The following are quotes from the April 6 media teleconference featuring MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, MLS Executive Vice-President Ivan Gazidis, Colorado Head Coach Glenn “Mooch” Myernick and Miami Head Coach Ivo Wortmann. Doug Logan Opening Remarks “We successfully got through our third weekend with 15 games played and we witnessed rather interesting matches. There was no controversy with officiating this past weekend if you take out the injury and then stitching-induced delay in the New York game … under the circumstances they [the referees] did a pretty good job.” “We have established a process of communication between Joe Machnik [Vice President of Operations] and the coaches in regards to reviewing specific games and I want to commend Coach Myernick on the way he dealt with reviewing the Colorado match on March 27 in San Jose. There are clearly some instances of calls we need some work on and I thank Mooch for communicating in the professional way with Joe and I can assure you that we are addressing some of the calls that were made there.” Logan on MLS Substance Abuse Policy “I am here to make an announcement in relation to the league’s substance abuse and random testing policy and procedure. As many of you know, up until now the league has maintained a very rigorous policy related to substance abuse and the testing for that abuse. We have a policy that we are proud of with the stance of zero tolerance on illegal drugs and alcohol abuse. The substances we have been testing until now have been through urinalysis and include all the illegal substances … a series of 10 substances that we test for in addition to testing for alcohol. This policy is changing effective today and a memorandum will be sent out to all MLS employees both at the team and front office levels, players and coaches, to include the banning of performance enhancing drugs. As of this moment on, our stance is the use of performance enhancing drugs violates the ethics of competitive sports and is banned by MLS … we are circulating a list of what those drugs are. We will not be testing for those performance enhancing drugs until after this season. The reason is three-fold … 1) We need to give all of our employees sufficient notice with regards to the change in policy … 2) We want to stay informed in regards to the new series of studies that are to be conducted by baseball and other sports … 3) We want to get our hands on the testing procedure that we will be using no later than the beginning of next season. Those substances are banned at the present time but the testing will not commence until next season.” Ivan Gazidis Opening Remarks “I would like to commend the U.S. Under-20 national team’s performance yesterday defeating England, my adopted nation, 1-0. That is a great result. With a little bit of luck, we can go a great distance in that competition [1999 FIFA World Youth Championship].” Glenn Myernick Opening Remarks “We are disappointed to enter our home opener having lost two games on the road in the shootout. However, we are not unhappy overall with the way we played, but that we have not gotten the result. We are anxious to start at home. I know our front office people have worked very hard in the offseason promoting our sport in Colorado. Patience is the key work for us because we basically have a new spine to our team this year with the addition of Jorge Dely Valdes as a forward, Anders Limpar in the midfield, Matt McKeon acquired from Kansas City and Marcelo Balboa returning to central defense, which is his most natural position.” Ivo Wortmann Opening Remarks “I think that we didn’t start as we had hoped. After playing three games, I think that we are not in the same shape that we should be in, but we are going to get there.” Logan on Season Ticket Sales “As of last week we had increased our season ticket sales percentage from 102 percent of last year to 105 percent, with a significant increase in the Tampa Bay area. Tampa is now over 4000 season tickets sold.” Myernick on Preseason Defensive Improvement and Lack of Victory “You can never put too much emphasis on defending when you lead the league in goals allowed. In fact, in our first two games it was our inability to maintain possession of the ball. The ability to hold L.A. to one goal in L.A. is very commendable. We were leading in San Jose, 2-0, and resorted to too much defending. The best defending in my opinion, is to hold the ball and I think in both games we gave away possession far too easy in the later stages of those two games.” “With regards to patience … I can’t concern myself with the other professional teams in Denver, I can only be aware of them. Every game is a critical game in MLS. Every point counts because one point is what can keep you out of the playoffs. I owe it to myself and to my players to be patient. Look at D.C. in the first season … The history of the league points to patience as a virtue and I hope to see it here.” Wortmann on Playing Matches at Home “I think that we didn’t perform like the team I thought I had … it opens up [opportunity] for the teams that come here to play us and we have to learn to deal with situations. I know that maybe the fans are not patient but as a professional coach and player you must be. No one likes to lose the game or play the worst team and we are under pressure … the challenge now is to turn around and start winning games.” Myernick on Winning Home vs. Away “The mentality of being able to provide our fans not only with a competitive team but also a entertaining team is an issue. I think all of our coaches feel the pressure of entertaining the fans at home. We know we are not just in the sporting business but also the entertainment business and that is incumbent upon the home team. I think that is the difference between playing home and away.” Wortmann on Fusion Discipline “I think that there is a big difference between discipline and a discipline problem. We are not an army but we have rules and the players have to follow those rules because we have to work together. The players have to have that mentality. I thought we turned around that old mentality last year. I work for not what is best for me or the players, but what is best for the organization and we need to be professional and I must instill that message in the players. The players will clean up everything and then we will be ready for the next game.” Gazidis on Scouting of Players at the World Youth Championship in Nigeria “We have consultants there [in Nigeria] who are looking at those games. We know our guys well. The question is the other players. We have a couple of sets of eyes out there. When you are looking at young players it is a bit difficult to make a judgment that they are going to come in immediately and make an impact with one of our teams right away. That is a difficult thing for a young player to do. At the same time we are developing our thoughts on how to develop not only young American players but young international players too. Those thoughts will hopefully come to fruition during the course of the season and we will probably come up with a more comprehensive program.” Logan on the 2000 Option for Raymond James Stadium and Ticket Sales “I am pleased with the way the first two games have gone and by what Nick [Sakewicz] has been able to do … Certainly a significant increase in season ticket sales is very encouraging and we are going to keep a close eye on it. There is not a specific go/no-go date, but I am happy with what I have seen so far.”