MLS Conference Call Guests: MLS Deputy Commissioner – Ivan Gazidis Chicago Fire midfielder – Chris Armas Kansas City Wizards forward – Onandi Lowe Ivan Gazidis’ opening comments: “Thanks to Chris Armas for making the effort to be on the call. Chris is a great example of a player who came up through the United Soccer Leagues and into Major League Soccer and developed into one of the top players on the U.S. national team playing in MLS. He made a career for himself here. We’re very proud of him and everything he gives to us. We thank him for that. “It’s an exciting game this weekend for the U.S. national team against Jamaica and I hope our MLS players won’t help them too much but we’ve got five of them in the Jamaican camp: Onandi Lowe, Andy Williams, Tyrone Marshall, Wolde Harris and Chris Dawes. Also in action this weekend is Luis Hernandez with Mexico and William Sunsing will also be playing on Saturday in Mexico City for Costa Rica. Ansil Elcock was called in by Trinidad and Tobago for their game against Honduras this weekend. There are actually 21 MLS players engaged in qualifying matches all around the globe from the tropical islands in the Caribbean to Auckland, New Zealand. Simon Elliott of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Ryan Nelsen of D.C. United played prominent roles in New Zealand’s three wins last week. They beat Tahiti 5-0 on June 6, Cook Islands 2-0 on June 8 and the Solomon Islands 5-1 on June 11. They’re making good progress. “We’re unveiling our All-Star voting today. The voting for the sixth MLS All-Star Game that’s scheduled for July 28 in San Jose will be in our Weekly News Release. Currently the way the votes stand, the top eight players in the fans’ list are all members of the U.S. national team. That’s a huge statement for how far Major League Soccer has come in developing our own home grown talent. Clint Mathis leads the voting but is unfortunately injured. Chris Armas is second and for a defensive midfielder that’s a remarkable achievement. Jeff Agoos, Josh Wolff, Landon Donovan, Eddie Pope, Carlos Llamosa and DaMarcus Beasley are the other eight U.S. players on the list. The highest international vote-getter to date is perennial All-Star Carlos Valderrama. The coaches will be announced on July 10 and the starters will be announced on July 12. “The Miami Fusion are continuing their winning ways and the turnaround and the way that team has come together and reformed itself under the guidance of Ray Hudson and Doug Hamilton is remarkable. The performance of players like Alex Pineda Chacon, Diego Serna and Nick Rimando – all leaders in their respective categories – is remarkable. The Fusion take on the Columbus Crew June 30 at the Orange Bowl. It’s one of two Fusion games to be played in the Orange Bowl and the objective is to expand the Fusion’s fan base in the southern part of Dade County. Everything is coming together for that team. We’re very committed to Miami but we need to see what support there is of the team that is doing so incredibly well and is so attractive to watch. There could not be a more favorable set of circumstances for local area fans to show support for that team. We’re very encouraged by the signs that we’re seeing there. “Finally, I’d like to announce that Stephen Armstrong has finally had his work permit approved and that means he will join D.C. United’s roster and be eligible for tomorrow night’s game against the MetroStars. That will entail them having to make a move with respect to international players. Stephen counts as a senior international player. D.C. United are in active talks regarding a trade of Raul Diaz Arce and we expect that trade to be finalized later today or tomorrow morning so they can be in roster compliance by game time tomorrow night.” Chris Armas’ opening comments: “I’m very excited to be part of this U.S. camp. We’re preparing for the game this weekend in Jamaica and it’s never easy out here in Miami. The humidity is a factor. We’re trying to get accustomed to the heat and humidity. But the training has been good. The atmosphere is very good. Every time I come to this camp, training is very intense but the confidence is great all around with one goal in mind – that’s the World Cup. The idea for this weekend is to try to get some points in Jamaica which is difficult to do. They (Jamaica) need the points but I would say one point at the very minimum. Like we’ve said all along, the road is never easy but if we can get one point and be in a spot to get three then that’s the goal. “Then we have the quick turnaround to Foxboro against Trinidad on June 20. It’s a great opportunity for us and it’s great to be part of it. I’m trying to stay healthy and working hard. I’m trying to do the same with my club team in Chicago. So far we’re not playing the best soccer in Chicago but we’re getting points here and there. We’re in first place dealing with some pretty big injuries like that of Josh Wolff, who’s very frustrated at this time. But one thing about our team is we’re a deep team and credit goes to Head Coach Bob Bradley. Guys are being called upon on early and hopefully this will make us a better team. But it’s a good thing I don’t miss any games by being here with the national team. The next game for Chicago is on June 23. Hopefully I’ll be fit to play in that one.” Armas on the importance of winning on the road during World Cup qualifiers: “In soccer, more than any sport in the world, home advantage seems to be the biggest thing. Here in the United States I think we’re truly getting home field advantage, not just playing on home soil but with the fans really getting behind us. I’ve been fortunate to see this first hand in the last few years. As all these games are close, that extra kick from the fans really does make a difference. We all do know that it’s never easy for us to go to other countries. I’ve never played in Mexico City against Mexico yet. But we’ve played in Costa Rica, Honduras and now Jamaica. It’s never easy for us. They (the opponents) make most things difficult for us from the hotel situation to the time of day of the game. It’s a big event. The biggest thing is that we prepare the right way and have the right mentality going into the game and it’s going to help if we can go in there with the idea of getting some points. Points are the goal and if we steal three, that’s a plus for us.” Armas on how hungry the U.S. team is to wrap up qualification: “There is a buzz. You hear different guys saying, ‘Can we clinch with the next two wins?.’ Everyone is thinking it and feeling it but it’s not going to get any easier. Every game you have to try to chip away and try to get some points. The odds are against us in Jamaica but the team is playing with a lot of confidence. We have a few injuries on the national team but other guys have stepped up and we’re confident. There’s a good atmosphere here in camp and the opportunity is right there. We’re off to a great start but we have to go one game at a time to try to qualify as soon as possible. With each game it’s not going to get any easier. Even in the previous round, most games have been one-goal games and it’s not going to get any easier.” Armas on how the loss of the two hottest American players, Josh Wolff and Clint Mathis, affects the team: “Obviously, missing those two guys, you miss the aspects they bring to the game: the explosion on the offensive end. They’re two dangerous players. But defensively this team does well all-around. We all get behind the ball and make it tough to play against us. Going forward, whoever is going to step into their spots, you’re going to have guys who can be just as dangerous. Clint and Josh are two of my favorite players but whether it’s Joe Max-Moore or Brian McBride, they’ve scored goals wherever they’ve been. Jovan Kirovski played a good game against Ecuador. You just realize that this is life, it’s a fact that these guys are hurt and it’s part of the game of soccer. Just like with the Chicago Fire. Josh is hurt and other guys are stepping up to score. We’re going to move on and whoever it’s going to be will be very capable of scoring goals and that will be worked out fine.” Armas on keeping the World Cup qualifying momentum with the long layoff since the last game: “I don’t think there’s a loss of momentum. We have nine points and I couldn’t tell you whether the last game was four weeks or five weeks ago. We’re watching some video of our last qualifier against Costa Rica at home. It’s pretty easy to feel the energy from our last games and once we get close to the weekend, it’s easy to get motivated for these type of games and what they mean. We’re really keeping our mind focused on the goal: the World Cup. As a player it’s really easy to stay focused. If you look around the camp, we have a talented group and from the coaching staff to the players there is a lot of confidence all around.” Armas on the threats offered by Jamaica’s offense: “They have some dangerous players. They’re skilful. They’ve got some guys who can dribble on the front line and out of the midfield. We’re going to be tested. They’ve got some creative, dangerous players. We know that. We’re going to watch some film of them and hopefully we’ll be ready for that. We’ll get more of a scouting report as we go along this week. But we expect dribbling out of the midfield and some pretty athletic players.” Armas on flying out to Jamaica a day before the game: “I think it’s a great way to do it. You’d think it’s hotter and more humid right now in Miami. As much time as we can spend on our own soil here, in our own comfort, the better it is for us. That’s my opinion and I imagine a lot of the players feel the same way. We’re not going there to enjoy Jamaica. We’re going there to play a soccer game. We’ll go in there the day before, train on the practice field, play the next day and then get out. I don’t think there’s need to spend more time there. With a place like Mexico where there’s altitude, I don’t know how that’s going to be handled, but in this situation I think it’s just fine.” Armas on the advantage of playing against Jamaican internationals in MLS: “For them to be a little familiar with us and for us to be a little familiar with them, I would imagine that’s going to help. We know the tendencies of some of their players. To know something more about a player rather than a little less is better. We know they have capable players. Going into a game we give so much respect to all the players. Some of us have played with them and others against them. It’ll help as a starting point but at the end of the day, I’m not sure how it will affect the 90 minutes. Games don’t always go as you think and there are other players you have to worry about. We’ll see how it goes.” Gazidis on the MetroStars and a possible replacement player: “It’s not easy. The MetroStars have three internationals and unless there’s a move for an international player, which is not something that’s been discussed at this point, you’re limited as far as U.S. players. We sign every good U.S. player that we can sign whether the MetroStars need a replacement player or not. So we’re always on the lookout. But there’s nothing imminent out there that looks possible or can be put together in the time period allowed.” Gazidis on Jovan Kirovski coming to MLS as a loan player: “We’ve put in a couple of calls to investigate that possibility. I think it didn’t make sense. Jovan is looking at a club in Europe and so the replacement period would have been too short. While we could have done a very short-term loan, that wasn’t something the MetroStars were interested in this year.” Gazidis on identifying an American player as a possible replacement for the MetroStars: “I’m standing ready to look at whatever solutions we can put together. The MetroStars may want to see how Adolfo (Valencia) comes back from his injury and assess what their needs as a team are before they feel confident in moving forward in any particular direction. At this point there’s no impact player that is imminent. There may be other possibilities that may present themselves and the MetroStars will assess that situation.” Onandi Lowe on how playing in MLS will help him and his teammates in the qualifier against the U.S.: “It’s great competing against some of the guys in MLS. I can give my fellow players a few pointers and hopefully we can match them and come away with a win.” Lowe on how different the U.S. will be without Clint Mathis: “They haven’t lost any points yet. They have a lot of confidence right now and they are coming in here to take a win. We’re going to do the same thing because we’re playing at home. I don’t think they have guys like Clint Mathis but it’s not going to be any different. They’re going to come out and fight even harder. We’re planning to go all-out with our 4-4-2 formation.” Lowe on why it’s difficult for teams to win in Jamaica and why their home stadium is called ‘The Office’ (where Jamaica is unbeaten in its last 50 matches): “We decided that it’s our ‘Office’ and it’s not good for someone to just come in and clean our ‘Office’ out and so we went on a winning streak at home. That’s when we started naming our home the ‘Office’. We haven’t lost a game here in a long time and we’re hoping to continue that trend. It doesn’t matter which team comes into the ‘Office’. We’re playing to win.” Lowe on the recent attacking difficulties of Jamaica and their plans to change things: “Goals win games and we’re just going in to win – one or two goals, it doesn’t matter. We’re just concentrating on winning. We want to play attacking soccer but in World Cup qualifying it’s difficult and we don’t want to give up any more points. We lost a game against Mexico and that was a very big setback for us. We’re going to try hard not to give up any more points and we’re going to try to come out to win the game.” Lowe on the hard playing surface in Jamaica and how it affects goal scoring: “They’ve been working on it for the last couple of weeks. It’s coming around. They have nice fields in the U.S. but Jamaica is a tropical island with a lot of sun. It’s hard to maintain the fields. The surface is a little bit hard but they’re doing they’re best to have it ready for us to play on. It’s not bad.” Lowe on the strength and weaknesses of the U.S.: “The key of any game is keeping the ball and when they keep the ball we can’t do anything. We’re playing at home and we’re going to go all out to win. We’re going to let it go and try to win. In the U.S. it’s not as warm as in Jamaica and that’s why we’re practicing in the sun right now. It’s going to be difficult for the U.S.” Lowe on the excitement around Saturday’s qualifier in Jamaica: “Everybody is excited here and fans will be camping out before the game. It’s going to be a very good atmosphere to play in.” Lowe on the mood of the Jamaican team: “The atmosphere is very calm and quiet. Everyone is focused and working out what we’re going to do on Saturday. There’s a lot of technical work and we’re working on our match plan, with free kicks and all that comes with it.” Lowe on comparing the current Jamaican team to the 1998 World Cup team: “It’s a different coach and we have a couple of new managers but the guys are basically the same. There are no changes. It’s the same team with the same guys. It’s the same big family.” Lowe on the expectations in Jamaica after the team qualified for the 1998 World Cup: “I can say everyone was very overwhelmed that we reached World Cup 1998. The same atmosphere is coming about. Everyone is excited. We have a pretty good team and we can surely make it to the World Cup again. We just have to keep focused. We went to the World Cup and earned a few points. Everyone was nervous there and we learned not to give up any chances and to attack and defend for the entire 90 minutes. We went out there and won a game and made our country proud being in the World Cup. We learned a few pointers. As for myself I was very overwhelmed after watching the World Cup over the years. It was a dream come true for me.” Lowe on the difficulty teams face to win in Jamaica: “It’s not really difficult. If you’re a soccer player, you’re going to be a little shaky at first playing away from home. But once the ball is out on the field that goes away. The thing about Kingston is that it’s very warm and we’re used to the 12 o’ clock sun. But that’s it. It’s all about soccer and mental and physical concentration.” Lowe on Jamaica’s disappointment at being eliminated from the Copa Caribe tournament: “I can say that in Jamaica they were going crazy when we didn’t reach the Copa Caribe final. A quality team like Jamaica not being there in the finals was a big letdown. Fans and players were feeling bad. But we look at the bigger picture which is going to the World Cup and that’s what we’re looking at right now.” Gazidis on the likelihood that MLS teams can play international club opponents in matches which factor in the standings: “I think they had that in the NASL and it’s something Lamar Hunt has raised as a possibility at a number of owners’ meetings over the years. There are a lot of difficulties in doing that. The ones I can identify is equality of schedule. It’s difficult to get any one international team to play all 12 MLS teams. It’s an objective of ours to get meaningful games against international club competition. We’re focused on entering competitions like the Giants Cup, Champions’ Cup, and Merconorte. That’s a prime objective of ours. Having those games have an effect on the standings or regular season would be difficult.” Gazidis on the status of MLS teams competing in the Merconorte tournament: “We’ve had some extraordinary cooperation from the Merconorte organizers and we’re putting the pieces in place as fast as we can but one piece at a time. It’s a real challenge. There’s not a great deal of space in our season but I am confident that we’ll be able to get through the difficulties we have and that we’ll be able to have one or two teams enter the competition this year. But we’re not in a position to announce it at this point. We still have some issues to work through.” Gazidis on the chances of Boca Juniors playing against the Los Angeles Galaxy: “We went from a field of teams and then narrowed it down and it became clear that Boca was the only possibility and that’s not going to happen. So we’re looking at filling that space with the regular season and that’s John Ertmann’s job to look at the schedule and try to work out how that space is filled. It’s a disappointment obviously.” Gazidis on what it means for MLS to build new stadiums: “It’s a tremendous development for us. Building our own stadiums positively impacts so many aspects of our business and our league. It impacts our ticket sales, our revenue stream and the scheduling we’re able to do so we can schedule our games optimally. It impacts the perception of our league and it creates cathedrals in which our fans can worship. It’s a huge, huge development every time one of these stadiums comes along. We have so many questions that still circulate about whether the league is going to make it. With respect to that question, there’s only one issue that has any bearing on that question: are our owners committed to Major League Soccer? It’s not about attendance, it’s not about television figures, it’s not about sponsorship dollars. It’s a question of commitment. Those things are relevant to our business but the only thing relevant to whether we are going to make it is the commitment of our owners. When they’re building stadiums like this, it’s a resounding and abundantly clear message that the commitment is stronger than ever and the possibilities are greater than ever. So it’s a huge statement from that perspective and removes a set of questions that we’ve found ourselves too often in the past having to spend time answering. And it allows us to focus on what’s happening in Miami on the field and those types of issues. In terms of the next stadium, I would say somewhere in the New Jersey area is likely and I’m hoping we can get some positive news about New York in the relatively near future. That will bring two new stadiums on line. We already have the Columbus Crew Stadium and to some extent Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale was made for soccer. So we’re really beginning to see some great developments with stadiums.”