The following are quotes from the Aug. 24 MLS media teleconference, which featured MLS Executive Vice President Ivan Gazidis, Colorado Rapids Head Coach Glenn Myernick, D.C. United Head Coach Thomas Rongen, and MLS Vice President Game Operations Joe Machnik. Ivan Gazidis Opening Comments “Just a note that we’re happy to note that Joselito Vaca, the youngest MLS international signing, has been named to the Bolivian National Team for their friendly against Venezuela.” “We’re still arranging for all parties to meet via call/meeting for the Competition Committee … The two main issues are: player allocation, which we hope to make more transparent … The other issue is our rules of competition including the shootout, the clock and a couple of other possible rule changes.” “The procedure will be that once the committee has met, it will make recommendations to the Board of Governors, which meets at the end of September … If the Board of Governors feels able to deal with things in one meeting, then it will do so, but they may want to turn it over to the next meeting, a month or a month and a half later.” Glenn Myernick Opening Comments “We are overall quite pleased to be in the position that we are at this point in the season … However, the old clichT, ‘you’re only as good as your last game’ is very true for us, as we played very poorly against Dallas (a 3-0 loss) in our last game … However, we’ve had so far this week two very good days of training, the spirit in our camp is very good … The players are the first ones to know when they don’t play well and are disappointed in themselves for the last game … We have the greatest respect for D.C. United and the position they’re in at this point in the season and their level of success in the short history of our league … This becomes the most important game of the season for us, as is the next one and the one after that.” Thomas Rongen Opening Comments “Not to discredit the game Saturday [August 28, DC United vs Colorado], but we have a tough game Wednesday [August 25] against Miami at home … Saturday’s match against Colorado will match up the East and West leaders … It will be a game that will be a good game, we will look for a bit of revenge after they beat us at home earlier this season, but it’s not on my mind or the players’ minds until Thursday, after our Miami game.” Gazidis on Stern John being sold by MLS “We have had a few different teams from the top leagues in Europe inquire about Stern John … He’s a young, exciting player who has scored a lot of goals here, and that’s attracted interest from around the world … With respect to David Platt with Nottingham Forest, he contacted me and requested to attend the Crew game this weekend, which he did … We are in ongoing talks, but I wouldn’t characterize that as negotiations … Forest are still discussing their level of interest and I think a number of clubs are doing the same thing … We would love to see Stern John stay in MLS, and we are not looking to send him to Europe … It’s a very fluid, dynamic situation … At the same time, he is a young man with ambitions of his own and we will not stand in his way if he wants to move on at the end of the year … It’s unlikely that we would consider a transfer of Stern John during our season … That would be very unlikely.” “The player that we’ve received the largest fee going out was Shaun Bartlett to FC Zurich, for a fee in excess of $1 million … If we were actively out trying to transfer Stern John out of MLS, we would have set a price … We have an obligation to consider offers that come our way, both for our sake and Stern’s sake … We have not closed doors, but we have not set conditions of our own … We have just been listening.”. Joe Machnik on DC United vs Miami game (four red cards)/potential Ken Horowitz fine “I watched the game on Sunshine Network live and was in contact during the game with U.S. Soccer’s Director of Officials Esse Baharmast … The MLS discipline committee reviews tape of player behavior and comments made by coaches relevant to the performance of officials … I saw nothing in that game that would warrant the disciplinary committee to engage in further action … the disciplinary committee has never met to discuss actions of owners, we’ve always left that to the Commissioner.” “The referees who work MLS games are assigned and trained by U.S. Soccer … Tonight in Chicago there’s a meeting where referee Rich Grady will meet with Esse [Baharmast] and review the tape and get a sense of direction … We think that the game had an extraordinary number of yellow and red cards … We’re aware that Grady is among the leaders in terms of cards … He is a very strict, by the book referee and its our hope that our conversation will bring Grady closer to the middle of the referees who work the rest of the MLS games … The game in Miami was officiated rather extraordinarily.” Gazidis on Ken Horowitz’ comments “I have spoken with Commissioner [Don] Garber very briefly, he’s aware of the situation … I also spoke with [Ken] Horowitz yesterday, and I think we had a positive discussion … He is clearly passionate about his team and what he saw on the field over the weekend, but there’s been no decision rendered regarding his comments to the press.” Rongen on what fans expect to see tomorrow night in DC vs. Miami “I think the emotions will carry over to the game … The rivalry has been there since last year … Miami did very well last year by winning twice in the regular season before we played them in the playoffs … It will be a hard-fought game as they’re in the hunt for playoff position and we want to secure first-place … We understand the importance … The loss of players won’t affect the intensity of the game, it might affect the quality of the game but we expect a battle and are preparing ourselves accordingly.” Machnik on referee assignments/recommendations from teams “There is active communication between MLS and US Soccer … At the beginning of the season, a list is generated of officials capable of officiating at the MLS level … U.S. Soccer’s FIFA referees are at the top of that list, as are the ones U.S. Soccer recognizes as being the top officials in the United States … Rich Grady is one of U.S. Soccer’s FIFA referees … The referees’ past performances, as well as the satisfaction level of the coaches and teams is recorded … We don’t want a particular team to see the same referee … MLS does have a lot of input.” “Grady has developed a reputation for handing out many cards … There are many ways referees handle situations, and handing out cards is only one of the ways … It is our hope that the conversation with use of videotape between Rich and Esse brings Rich closer to the mainstream.” Gazidis on Crew forward Jeff Cunningham playing for Jamaica and his status as a domestic player “One of the subjects up for discussion with the competition committee is the definition of what does and does not constitute an international player … At present, any player who has U.S. citizenship, a green card or one of the other categories (political refugees and so on) plays as a U.S. player in our league … If a player is not eligible for the U.S. National Team by virtue of the fact that he played for another team, that makes him an international player under our rules … Our rosters are frozen through the end of the year, so this issue has no real significance for this season, but maybe for next … We are looking at removing the last part of that and moving to situation where a player’s representation of his nation, if he holds a green card, does not affect his status.” Gazidis on playoff tiebreakers “Difficult to answer simply … Thought is being given to that, but I don’t think things will change with our format or rules for this year … The practical consequences are too difficult to manage … This is open, you may well see changes for next year, or you may see no changes for next year … Television is the major consideration.” Gazidis on proposed ‘SuperDraft’ “There are a couple of different proposals out there, and that’s one of the ideas that’s kicking around … It’s too early to say we are going to be looking at a ‘SuperDraft’ … There are ways to deal with trades that have been made with college picks and supplemental picks … While they may be subject to debate, I think we have general agreement among our coaches how it would be broadly fair, and I do see changes in our player allocation process … Project-40 players also could be subject to a draft.” “We anticipate having a competition committee call in the near future, and then it makes recommendations to the Board Of Governors for approval … The earliest possible time that the Board meets and could rule on that is late Sept., unless we get a dispensation from them and they decide to go with the committee’s recommendation … Unless something unusual happens, the earliest we could know definitively is the end of September.” “The competition committee has a lot of important topics for discussion … The two main areas are our player allocation mechanisms and rules of competition.” Myernick on the current state of the Rapids – have the wheels come off? “I was very disappointed, not so much that we lost, but the manner in which we did it and the real lack of what I would call spirit … My overall opinion remains the same – including preseason, in nine months, we’ve lost seven games … In order to do that, you must be on top of your game day after day, week after week, month after month … It takes its toll a little bit on the team … Like other teams that have had call ups to national teams, we’ve also been unfortunate with injuries to Ross Paule, Anders Limpar and Jason Bent and we have not had a full complement of players to draw upon in two months … At times we’ve had four or five players unavailable for selection … We’ve used the extent of our roster to its depth … Fatigue has been a factor and has caught up with us a little bit the last two weeks … Have the wheels come off? I don’t think so, not when you’ve lost seven games in nine months … I have all the confidence in the world in our team that we will put it together this week.” “There are two types of motivation: internal and external … Our players require very little motivation from me with regard to the quality of practice, the intensity of practice and the spirit of practice … With regards to injuries, there is a very good chance that Ross Paule might play, and Paul Bravo is probable this week … Anders Limpar is not going to play, although he is farther along than Jason Bent, that’s for sure.” Rongen on playing three games in one week “We sit down in preseason and look at our schedule and try to manage through the year our roster as far as how to manage three games in a week … At this time we are not in a position to rest players and still be competitive … At this particular time we are trying to get the best 11 on the field on Wednesday, and let the chips fall where they may on Thursday … We still have injuries with Diego Sonora and Carlos Llamosa, who haven’t played in two weeks and won’t play for another 10 days to two weeks … We have some young players who have helped us in the past, like Jason Moore, Antonio Otero and Chris Albright … We’ve been able to play as best we can in an MLS season that is very hectic and testing for teams … We’ll worry about Colorado on Thursday morning.” Myernick on the importance of conference games “We have said all along that you win one game at a time … We try to put best 11 players on the field for every game … Even though we’ve been in first place for some time and had a bit of a cushion, we’ve never put what I would consider a second-grade team on the field … We’ve always tried to put the best 11 out there … Even though it’s not a conference game, It’s a very important game because it’s the next game, because its against the team that has set the standard in our league and because we’re coming off a bad loss.” Rongen on suggested rule changes for MLS competition committee “Most coaches would like to abolish the shootout … The Miami game was a great example of saying there should be ties in this league … Miami deserved more then zero points the way they fought, they way they hung in there, the way they applied themselves … To walk away with nothing … It’s a case for abolishing the shootouts and going with ties … Scheduling is always a problem … MLS and the USSF and the international bodies need to try and get on one page, it’s difficult to plan … With CONCACAF, we play five games at the end of September … We think about the athletes last, and I think they should come first … There’s quite a few issues when it comes to playing the game because we want to put a good product on the field and make sure the fans enjoy it … As coaches we want to protect our own little entity as well and we don’t do that all the time … It’s a juggling act, but we need to make some sound decisions that make sense for the future of the game.” Myernick on suggested rule changes for MLS competition committee “I would echo Rongen’s sentiments about the shootout … There’s lots of times where teams deserve a draw … I don’t see anyone in this league playing for a draw, but there are teams who deserve them … Also, clock management is an issue … I believe we need to give the clock back to the referee and not to the timekeeper … there have been far too many controversies in the last five minutes of games … Let’s take the pressure off the referee, let them worry about the laws of the game and interpreting the rules of the game and not having to worry about clock management … We need a bigger roster for the development of more young players … Calendar management, since no league in the world allows so many games to be missed for players to go away with national teams as we try to develop personalities in our league.” Gazidis on the competition committee members On the committee are Clark Hunt (Columbus/Kansas City), myself (ex oficio), Kevin Payne (D.C. United), David Dubow (Miami), Roy Kline (Colorado), Alan Rothenberg, and Silvia Kessel (MetroStars). Gazidis on who determines the game schedule “The competition committee and the Board Of Governors look at the general issues of scheduling and how that affects the constraints that we have when we make the schedule … This year’s schedule was largely put together by Bill Sage, who has done it since our inception but is now with the U.S. Soccer Federation … The person who puts it together now is John Ertmann, an Executive Vice President here.” Machnik on system of subcontracting referees from U.S. Soccer “I don’t know that what happened with the DC vs Miami game has anything to do with lack of communication … Today’s coaches, Rongen and Myernick, represent all the coaches on the MLS referee committee … That committee met with all the coaches and referees at the All-Star Game in San Diego … We maintain contact with the coaches … There are no directives given to a referee or any group without sharing anything with the coaches.” Myernick on system of subcontracting referees from U.S. Soccer “I think there is constant dialogue and there is a significant attempt by the people in charge of the refereeing to improve … It’s not something that improves overnight, it takes lots of games and lots of training … We’ve made significant progress from year one to year four … We’ve seen more consistency and more quality in the pool of available referees … The dialogue is constant, Machnik is always available to any coach and general manager.” Rongen on system of subcontracting referees from U.S. Soccer “The discussion and interaction in San Diego was very positive … As we evolve as a league, it is up to coaches, players and referees to cooperate and that’s something we focus on that here at D.C. United with our players and coaches … We need to continue to make progress … I don’t think the game has bypassed the referees, the level of play continues to get better, but the referees are growing with this, maybe not as fast as we would like, but we’re making strides, slow and small, but certainly in the positive direction … We need to keep the game in mind as we make this product better.” “In the meetings, we focus on red cards, tackles from behind , offside … The coordination between referees and linesmen … Also, we look at quick free kicks, wall management and diving … We all need to improve, and the referees as well … Their demeanor towards the players we’ve seen some healthy progress since the All-Star break … The meeting in San Diego was probably the healthiest we’ve had, people were very honest and we’re making progress in all areas.” Machnik on Curcic’s fine/red card vs. Kansas City “Not only did he get the game suspension, but the usual red card fine was doubled … It was an attempt by the committee to show that the behavior will not be tolerated … The referee did all that he could do … The question asks, ‘Which hurts the player more, a game suspension or a fine? … In this case we felt that doubling the fine did that … When a player is suspended in MLS, the player is paid, but by doubling the fine, we hurt the player more than the team.” Gazidis on Curcic’s fine/red card vs. Kansas City “We are conscious of our image … There is an element of subjective judgment in all of these decisions … We try to be as consistent as we can … We look at what we did in the past … It’s a judgment call as far as what is the most effective way of dealing with the damage, the intent and the image – all those things.” Myernick on Rapids midfielder Matt McKeon “Matt McKeon is an incredibly competitive player who continues to improve and become more effective for us as he gets a little more control of his emotions … I would never want to detract from his aggressiveness and his competitive fire, which always must be in a controlled manner and must be appropriate within the game … He’s made us a better team in the middle of the field, where he’s a significant threat with the ball and is running at the opposing team … He brings good spirit to training every day … He’s a winner not only in regular games but want his team to win in training and that makes for a very competitive atmosphere within our team … At the Confederations Cup, Matt McKeon in Mexico was clearly given a job by Bruce Arena and he did it very well … I said to Matt, ‘What is so different about playing for the national team that you are so satisfied and happy to do a job, but at times within our own club are guilty of trying to so much more than we’re asking for you, and at times it comes out to be a negative for our team?’ … I think the message was very clear, whether you are playing for the national team or for your club team each player has a strength and weakness and to play to that to be most effective for our team.” Gazidis on going down to three foreign players for MLS teams “I don’t think that’s going to happen … To the contrary, we are looking at ways to widen our net and add and develop young international players as well as young U.S. players.” Machnik on the two-referee experiment for MLS “Details are still being discussed as FIFA has identified MLS as one of the leagues to use as an experiment for the system … I’ve prepared a report that will be presented to the competition committee and U.S. Soccer that shows the plan as based on the NHL experiment with two referees and two linesmen that they used last year … The bottom line, if we move forward with this, in the regular season, we will do every other home game for a team with two referees … One game will have two referees, and the next game will have one … We’ll be able to prepare a report, very similar to how the NHL did it and will re-evaluate at the all-star break … It works out to about 50 games in the regular season done with the two-referee experiment.” “MLS volunteered to be one of the leagues considered by FIFA … Part of the reason we volunteered is the history in this country, both indoor and outdoor, of officiating games with two referees … We think we can do a good job with the experiment and make the game a better game.” Gazidis on the two-referee experiment for MLS “It’s not something we’ve decided on yet … There are a few steps between now and this proposal being adopted.” Rongen on the two-referee experiment for MLS “There are pros and cons to this experiment … From an image standpoint, I would oppose it, being used as a guinea pig … We have to worry about our own league and playing the game the way it is supposed to be played … However, there is a lot of off the ball stuff that happens that is very hard to see for one referee … That could diminish the conduct and fouls off the ball … My problem would be that dealing with one personality is hard enough, and now adding a second personality who possibly approaches the game differently, the two might now be on the same wavelength and could add more confusion.” Machnik on the two-referee experiment for MLS “That’s absolutely right … Assignment and scheduling of officials would be a very important thing … It’s an experiment … I’m not saying it’s going to be successful or not, we would evaluate at the all-star break … The NHL has the same concerns about putting two referees on the ice.” Gazidis on the two-referee experiment for MLS “Time-wise, this proposal is on the same track as other rules changes as we’ve discussed today.” Myernick on the two-referee experiment for MLS “We must always look at ways to improve how we present the game … The current system has been around for a long time, but the game is now played at a significantly higher rate of speed … For one person to cover the whole field and be responsible for all decisions, maybe that’s not the best thing … If you look at the pace of the game in the 1970 World Cup, regarded as one of the best ever, and compare it to games being played now, you will see that game’s speed has picked up tremendously.”