Pete Bailey: A recent Q&A session featured a question about when Project-40 players will count on their MLS teams’ rosters. There was no known answer at the time, but since then, MLS has stated that Pro-40 players will count on the 20-man roster after playing in 20 MLS matches or three years, whichever comes first.
Now, on to this week’s questions!
Jeff Chambers
Cincinnati, Ohio
As one who hopes for long-term success for American professional soccer, I’m curious how long MLS can tolerate the abysmal attendance figures in markets such as Tampa and Kansas City. Sure, it’s a public relations nightmare to admit that pro soccer has “failed” in certain areas (providing ammunition for trigger-happy journalists) yet from a marketing perspective it is far more damaging for the league to “carry” non-performing cities. MLS sponsors must certainly be screaming by now.
So, as the league announces new markets for possible expansion, are they talking about moving existing franchises, or starting up new? And, in markets where minor-league pro ball has achieved success, such as Seattle, will teams already in operation be given the chance to participate in the upgrade to MLS?
Ridge Mahoney: This is a hot topic among the SA editors, and it is quite complicated due to the structure of MLS. Kansas City and Tampa, although they both suffer the same plight of poor attendances, are quite different situations.
K.C. is operated by the Hunt empire, and without Lamar Hunt’s early commitment to MLS, the league would not exist. He wants a team in Kansas City, since he runs a football team in that city and recently put in a bid for the baseball franchise. Technically, the league can “force” him to move, but in all practicality, who in MLS can tell Lamar Hunt what to do?
Tampa is a league-run team, and drawing fans seems to be a losing — no pun intended — battle. But it would look bad to move. I’m sure by this time, the league had expected a potential owner or two to emerge. Disney had expressed interest, yet now seems to be looking elsewhere. And not only is such a franchise a public-relations black eye, it’s also a financial drain. Until that possibility is dead, the league will keep the team in Tampa — but with the franchise is such a sorry state, who would want to buy it now?
Right now, the league is preaching expansion as adding new teams …. but it may have to consider selling, say, Tampa to investors in another city in a year or two. Yet the league also needs to add teams, not just shift them around. Compared to the powerhouses of NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB, a 12-team league looks pretty wimpy.
Darryl Metcalfe
Cypress, Texas
Imad Baba was on the Under-20 national team when he was only 15 or 16. He now plays in the MLS with New England. Do you think he will ever get a chance on the full national team?
Mike Woitalla: While in his early teens, Imad Baba had talent far ahead of his years — this of course created great expectations for him. He went from the U-17 team to the U-20s and played in the 1996 Olympics, where U-23 teams competed. In that tournament, and with the Revolution, Baba has shown how valuable his talent can be to a team.
I certainly think he should be given an opportunity to play for the national team. He is a such a smart and skillfull player. But, as with all young players, I think Baba should be given an extended period to prove himself with the national team, rather than be thrown in for a game or two and dropped if he doesn’t have an extraordinary performance. (This happened to Steve Ralston, Jason Kreis and Tony Sanneh.)
But the only way Baba will find himself on the national team is if he steps up his performance with the Revolution. He has to be a dominant player in MLS — not just one who sparkles off and on — to attract the national team coach’s attention.
Andrea Durham
Dallas, Texas
Who do I contact for information about playing on a European women’s soccer team? I have looked all over the internet, and I have not had much luck. I am visiting in July, and I would like to meet with coaches at that time. I played, and lettered, at Southern Methodist University for four years, and graduated in 1997.
Dean Caparaz: Andrea, your best bet — unless you know former college players who have played or who are currently playing in Europe — is to contact the national federations of the countries in which you want to play and ask for a list of women’s clubs and their contact information.
Here is a random list of federations and their contact numbers:
England — 011-44-171-402-7151 (phone); 011-44-171-402-0486 (fax)
Germany — 011-49-69-67-88-0 (phone); 011-49-69-67-88-266 (fax)
Italy — 011-39-6-84-911 (phone); 011-39-6-849-12-526 (fax)
Norway — 011-47-22-02-45-00 (phone); 011-47-22-95-10-10 (fax)
When you get a list of clubs you should fax a letter to as many as you can. As you get closer to signing with a club you should contact a FIFA-certified agent to assist you. There is a list of such agents on the FIFA web site (www.fifa.com).
You should know that there are currently no true women’s professional leagues in the world. Many leagues simply pay expenses. Some — such as Japan’s L-League — pay big-time foreign stars while domestic players have to hold down real jobs.
Miguel Enguidanos
San Rafael, Calif.
Is there any reason you cannot provide simple statistics to games like shots and saves?
Paul Kennedy: There’s a lot more information that we could provide on games, but space limitations make it difficult to provide much more than we do. Shots and saves statistics are often dubious — does a harmless cross/shot really count as a shot and a save?
Goff Tunnicliffe
Evansville, Ind.
As you know there are two British teams in the World Cup this year, and potentially there could have been four. Why is it that Britain can enter four teams while every other country has only one team? Of course, one disadvantage is that the talent gets diluted (look at Ryan Giggs, for instance).
Duncan Irving: They are four separate federations, and have always been so. They have most strength on the rules-making board and they vote separately (although usually as a bloc) in other matters. Pressure has come from other continental confederations to unify them, but the Europeans, fearing a loss in power, have always vetoed such a move.
Notice, though, they do not compete in the Olympics (UEFA’s belief is that the Olympics is the equivalent of a World Cup for its under-21 teams), and there is little support domestically for a unified team. Quite the opposite, in fact. One of the main — and later compromised — platforms of the new Labour government was greater autonomy for Scotland and Wales, and of course the new initiative in Northern Ireland. Given the current strength of popular opinion, you’d find few takers for a Team UK or GB.
Also, look at San Marino and Italy. Or — thornier here — Yugoslavia, or Czechoslovakia, which have all seceded. Why force the Brits to go against the tide, when new nations are created or old ones restored?
Does it dilute the talent pool? Depends when and who you ask. If England is stinking up the joint, then and only then does the argument resurface. Again, few English people would want to do so at the moment. Looking around, I don’t blame them. Few Scots in 1974 or 1978 would have welcomed a union. And there aren’t that many Welsh or Northern Irish players that would get a look if a unified team existed.
Additionally, playing for a particular country can be a matter of expediency, boosting your marketing power, vaulting yourself onto the international stage (a la Wegerle, Dooley and in all likelihood Regis), but it is also a personal choice and one a player often takes pride in. It’s interesting you cite Ryan Giggs, who played for England as a schoolboy, but opted to play for Wales as a show of solidarity to his mother (Welsh) and distancing himself from his father (English), who were in the throes of a messy divorce.
Rob Connallon
Washington, D.C.
What has become of Steve Pittman? I recall that he was placed on waivers by Kansas City last fall, but he seems not to have resurfaced.
Pete Bailey: After Pittman was waived by the Wizards, no other MLS team showed interest in signing him, so the league did not exercise its option. He has since returned to Scotland, where he is currently with Clydebank of the Scottish Second Division.