By Ridge Mahoney
Soccer America Senior Editor
in Carson, Calif.
U.S. Soccer has followed through on its threat to call in replacement players. More than 20 players — all currently or most recently with USL (former A-League) teams, according to federation officials — have gathered at a hotel near the Home Depot Center to begin training Monday for the opening Hexagonal qualifier Feb. 9 against Trinidad & Tobago in Port of Spain.
The list of players hasn't been released, and Coach Bruce Arena has declared that practice sessions will be closed, at least initially.
''We are eager to resolve this labor impasse,'' said U.S. Soccer director of communications Jim Moorhouse Sunday afternoon, as players began arriving in Southern California. ''We have put two resolutions on the table in the past week and both have been rejected by the playersÆ association, so they've given us no choice but to begin preparing for the Feb. 9 qualifier.''
Negotiations to reach an agreement on mediation between U.S. Soccer and the U.S. national team players association collapsed late last week when the parties couldn't agree on the terms of mediation.
According to federation secretary general Dan Flynn, the players' association requested that they receive a payment of $200,000 and be paid, starting with the T&T qualifier, under a bonus structure stipulated in the federation's latest proposal — an increase over the bonus structure in place since 1999.
Flynn said both conditions were unacceptable. ''That's why you go to mediation, to hammer these things out with some incentive to settle,'' said Flynn Monday. ''We agreed not to go lower than our 38 percent proposal when we eventually settle and there's no need to pay a 'mediation bonus' of $200,000.''
Player attorney Mark Levinstein has disputed the 38 percent figure, saying the amount the players would receive over the 2003-06 period under the terms of the U.S. Soccer's most recent proposal would be much less than a 38 percent increase over the payments over the previous four-year period.
Levinstein has said the players were willing to mediate the dispute if the parties could agree to terms of mediation. The players have insisted on the right to strike during some point in qualifying. Levinstein says the players would lose their leverage if the U.S. qualified for Germany 2006 and no agreement was reached by the end of qualifying.
Arena met with officials of the United Soccer Leagues last weekend during the NSCAA convention in Baltimore to draw up a list of approximately 40 players. According to several sources and confirmed by Flynn and Moorhouse, dozens of MLS players were contacted by the federation and refused invitations to attend the training camp.
National team players are represented by the United States National Team PlayersÆ Association, which has no official affiliation with the Major League Soccer Players' Union.
Only once before has the federation been forced to call in replacement players. A replacement team was beaten by Peru, 4-1, in a friendly played Oct. 16, 1996 while an agreement was being negotiated. A settlement was reached in time for the regular players to play in CONCACAF semifinal qualifiers in the fall of that year.