Isiah Harris
city, n/a
I just reviewed the Men’s Division I tournament draw and noticed that Duke University, which for almost the entire season was in the Top 20, did not make the field. They got as high as No. 2 and are currently rated No. 11 by SA. What was the reason for them to be left out of the tournament when a team like Clemson that was always rated below Duke (nationally, regionally and ACC) is in? Note that Duke did beat Clemson in ACC play and does have a much better record.
Pete Bailey: Neither Poul Swain (who handles our men’s collegiate coverage) nor I can really offer you a convincing explanation for Duke’s absence. In fact, we’re as baffled as you and several others who have written to us. The word we heard was that Duke was done in by its non-conference schedule. The Blue Devils lost to #1 Indiana and #2 UCLA, and defeated Cal State Fullerton, Penn State and UNC Greensboro among others. While the latter three did not make the NCAA tourney, they have all been strong programs in the past and were ranked at some point this season. It seems that perhaps Duke is being punished for several teams’ subpar seasons. Duke’s losses came at the hands of Indiana, Virginia, UCLA and Maryland (twice). Those are all very high quality teams, and Duke was the only team in the country that faced IU, UCLA and UVa. The Blue Devils were undefeated within their region and regular-season ACC champs. And yes, they beat Clemson 5-1, although the Tigers, who did post some strong non-conference wins, seem worthy of an NCAA bid as well. I personally am puzzled that four teams from Conference USA made the tourney (Marquette, South Florida, UNC Charlotte and champion Saint Louis), while only three from the ACC did. No disrespect to C-USA, which is a very solid conference, but it would be very tough to convince me that it is stronger than the ACC.
Michael Sosslau
Baltimore, Maryland
Could someone please tell me what happened to Laurie Schwoy from North Carolina? She did not play in the ACC championship game, nor did I see her on the sidelines with an injury. No mention was made during the broadcast.
Dean Caparaz: Laurie Schwoy has not played in the last few games for North Carolina due to a pulled hamstring. She may play this weekend for UNC in its NCAA tournament second-round match with Florida, but UNC will probably only use her if necessary.
Rich Oswald
Clinton, NJ
The U.S. men’s national team elected not to participate in the 1997 Copa America. It looks like overconfidence preceding the second round of qualifying, along with the publicly stated reason regarding pulling MLS players, were the basis for the decision. The results of this short-sighted decision have, apparently, showed up in the lack of intensity, an unsettled lineup and poor perfomances in many of the games. Please comment on who was involved in making the decision and how much it hurt the team’s performance. Also, now that the U.S. has qualified, the participants in the 1998 U.S. Cup and international friendlies will be significant. What teams and schedules are known at this time?
Ridge Mahoney: U.S. Soccer, citing a crowded schedule of not just MLS games but qualifiers and friendlies, opted not to play in the Copa America. Head coach Steve Sampson wanted to play in the Copa America, but agreed to pass up the tournament, partially because he knew he’d have very little preparation time and thus the team’s results might suffer. (And he might lose his job!) A good Copa America might have sharpened some players, yet many more would have been further burdened with an overcrowded schedule of qualifiers, MLS games, CONCACAF Cup matches, and U.S. Open Cup games. The risk of injury is significant. And if Sampson took mostly younger players, as he did to the U.S. Cup ’97, the results might have been just as bad or even worse. As the tie with Mexico and wins over Canada and El Salvador showed, this squad of players needs several weeks of training to properly prepare for competitive internationals. That would have been impossible for the Copa America, unlike in ’95, when Sampson had the team for several weeks prior to U.S. Cup ’95, which the U.S. won before heading to Uruguay for the Copa America. At the time, it seemed a bad move to pass up the ’97 Copa America. But the U.S. still managed to qualify, and I’m hoping that MLS can factor in the 1999 Copa America when it plans the schedule for that year. The U.S. starts training camp in Chula Vista on Jan. 5. It will play three closed-doors matches, then open its ’98 schedule by playing Costa Rica and Cuba in the Gold Cup. It plays the Netherlands Feb. 21 in Miami, then travels to Europe to play Belgium Feb. 25 and one other team. Matches against Paraguay, Scotland, Mexico and Austria are planned for March through May, although the format and time for U.S. Cup ’98 is still being discussed. There have also been discussions regarding matches with England, Japan, and Nigeria. Sampson hopes to play 10 full internationals and perhaps eight other games prior to June 1, which is the tentative date the team leaves the United States to set up training in Lyons, France. Many of these games will not be finalized until after the World Cup draw in Marseilles on Dec. 4. For more information on the USA’s schedule plans, see our story in the Dec. 1 issue of SA.
Stephen Trapani
Alhambra, California
I read that Danny Pena would rather retire from the MLS then move from southern California. Now Chicago has taken him in the expansion draft. What is the opinion of Soccer America? Is Pena bluffing? Will Chicago trade him back to L.A. or another team? Maybe to the L.A. Heat!…
Duncan Irving: Will Danny Pena retire? I doubt it, even if it would make D.C. United execs happy. The trade skinny is this: Pena plus players to be named later back to the Galaxy in exchange for Jorge Campos. Neither party is too thrilled with each other in Campos’s case. Stranger things have happened, and the Fire needs a big-name Mexican to boost the gate. Who better than one already on the league’s books?
Mark Olson
Woodstock, IL
Toward the end of the U.S.-Canada match, one of the ESPN broadcasters (I believe it was Seamus Malin) said that FIFA had yet to determine if it would wipe the slate clean on yellow cards between the qualifying round and the World Cup. Given our situation on yellows, this could present a huge problem for the national side. I can’t imagine FIFA wouldn’t wipe the slate clean. Otherwise teams that had clinched by the second to last match (like the U.S.) would go and accumulate second yellows purposefully late in the match. That makes no sense. Do you know more about FIFA’s intentions?
Paul Kennedy: The issue is whether players who get their second yellow card in their last game have their suspension carried over into the World Cup. Teams that played in CONCACAF (Jamaica had a record 20 games) and South America (16) would be at a disadvantage vis-a-vis Brazil and France, which didn’t have to qualify. FIFA committees are expected to discuss this issue in meetings Dec. 2 and 3, just prior to the draw on Dec. 4.
Aaron Woolsey
Cambridge, MA
I saw that someone had commented about development of soccer in the U.S. in an earlier Q&A session, and the editors had replied that what was needed was the inner desire of young Americans to play soccer instead of basketball, etc. I have to say that as much as I dislike Nike’s recent attempted coup on the sport, I do admire their advertising scheme. Their ads on TV and in print are very compelling (about as compelling as ads can be). If those ads were shown during basketball or pigskin-ball game commercial breaks, I think a lot of kids out there who are not currently exposed to the sports role models soccer has to offer, would then be exposed. I watch Worldwide Soccer, and those bits on Harkes and the boys, and UConn women’s soccer are great, but you gotta believe that the only people watching that show are the converted. We have to spread the gospel…what do you think about cross-sport advertising and its possible effect of stimulating this desire to play soccer?
Paul Kennedy: You make a very good point. I think one of Reebok’s ads (with either Eric Wynalda or Julie Foudy, I can’t remember which) was shown during the Super Bowl or final four (again, my memory is failing). The one company that can take the lead in this is Nike — it is tied into the development of the national team program by virtue of its U.S. Soccer sponsorship. I think it is most critical that players 14-15 are targeted. It isn’t simply a matter of getting kids to play soccer — they do — it’s a matter of getting them to stay with the game. So many great athletes start out in soccer but are moved to take up or concentrate on mainstream sports. I can think of Iowa running back Tavian Banks, a Heisman candidate who was an ODP star in the Midwest and highly recruited by soccer schools. Also we’ve read that Walter Payton’s son, a soccer star as a sophomore last year at the Chicago area private school that produced Nino Da Silva, is now playing football. Other college players featured in Sports Illustrated’s expanded college coverage this fall started out as soccer players — a West Virginia running back from the Ivory Coast and a Florida State placekicker from Croatia, both from immigrant families, come to mind — but are making a name as football players. I think little by little cultural changes — the devaluation of football, as an example — will help soccer, but as I addressed the last time, no amount of money can be thrown at this problem and solve it overnight.
Fred Francis
Dallas, Texas
By what process and using what criteria are the members of the U.S. national team chosen? Being big fans of the Dallas Burn’s Mark Dodd, my wife and I are perplexed as to why he wasn’t chosen as one of the goalkeepers.
Duncan Irving: The national team pool, generally speaking, is formed from players who have been spotted at youth or ODP level, college level and also from their pro teams. Given rates of development and the cost of putting a kid through the system, some are spotted later, others (particularly Hispanic players) are overlooked entirely. The merits and demerits of that system are open to question, and I’m sure that several of the powers-that-be would refute the veracity of that statement, but they would, wouldn’t they? Mark Dodd is in a difficult position. The one area the U.S. is well-stocked is their goalkeeper pool. Kasey Keller plays at the highest level (English Premier League) and performs consistently well there. Hence, he’s the first-choice. Brad Friedel, who is applying for a work permit with Liverpool in England, has been a long-time backup and that isn’t likely to change too soon. Juergen Sommer, the No. 3 choice, has seven years’ experience with Queen’s Park Rangers and Luton Town, although the club is not playing well this season (they just fired their coaching staff) and Sommer has not been starting — he’s been training with the U.S. camp. Dodd’s playing time had been limited — two performances in the last 18 months. He played in the 4-1 loss to Peru, which was played during the player strike of ’96, and he came in for the second half of the Americans’ 5-1 loss to Denmark at U.S. Cup ’97, neither of which offered a fair indication of his talent. His name did come up at a press conference recently and Sampson said Dodd figured in his plans, as did Ian Feuer, another England-based keeper. With Kasey Keller still injured, Dodd was the third keeper behind Friedel and Sommer against El Salvador. I’d expect to see him included in the Chula Vista training camp in January, and, given that U.S. Soccer has agreed to let foreign-based players remain with their clubs in February, at the 1998 Gold Cup.