The following are quotes from the Sept. 12 MLS conference call featuring MLS executive vice president Ivan Gazidis, Kansas City Wizards coach Bob Gansler and MetroStars coach Octavio Zambrano. Gazidis’ Opening Comments The Olympic team has a very big game tomorrow and we wish them all the best. The Czech Republic is a tough team. Congratulations to Bob [Gansler] and Octavio [Zambrano] on two incredible seasons. Both of these coaches have to be commended for the jobs they’ve done with their programs. It takes a lot of hard work and behind the scenes efforts. One announcement to make today: We are officially going to a 28-game regular season format for next season, down from our current 32 games. We had a long look at the way we schedule our games and promote them. We will be able to promote our games better with a 28-game schedule. In a 32-game schedule, we have certain games that we promote well and some not at all. We believe by reducing the schedule by two home games per team that we can promote the games better. We believe that each of our games will be more significant. We will probably end of having less midweek games, which is important because our midweek games tend to be less well attended. I think this will help with the quality of our games and be that our players will be less effected with injuries. It also opens some possibilities for us in the international competitions. We would like to be involved in more meaningful competitions like the Mercanorte Cup. We do not have information as to the date that the season will start next year, nor have we done the match-ups for the schedule. One simple answer is that you can play the teams in your division four times and other teams twice. That hasn’t been decided yet. Gansler’s Opening Comments In terms of our season we feel good with what we have accomplished. We got off to a scintillating start. We fought through some adversity just like anyone else, in terms of injuries and sharpness. We got it back on track the last 10 games or so. We’ve met our objectives, which were to make the playoffs and be playing well when we get there. We are getting healthy and that is important. We’ve had four hard games against Colorado and expect no less coming up. Zambrano’s Opening Comments (made before the U.S. Open Cup semifinal loss to Miami) In terms of our team, our aim was to restore credibility to the club. We wanted to make sure our players felt like winners and played like winners. We did that, which was very important. Now in the playoffs, it is a completely different scenario. We will face teams that use strict defensive schemes. I expect Dallas to be that type of team. These are the types of games that you have to be a little bit smarter. As far as tonight, I believe Miami is a very dangerous team. We need have a high concentration level to beat Miami and reach the Open Cup Final. This club has never played in a Cup final and the guys know that. Zambrano on the MetroStars’ turnaround It was really a daunting task. We were faced with a group of players that needed a different philosophy and also to get past the dismal seasons. Everybody wanted this club to do well and year after year something went terribly wrong. We were able right from the beginning install a winning mentality. We have set a lot of records and accomplished a lot already. There have been many opportunities that we have had to come from behind to win matches. The attitude is the biggest accomplishment for us. Gansler on the Wizards’ turnaround It does start with talent. We changed half of the roster. The folks we brought in were talented and hungry for success. It was important that we got off to a good start, because that breeds confidence. When you are confident, the likelihood of succeeding goes up. As a coach you can train the ponies and hope they run. Gansler on Kansas City’s play heading into the playoffs You want to be firing on all cylinders at the end of the season. Chicago has been the hottest team and Dallas next down the stretch. We are getting healthier by the day and that is the key. We are in reasonably good shape. Zambrano on the Metros’ recent form There is no secret that we had a tremendous loss with our goalkeepers. I believe that our team does have enough talent to pick ourselves up and succeed. The only thing that is left for us is to win something big. We need to regain our form that we had right before the All-Star break. I hope the guys can bring the attitude to get us back there. Gazidis on the 2001 schedule There is no suggestion of a change of playoff format. We haven’t used this format before, so I guess we’ll wait and see. We hope that it goes well and works well. I expect it to work fine. If there is something wrong, we can address a potential change after the season. Any decision would be made in the offseason. Gazidis on the playoff format The idea of having the series format is fairly well established in U.S. sports. The home and away format is well established in soccer. The idea of the current format is to give every team a chance at one home game. The reason why we have a single MLS Cup, is that we feel it is important to have one event that everybody can rally around and we can promote very effectively through television and the media. You could take a view that the MLS Cup should be decided in a series, but it is very difficult to pull that off logistically. Gansler on the differences Peter Vermes and Matt McKeon have made They are two players that I was very familiar with. When we made the move to obtain both of them, we had specific things in mind. We anticipated that we would have a very young defense and Vermes’ leadership in the back would be important. I’ve coached Matt McKeon before, and I know how good a two-way player he is. Last year we had no dominating presence in midfield. With the development of Kerry Zavagnin, Matt has been able to go forward quite a bit and show what he could do. They have worked out very well for us and we are glad we had the opportunity to snatch them. Zambrano on concerns for Dallas We are really not focusing on the goalkeeping situation as a negative. We need to focus on what the players bring to the club. We are concentrating on our strategy. We are at times a little bit innocent in terms of leaving ourselves open on the counter. Teams that we will face will defend as a priority, as the Dallas Burn likely will. We must be a little bit more careful on how many people we send forward. I think that’s where we’ve had our biggest problems. Gazidis on Tampa Bay forward Mamadou Diallo on and off the field We’ve been surprised. You never sign a player thinking he will be the league’s top scorer in his first season. When you sign a player, especially a foreigner, you expect them to struggle a bit at first. For Mamadou to do what he’s done is remarkable. He’s had a huge impact on the game and the city of Tampa Bay. He has a love for the game and has developed a love for Tampa Bay as a city. In all aspects, Mamadou has been a tremendous signing at this point. We’ve had some loan interest for Mamadou and if we could find a situation that made sense for Mamadou, MLS and Tampa Bay, we would look at it. One thing we will try and avoid are situations where we loan him out past the beginning of our season. Gansler on the playoff format I believe by and large in the regular season that teams went out to record points at home and play a little more cautiously on the road. I expect that to be the case in this year’s playoffs. Zambrano on the playoff format It has been my experience in playoff competitions that tight, defensive battles are the norm. Teams will play defensively and try to pack it in on the road and hope to get a tie. It becomes even more defensive in the playoffs because the teams that are involved in this tournament have defensive tendencies, except maybe Tampa Bay. It will be a defensive-minded game. Zambrano on defensive options We think that Lothar Matthaeus will be ready to play. He is obviously a player that at this stage is prone to be re-injured. He is professional enough to pace himself. He knows full well how to pace himself through a tournament like this. As we said throughout the season, these are the kind of games where guys like Lothar and Tab Ramos have to show up [for] to give our team a chance to get to the MLS Cup final. Gazidis on Canadian Mark Watson returning to MLS We are not at the time in our season where serious discussions take place. He played in MLS and was a solid defender. Teams will be waiting until the end of the season before determining needs for next year. I have not had any discussions with Mark or his agent at this point. That doesn’t mean that individual teams have not contacted him yet. Gazidis on reduction of games It is a hugely complicated question. The simple answer is in the long term this will increase our revenue. The analysis of whether relatively poorly attended midweek games make or lose money is complex. This decision is not driven by the immediate revenue situation. It is really a much more long-term decision. I think people believe we can promote our games better with a 28-game schedule. Teams will have the opportunity to explore other international possibilities during the extra open dates. Gansler on Kansas City defender Nick Garcia’s development Nick is a talented young man and is someone we have been aware off for a long time. We felt that not only does he have the physical talents to play a number of positions, but also could step in and play right away. Nick has been a good choice for us because of his composure. A lot of young players make a mistake and become unraveled. Nick has deserved to play all of those minutes because he has poise to go with his talent. Zambrano on which MetroStar made the biggest impact this season It will be hard to pin down. All the way from the goalkeeping to the forwards, it has been a year of uplifting of play from everyone. Some of our guys were not highly regarded coming into the year, but have all played big games. All of our players at one time or another made a wonderful contribution to our team. It would be hard to choose one player, our season has been more of a concerted effort. Gazidis on player call-ups from the A-League The agreement is between us and the USL. It doesn’t encompass every player in the USL. Our agreement with the USL says that the USL will step aside and allow a player to sign with MLS if the player wants. The situation with Paul Grafer is that he didn’t want to let down his USL team and leave them in a tough time of the year [the A-League postseason]. The biggest obstacle to having fully professional reserve teams, is that you are talking about 100 to 150 extra players on MLS rosters. If you look at the small number of significant call-ups, the expense isn’t easy to justify. That money can be better spent elsewhere. Gazidis on the contract of Chicago’s Ante Razov Ante is just concentrating on the rest of his season as are we. There’s nothing new on this front to talk about.