James Reilly Palo Alto, Calif. Can you confirm that Claudio Reyna has signed with VfL Wolfsburg? Pete Bailey: Yes, we can. Reyna has left Bayer Leverkusen and will join fellow American Chad Deering at newly promoted Wolfsburg for a reported transfer fee of $1.2 million. Duisburg also showed an interest in Reyna, who never fit into Christoph Daum’s plans at Leverkusen, but it was scared off by the his conflicts with World Cup qualifying this fall. By the way, Jovan Kirovski of Borussia Dortmund is the only one of the “Amis” who will be with his present club next year. Thomas Dooley is now with the Columbus Crew, David Wagner is going to FC Guetersloh of the Bundesliga 2, and Michael Mason is leaving Hamburg for just-relegated St. Pauli. For more on these moves, see the July 14 issue of SA. Daniel Goshin East Amherst, N.Y. The MetroStars have commented on committing to a youth program like the ones we see in other countries. Have any other MLS teams stated they are starting youth teams? This will be a huge step for our national program if MLS teams start youth programs. Teams will be looking at various leagues, at very young players with potential, at inner city, and Hispanic kids who may be overlooked by our ODP sham of a program. Project-40 seems to be a joke compared to the idea of MLS youth teams, considering project-40 is basically our U-20 national team. What do you think? Ridge Mahoney: Reserve teams are a great idea, but they can be costly. Without sponsors, most MLS teams won’t be able to field reserve teams until they come close to breaking even, which may take a few years. Such teams would play local USISL, A-League, semi-pro teams, since a national reserve league at this point is far too expensive. I think Project-40, for all its flaws, is more realistic than having MLS pay to train, outfit, house, transport and feed 200 young players. I hope this idea can gradually be expanded, by adding a few players per team each year, to build a reserve team in each city. Right now, several USISL/A-League players are training with MLS clubs, and this too is a step in that direction. The danger of a reserve team is that it could strip the best players from the Division II and Division III teams, and dilute the quality of competition. As I said, if Project-40 could be expanded and between 16 and 18 players aged 18-20 could be organized and assigned to each team, along with the necessary funding, those reserve teams could compete with local Division II and Division III teams as well as train with the big boys. Now, that’s progress, and would be a great foundation for the U.S. under-20 and under-23 teams as well. Scott Nelson Tacoma, Wash. Has MLS ever showed any interest in Brent Goulet or vice-versa? I can’t vouch for his play over the last few years, but before he went to Germany he was an excellent player with that rarest of qualities in an American player: composure on the ball. He’s still kicking around in the Oberliga while most of the other Amis have come running back. And while we’re at it, don’t you find it surprising that Ricky Davis has never gotten involved with either MLS or the USSF? Ridge Mahoney: Brent has been playing for years in Germany’s lower divisions, where he makes about three times the money he’d be offered by MLS. And, no, I’m not surprised about Ricky Davis’ absence. He was on the USSF board of directors for many years, but he burned his bridges with the current MLS/U.S. Soccer regime a few years back over his work with the old L.A. Salsa. Jim Gurney Santa Cruz, Calif. A friend asked me to find information or sources about the 1983 “soccer war” that broke out somewhere in South America. I’m stumped. Can you point me in the direction of information? Ridge Mahoney: Your friend is way off; Honduras and El Salvador broke off diplomatic relations in the late 1960s and simmering hostilities flared into a border war after they played in a 1969 qualifying game. The match itself had far less to do with the fighting than with the decades of bickering between the two countries, but some news accounts used the term “soccer war” and it has persisted. American soccer-bashers, who have no concept of the real situation, love to dredge up this “example” when they take a poke at soccer. For more information, see Doug Cress’ story on El Salvador in the June 30 issue of SA. Mark Weatherley What can be done to change the way that TV rights are allocated for international matches such as the recent U.S.-El Salvador match which wasn’t shown live in the U.S.? It seems to me that the national federations of both teams participating should have the right to sell the TV rights, not just the host nation. Hopefully in the near future all the important matches the U.S. participates in will be shown live in the U.S. Paul Kennedy: That’s a good idea but one from our perspective. The prospect of selling rights abroad to the highest bidder is the only way small federations around the world have a chance to make any money. This issue came up because of the unique nature of the U.S. market — unique to what I’d say is anywhere in the world. Where else are the rights to a game more attractive to one tiny segment of the market — in this case, establishments catering to Salvadoran fans — than to TV networks representing the market as a whole? Jake Mazur Cincinnati, Ohio What do you think about implementing the 1/2 court (backpass) rule in soccer? It would work the same way as in the NBA where once the team in possession moves the ball into their opponent’s half, they could not pass it back to one of the defenders or the keeper. This would create significant confusion in the defenses and would force defenders to push up further, creating more chances for breakaways. Unfortunately, implementing this rule might result in more teams playing “the long ball,” which I know that Paul Gardner loves…er…dislikes (to say the least). Ridge Mahoney: This rule change would not force defenders to push up, since most of them do anyway because of the offside rule. And is there a time limit for the team to advance past the half-way line, as in basketball? Your idea might have the opposite effect, since with the whole field to work with, a team might prefer to keep the ball longer in its own half. Many teams play the ball back across the half-way line not to stall, but to draw the other team out of its half and thus create space. One of the beauties of soccer is that players are free to move anywhere on the field whenever they want, with the only restriction being the off-side rule. Your idea would certainly require teams to hit more long balls, then charge in to keep the ball in the other team’s zone, like hockey. Frankly, there are much better ways to play hockey than to dump the puck in the corner and bludgeon opponents trying to knock it out, and I think your idea would put too many restrictions on the team with the ball. Steve Wallace Liverpool, England I was led to believe the reason the old NASL collapsed was due to foreign stars being brought in and paid huge salaries. I know measures are in operation to curb salaries and the number of foreign players, but why does the MLS allow players who are well past their prime to play in the league. No disrespect to the likes of Richard Gough, but he isn’t nearly as good as he was! My main point is, why don’t the MLS look to players overseas who maybe didn’t make the grade in the English Premier League for instance, and pick them at a young age so they can develop in the American system? Ridge Mahoney: By the time a player is judged not good enough for the Premier League, he’s either so poor no lower-division team wants him, or he’s in his late 20’s and isn’t all that attractive to MLS. The league has signed a few younger foreign players, and most of them — Damian Alvarez of Dallas, and of course, Jaime Moreno of Washington are exceptions — aren’t doing all that well. Any player in his teens who is any good will be pursued by several, or more, English teams, so why would he go to MLS where the money is much worse and soccer is a minor sport? I think your logic about Richard Gough is flawed. He’s still a very good player, certainly better than most MLS defenders. Personally, I’d rather have another creative attacker in the league, but teams do have some say in which foreign players they want, and the Wizards certainly needed a good defender. And every one of his teammates raves about his professionalism as well as his ability. Also, why would a team waste a foreign player slot on an inexperienced, raw youngster with no track record and no fan appeal? There are hundreds of Americans ideally suited for those roles. Glenn Auve Why do your MLS game summaries/ratings not include referee ratings as well as player ratings? I’ve seen several English and Scottish web sites and magazines that include referee ratings along with the player ratings and summaries. Paul Kennedy: We do ratings of players to give readers an idea of our evaluation of their play in individual games and to offer cumulative ratings to compare players’ performances over the course of the season. At this time, we do not feel it is appropriate to add to the “controversy” about MLS refereeing by adding referee’s ratings and, therefore, determining what are the criteria for a “good” or a “bad” performance. An influential magazine such as the Paris biweekly France Football offers player ratings and extensive statistical analysis of their ratings, but no longer rates referees. Carmelo Virgillo Tempe, Ariz. It is a fact that the CONCACAF member countries do not enjoy a soccer tradition even remotely comparable to that of their European and South American counterparts. Mexico and some Central American nations acknowledged this fact years ago and sought “outside help,” staffs with time-tested experience in international competition. Almost overnight, once-mediocre national teams became respectable world-class competitors. So, why does the USA persist in pursuing a policy of self-sufficiency in a sport we are just beginning to understand at the professional level? Does any knowledgeable American soccer enthusiast really think that the return of injured Tab Ramos, the borrowing of Germany’s Mason and Wagner, and the repatriation of Europe-based American players will approach the success of Bora Milutinovic’s Team USA at World Cup ’94? Ridge Mahoney: Bora’s team played a conservative, cautious game, and it scored only three goals — one an own goal — in four games while playing at home. I can’t see how you can call Bora an “outside” coach. He played and coached in the Mexican League before taking over Mexico for the 1986 World Cup. El Salvador has been coached by Yugoslavs and South Americans, and has been to the World Cup just twice. How many foreign coaches with any reputation would come to a country with an average domestic league for a relatively small salary to coach a sport most of the people ignore? Players win games; coaches are certainly important, but when Carlos Alberto Parreira took over UAE for the 1990 finals, his team still got drilled in all three games. And which once-mediocre teams do you mean, aside from Costa Rica? In the past two decades, the World Cup has expanded from 16 to 32 teams, so that’s the main reason less-fancied nations are making it to the finals. And yes, a team like Norway can beat a team like Brazil, but Norway’s performance at USA ’94 — when games really count — was a disgrace.