. United staff reported for game-day duty with T-shirts bearing the words, “Season opener: May 27, 2000” on the back. That the team wanted to disregard its 2-9-1 start was not surprising. That it chose the arrival of Raul Diaz Arce as the genesis of its revival hopes was wildly ironic.

Just two months earlier, at United’s true season opener, two factions of fans had hurled jeers, whistles, beers and in some instances fists at one another. The ones toting Salvadoran flags at that game wanted to remind D.C. management that they still held a grudge against United for trading Diaz Arce after the 1997 season. The others were bitterly trying to drown out the enemy camp.

Now those two groups sat integrated and cozy under the shelter of the upper deck while a steady rain tumbled down. A reserved harmony reigned between them, although the trade ù which sent John Maessner and three draft picks to the Tampa Bay Mutiny ù drew mixed reviews from United’s faithful followers.

Some doubted Diaz Arce’s effectiveness. Others wanted an apology from someone for the animosity that existed for two years. Still others were thrilled to see the second-leading scorer in league history back where he won two championships.

WINNING WELCOME. The Salvadorans, as expected, cheered louder for Diaz Arce than anyone else, but since he could not manage to give them the rapture of scoring himself, they accepted a 3-2 United victory with pleasure.

“I felt great because I missed the team, I missed the city,” Diaz Arce said. “For me to wear the shirt for D.C. was good, especially tonight because we win. I hope next week I play much better and score a goal. Some parts of the game I was confused because I have not played here two years, but we work this week and soon play much better.”

The ironies didn’t stop at kickoff. Chris Albright, whose season-long scoring drought provided much of United’s impetus to make the trade, notched a goal in the 11th minute and set up another in the 22nd while playing right midfield.

United surrendered another free-kick goal, perhaps confirming that the season really hasn’t started over. The dreaded own goal, which has haunted United three times already this season, visited Dallas this time when Brandon Pollard knocked in Ben Olsen’s driven cross for the 75th minute game-winner.

Diaz Arce played all 90 minutes and while he couldn’t convert any chances, he showed the ability to set up others, especially late in the second half.

“This is the start of our season,” Rongen said. “We’re 1-0 right now and we’ve got 19 more games to play.”

DISCORD IN TAMPA. Mutiny president and general manager Bill Manning said that when D.C. initially inquired about Diaz Arce, the team was not interested in trading him. But Manning said Diaz Arce came to him May 23 to request a trade.

“Raul was very unhappy about the situation here,” Manning said. “He asked if anything could be done with D.C. because that was the only team he would go to. … It has always been my philosophy that if a player is unhappy, you have to accommodate him.”

Mutiny coach Tim Hankinson, however, said the deal was completed while he was at training Friday.

“I didn’t want to lose Raul to begin with,” Hankinson said. “We get offers all the time … I saw no offer that I felt would enhance our team.”

Hankinson also said it was not his understanding that Diaz Arce had asked for a trade.

“Every player is unhappy who is not starting,” Hankinson said. “Raul did not want to leave Tampa.”

Hankinson was planning to try a 3-5-2 formation against Kansas City with both Diaz Arce and Mamadou Diallo, who had previously been vying for a lone forward slot. He called Diaz Arce May 24 to inform him he would be starting.

Hankinson said he and Manning planned to meet May 31 for the first time in the five days since the trade.

“I’ll wait to see what [Manning] has to say and make my judgments from there,” Hankinson said.

Manning said Hankinson was “involved the whole time” but admitted that he finalized the deal on his own.

“Tim wanted to hold on to Raul longer, either to get more [in a trade] or to see if he could experiment further,” Manning said. “But it came down to a player who was unhappy and I think Tim is overlooking that. … This is clearly my franchise now. I have a vision for building a championship team and it has to include everyone moving together. If it’s a matter of making changes to get that to happen, we’ll do it.”

‘TOO GOOD AN OFFER.’ Manning said he felt an urgency to complete the deal before D.C.’s home game against Dallas and that the draft picks ù two in the 2001 first round and one in the 2002 second round ù were too good an offer to pass up.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of guys in this league that are on the block one week and completely unavailable the next,” Manning said. “If we had waited until the following week, D.C. might have won and then we don’t get one of those draft picks. … If you look at all the players from this year’s draft, you see that we could get some impact players.”

Payne had cited salary cap considerations when he traded Diaz Arce away originally and the team was reportedly very close to the limit when the season began, yet United apparently can afford him now.

“This year, we don’t bear any of his cap, which is standard in the league,” Payne said. “We keep John Maessner’s salary, they keep Raul’s.”

Manning said Tampa agreed to pick up $50,000 of Diaz Arce’s 2001 salary.

The fact that the trade had an immediate, positive influence on D.C.’s attendance (18,120 at the Dallas game in a downpour) brought out suspicion of MLS involvement, but both Payne and Manning denied any league input.

Manning said he asked for Maessner because of the number of championships on his resume.

He said the club is again looking into the possibility of adding Tico Tico, of Mozambique, whom it named as a discovery player in preseason but chose not to sign. Tico Tico is currently playing with the Jomo Cosmos in South Africa.

“I think compared to the last three deals that were made for Raul, we did better than anyone,” Manning said.

by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns