The league has lumped four of its best teams into this quartet, which makes for a fiercely competitive division that is much stronger than the other two. Several head coaches envision a scenario by which all four make the playoffs; if they battle each other pretty much even and whup the weak links in the West and East, it could happen. Signings in early March for Chicago and Columbus added spice to this pungent mix.
Chicago
The Stoichkov Sweepstakes To those who believe the Fire fell apart in its sophomore season, Bob Bradley begs to differ.
“We won only two fewer games last year than when we won the title,” he said of the Fire’s 18-14 record in 1999. “We were in eight shootouts and lost five, and some people might make the case that we lost games in regulation that we won the first year. We lost in the playoffs to Dallas, but that was a very tough series that might be the best playoff series this league has ever seen.
“That’s hardly the collapse some people said it was.”
Had the Fire truly collapsed, perhaps it might have snagged its next foreign player more easily. The Hristo Stoichkov Sweepstakes dragged on into March, since the Fire was originally denied a replacement allocation despite losing Jerzy Podbrozny and Roman Kosecki to retirement last season and Jorge Campos to petulance in 1998.
MLS hopes Stoichkov will play two seasons. The stocky Bulgarian has a quick temper, but his fury and guile on the field can win games and sell tickets.
Chicago strengthened itself for both the imminent future and seasons to come through the draft. DaMarcus Beasley, John Wolyniec and Junior Agogo shone in Florida, and Bradley also monitored closely the progress of Carlos Bocanegra and Evan Whitfield.
“Carlos has a good understanding of his qualities and how to play,” said Bradley of the No. 3 overall choice in the draft. “Tom Soehn has commented that Carlos listens, reads the game pretty well, and you know what he’s going to do. Evan is very inconsistent at this time. He makes good plays and plays that don’t make sense, but you see the speed and physical qualities.”
At spring training in Florida, Peter Nowak showed some of the zeal that drove Chicago to the double in ’98. Lubos Kubik tackles like Larry King, but with bookend bruisers C.J. Brown and Francis Okaroh flanking him, muscle isn’t as vital as class, experience and a lethal left foot.
Goalkeeper Zach Thornton is rehabilitating a calf injury. A recurrence could cost Chicago valuable points in the MLS version of a Black-and-Blue Division, since backup Greg Sutton has played a total of 247 MLS minutes.
The numbers game may work against Dema Kovalenko, a brilliant talent who has matured but desperately needs minutes.
Columbus
Life after Stern John Having gone all the way to Chile in a vain attempt to sign a Slovakian, Crew coach Tom Fitzgerald instead found a Colombian in the USA.
The runs, flicks, and dribbles of John Wilmar Perez helped Colombia reach the Gold Cup final, and Fitzgerald plans to slot him right into the Crew midfield as his playmaker.
Weeks of faxes, phone calls and a round-trip flight to Coquimbo in pursuit of Vladislav Zvara yielded nada.
“He’s definitely a No. 10,” said Fitzgerald of Perez. “He’s more technical than Zvara, who’s a bit busier, but he works very hard, and we think he can provide those kinds of passes that nobody has been able to do for us.”
Fitzgerald plans to stick with his 3-5-2, playing either one or two defensive midfielders depending on the opposition. He will also push Jeff Cunningham from the left side of the midfield to join Brian McBride and Dante Washington as the forwards in a 3-4-3.
Washington will never match Stern John’s goal totals, yet he should open up space and opportunities for McBride, who scored just five goals in the regular season last year after potting 33 in his first three.
“Dante is more mobile than Stern,” said McBride. “He does more work defensively, and he’s a big, strong player who can take on defenders. He has a good work ethic and can score goals in bunches.”
Mike Lapper will anchor the back line, although Ancil Elcock – much speedier, for sure – can also sweep. The addition of 1997 Rookie of the Year Mike Duhaney adds speed on the left side of a back line that looked ponderous at times last season yet conceded only 39 goals.
“Having Duhaney will help us play the ball up the left side and move Lapp back into the middle, which is his best position,” said McBride.
The Crew auditioned Iranian international defender and captain Javad Zarincheh, but his age (33), lack of fitness, and the salary-cap space swallowed up by Perez – who will make close to the league maximum – will prompt Fitzgerald to look elsewhere to fill one remaining foreign slot. (Robert Warzycha obtained his green card during the offseason.)
In goal, the frenzied, ferocious Mark Dougherty wears the starter’s shirt, but Juergen Sommer has nearly completed his rehab from a second knee surgery.
Dallas
The French Connection How seriously did the Dallas Burn treat its two-week, preseason trip to France?
Assistant coaches Ed Puskarich and Oscar Pisano suited up for a match outside Marseille, then joined their opponents at a hotel bar to talk tactics and strategies and whether Zinedine Zidane could hack it in MLS.
The Burn did test former Columbus defender Ricardo Iribarren during preseason training, but with the league opener against Chicago less than two weeks away, Coach Dave Dir had not decided if he’d be signed to fill the vast void left by Jorge Rodriguez’s abrupt departure.
Dir can call on defender Brandon Pollard when he recovers from a broken leg suffered in last year’s playoffs, but after sweeper Richard Farrer and defender Eric Dade, there aren’t too many bodies in the back.
This troubles veteran Mark Santel, who is usually the first person summoned in emergency conditions. He would prefer to stay on the midfield flank and out of the defender debates.
But he does foresee another good season. “I think fitness was a strong suit for us last year,” he said of the 19-13 team. “We had a lot left in the tank at the end of the season and that paid off in the playoffs, aside from a few injuries that hurt us.”
Antonio Martinez, a second-round pick from Cal State Fullerton, has been impressive in preseason, but he’d probably have to unseat a four-year regular in Ted Eck to accelerate his steady progress. Sergi Daniv can beat tacklers, get down the flanks, torment defenses with crosses and is far ahead of most second-year MLS products. Chad Deering is a shrewd reader of the game and can crush the ball from distance.
Beating Chicago in last year’s playoffs infused the Burn with confidence, yet it collapsed in the crucial third game against Los Angeles after rookie Paul Broome gave away a penalty by handling the ball in the second minute.
League MVP Jason Kreis led MLS in scoring, then couldn’t hit a Web site during the playoffs. He and Ariel Graziani meshed smoothly and potently last season, and should again be one of the top forward tandems in the league. Teams did discover, however, that they could shut off the supply by bracketing Oscar Pareja.
Tampa Bay
Defensive doldrums They rolled out the red carpet and had the marching band on standby to welcome Roy Lassiter back to Tampa Bay, which had the salary-cap space to pay him the $200,000 he wanted. The allocation spot was dangled in front of Miami head coach Ivo Wortmann, but he didn’t bite.
Time for Plan B. Roll up the carpet, send the band back home, and tell new GM Bill Manning he’ll need something else to drive ticket sales.
The key to Tampa’s season, however, may be found in the back, not up front. The Mutiny conceded 50 goals last year, a primary reason for its 14-18 record.
Joe Addo spent the last few months of the 1999 regular season acclimating to MLS. The former George Mason All-American and captain of Ghana’s 1996 Olympic team was signed last August and played eight games, several of them badly.
“He’s more of a true sweeper and we play a flat back four, so he really struggled at the end of last season,” said Hankinson. “There were some question marks in my head if he was a guy we could build a defense with. He can play in a flat four now, and when we do play three, we have him at his most natural position.”
Said Addo, “It is just a frame of mind. My best position is sweeper, but I am comfortable in the flat back four.”
Kalin Bankov, a 34-year-old Bulgarian defender signed as a discovery player, will play in the back when Chad McCarty is away on U.S. U-23 duty, although McCarty can also play wide.
That search for a striker is spurred by the Carlos Valderrama magic and the need to complement the static poaching of Raul Diaz Arce.
Eric Quill – who plays the left side of midfield opposite Steve Ralston – may blossom into a formidable attacker. He’s been in the league since 1997 but has played just 21 games and is only 22. Josh Keller is an ideal linchpin behind Valderrama.
Hankinson sees his team as the rank outsider in this heavyweight division. “All the teams had more points than we did last season, and one of them [Columbus] knocked us out of the playoffs,” he said. “I see us fighting up, but all four should make the playoffs.”
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney