Fusion and MetroStars scramble to get off the scrapheap

Tangled together like two rusted rattletraps that have collided at an intersection, the MetroStars and Miami Fusion are throwing off sparks as they careen down the street. They are inexorably linked, these two MLS eyesores, through mismanagement, personnel swaps and ineptitude. The owner of one team used to have a small piece of the other. An executive of one team went to the other, struggled, and resigned. One team jettisoned a foreign superstar (Carlos Valderrama), the other cut loose a rock star (Alexi Lalas). After 11 weeks of play, they were entwined at the bottom of the Eastern Conference heap with eight points apiece. Slapping paint jobs on the same old wreck and proclaiming it a new model hadn’t worked, and the customers weren’t buying. So the Metros have unloaded more unwanted hardware, this time to Miami, with the hope that shiny foreign parts can replace those discarded. Yet there’s nothing new about the German cog expected to be shipped across the ocean in the next month, and no one is quite sure when or from where another replacement item will be coming. Mexican Damian Alvarez has stubbornly resisted tune-up attempts in MLS, and Claudio Caniggia has been in the shop for years. Miami driver/mechanic Ivo Wortmann will obviously need some time and tinkering to work Arley Palacios and Welton into his lurching, misfiring machine, and will anxiously oversee the repairing of another vital component, Eric Wynalda. The Fusion took the field with two of the Metros’ recycled items June 5 in Tampa, and sputtered to defeat, 1-0. Suspicions are rampant that this deal, like the Carlos Valderrama Caper, was brokered by MLS Commissioner Doug Logan in response to panicked pyrotechnics from Fusion operator-investor Ken Horowitz, and the Metros incessant whinings of needing Truly Big Names to sell soccer in the Big Apple. “Both Palacios and Welton are good players, don’t get me wrong,” said Metros general manager Charlie Stillitano, whose ability to slide off debacles and turmoil has made him the envy of Teflon salesmen everywhere. “But we feel in this market, they weren’t the kind of marquee players we need. We need someone like a Marco Etcheverry or a Peter Nowak or a Carlos Valderrama, someone whose impact is evident on the field, in the locker room and at the gate.” As if half the teams in MLS don’t need a player of that ilk. Among the many ironies that run rampant through this league is a popular perception that MLS bends over backwards, sideways, and every which way to rev up the MetroStars, yet the succession of clunkers in and out of the Meadowlands since Roberto Donadoni renews faith in the human spirit as personified by Murphy’s Law. The stripped-down Metros patched together a product made in the USA on the same day Miami fell to Tampa, and all their faulty parts were laid bare by Dallas, 5-2. With its massive unloading of players this year, the Metros have sufficient salary-cap room to accommodate three players at the league’s maximum salary of $247,000. Gauging their results to date, they’ll need every penny.

No or go for Matthaeus?

The chances of Lothar Matthaeus coming to MLS were enhanced June 7 by the announcement from national team head coach Erich Ribbeck that playing in MLS wouldn’t harm the 38-year-old veteran’s international prospects. Matthaeus is under contract to Bayern Munich until June 2000. Bayern has stated it wants to keep a tether on Matthaeus as it searches for a replacement, which implicitly binds him to the club and puts MLS in a precarious position, as Matthaeus has his eye set on the Champions League next season as well as the 2000 European Championship. Remember Matthaeus was subbed minutes before Bayern’s collapse against Manchester United that deprived him of the one medal he hasn’t won. MLS vice president Ivan Gazidis says the league would not take Matthaeus on any variation of a loan deal. But it’s highly unlikely Bayern would release him outright, free and clear, even if it did secure a replacement. Heir apparent Jens Jeremies notwithstanding, Bayern has a list of replacement candidates that include libero Frank Baumann of relegated Nuremberg and Paraguyan international Carlos Gammara, who plays in Brazil with Corinthians. So what Bayern might do if it permits Matthaeus passage to MLS, is invoke the Donadoni Oath, and “request” his services when needed. Once Matthaeus gets a look and feel for the fierce summer heat and that Meadowlands rug in late August, it may be him doing the requesting. Brian Eylert, an American citizen who runs a personnel agency near Frankfurt and works as a player agent, is representing Matthaeus in his negotiations with MLS. Eylert states Matthaeus is willing to make the financial sacrifice to play in MLS to be with his 21-year-old girlfriend, who is moving to New York this fall. She works part-time as a model, is learning the auction business, and is the daughter of the German national team doctor. “They came to New York for a couple of days after Bayern clinched the German title,” said Eylert. “Lothar told me, except for a few German tourists, nobody recognized him, and he enjoyed walking around Fifth Avenue without being bothered.” Eylert denied to confirm or deny reports that the league will pay Matthaeus $1 million to play through the end of the 2000 MLS season. He reportedly earned more than $2 million this past season in salary, appearances and league and European bonuses. Assuming an agreement is announced after the German Cup final June 12, MLS is targeting a July 10 game against the Fire as the league debut for Matthaeus. Hey, what a coincidence, with all those Germans in Chicago!

Miami muddles on

Through a business alliance with billionaire John Kluge and his right-hand man Stuart Sobotnick, Horowitz cashed in on the cellular boom. His first soccer investment was a minority share in the MetroStars, which he increased significantly to pony up $20 million for the right to throw money down a rathole. One of Horowitz’s first hires was Stillitano’s brother Leo, poached from the Metros front office to be the Fusion GM. He departed last fall, to be replaced by former D.C. United employee Betty D’Anjolell, and she’s been replaced by a consulting firm run by former adidas executives Doug Hamilton and Ken Chartier. Horowitz should hope Wortmann does a better job with Welton than he did with his previous Brazilian, Roberto Gaucho. The rugged Palacios is a straight swap for injured Wade Webber, but the Fusion won’t come out sweetly in this deal unless Wynalda can be reborn. Wynalda has been running and training with the ball for weeks, and could be back in action by August. The Fusion might have filled those Metro-like needs on the field and at the gate with a player like Trinidad & Tobago international Theodore Whitmore, but didn’t. Considering the Fusion has been in existence less than half as long as the Metros, Miami’s per-capita fiascos with bad player decisions, front-office shakeups, and plummeting attendances is impressive. On these measures, these two teams stand alone, and are by far the ugliest eyesores on lots where too few customers are coming by to kick the tires, much less buy. by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney.