What Alexi Lalas, Troy Dayak, Ian Bishop and John Spencer have in common
Bishop runs enough, if not especially fast. His moves are sharp, his decisions instant. If he stands up to the heat and humidity of a South Florida summer, the Fusion has discovered a heady linkman.
On the Rose Bowl field opening night two of the more intriguing discovery players of 2001 squared off.
Wearing Galaxy teal and black stood the red-haired troubadour, Alexi Lalas, who came back from a season in TV land shorn of his goatee but not his desire to play.
Clad mostly in white, Troy Dayak, the man once known as “Beast,” prowled and growled in his return to MLS following two years of injuries and rehabilitation (see Q&A, Page 11 of the April 23 issue).
For the first 30 minutes, Lalas and his teammates scrambled as San Jose sliced open their defense to score three goals, the first a powerful header by Dayak on a corner kick. The Galaxy rallied but fell, 3-2.
“That’s not the beginning I wanted,” said Lalas. “We have to get better as a team collectively, and I have to get better individually.
“But to be out there again playing is a blast.”
Dayak celebrated his goal by jumping to the Rose Bowl railing and roaring with San Jose fans who’d made the trip south.
Neck and knee injuries knocked him out of the league after three seasons in San Jose. His return to MLS has been a two-year odyssey of hospitals and surgeries, triumphs and setbacks.
“I felt like a huge, huge weight had been taken out of my chest when I scored that goal,” he said. “I can tell you it was like a dream.”
They were not the only discovery players to stamp their mark on opening night. Scotsman John Spencer scored Colorado’s goal in its 2-1 loss to Miami, for which Englishman Ian Bishop played 90 minutes and assisted on a tying goal.
DISCOVERIES DEFINED. The league has a complex set of rules and guidelines for discovery players.
In the case of American players who are not allocations, if the league has been negotiating with the player prior to the SuperDraft but no agreement is reached, he can’t be discovered.
Instead, he would be subject to a weighted lottery in which teams are assigned probabilities based on 2000 records.
“The obvious rationale is you could have a team encouraging a player not to sign with the league knowing that in the draft another team might be able to pick him up and a day after the draft they’d be able to send in a discovery request,” said deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis.
The weighted lottery also is used for players training with teams but not negotiating with the league. Gus Kartes went into the lottery, Gazidis said, because teams besides Tampa – with which he played in preseason – were interested.
Foreign players are treated differently. “If a team goes out and finds a player and finds a deal the league believes makes economic sense for an international player, that player could be well-known, like Robert Warzycha,” said Gazidis.
In Spencer’s and Bishop’s cases, MLS teams initiated contact and helped broker the deals that brought them into the league.
Financial restrictions exist on discovery players. Each team has a $75,000 budget for its two discovery acquisitions each season.
There are no limits to a discovery player’s salary, but the acquisition cost plus salary must fit under the league’s $1.7 million-per-team salary cap.
Foreign discovery players are classified as senior internationals. Junior Agogo of Colorado is young enough (22 in August) to be a junior international, but he was signed as a discovery player, so he counts as a senior international.
NEW RULES? Lalas ended a year’s sabbatical from playing, during which he delighted soccer fans with his television commentary. Dayak recovered from spinal fusion surgery and knee ligament damage.
Gazidis says no new rules were formulated for these cases.
“Alexi was a discovery only because the other 11 teams passed on him,” said Gazidis. “We wouldn’t have allowed that to happen if a team had objected, but there were no objections.
“It’s exactly the same thing with [D.C.’s] Mark Watson. They were both early discoveries [before the SuperDraft], and no team objected to them signing early so they could play in the [CONCACAF] Champions Cup.”
Dayak falls into the category of players who were waived prior to this year and not picked up. A player waived in 2001 can be claimed without using a discovery slot.
Lalas came into the league as an allocated player but is perfectly happy to wear the catch-all designation as a discovery.
“In MLS, there are so many definitions of players and what they’re called,” he said. “I could care less what they call me.”
“BISH.” When word first filtered out the Fusion had filed a discovery request for a 35-year-old Englishman, titters and dark tales abounded.
Longtime fans recalled some of the bleaker NASL retreads who arrived from Britain with a taste for beer and sun but no affinity for public appearances or running.
Bishop set up the Fusion’s first goal with a clever through ball to Alex Pineda Chacon. He runs enough, if not especially fast. His moves are sharp, his decisions instant.
If he stands up to the heat and humidity of a South Florida summer, the Fusion has discovered a heady linkman.
“A few people in England were on me about coming here,” said Bishop, who left Manchester City in a relegation fight to stay in the Premier League.
“But I’m not here because of my age no matter what people say. I turned down two good offers from First Division teams to come here, and I’m the fittest I’ve been since I was 25.”
Bishop and Spencer are reportedly being paid about $210,000. Since they arrived on free transfers, they fall into the discovery category.
“If he were a U.S. player, he probably wouldn’t have been eligible to be a discovery player,” said Gazidis. “David Regis wouldn’t be eligible.
“There is a possibility for a team to be able to trump the other teams by not only finding the player but by also making a deal the league believes make sense.”
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney