David Novak New York What cup is to be played in Mexico from Jan. 8-20? Where will the games be held, which teams are participating, and how can I get tickets? Pete Bailey: Mexico is hosting the second FIFA Confederations Cup. You may recall the inaugural tourney, which was held in Saudi Arabia this past winter with Brazil winning the King Fahd trophy. The 1999 tournament will feature Mexico (host), Brazil (defending champion), USA (CONCACAF Gold Cup runner-up), Bolivia (Copa America runner-up), France (best finish by a European team at the World Cup), Egypt (1998 African Nations Cup champion), Saudi Arabia (1996 Asian Cup champion) and the winner of the Oceania Nations Cup to be held later this month in Brisbane, Australia. The draw for the tournament is scheduled to be held Sept. 18, with the eight entrants drawn into two groups of four for round-robin play. Two teams from each group advance to the semifinals. According to CONCACAF, the competition will most likely be held in Mexico City and at one other venue. That other venue is rumored to be Monterrey. One scenario has the United States playing there with France and Brazil and one other team. Recently, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has hinted that the dates might be moved, as they currently clash with scheduled league games in England, Spain and Italy, but there has yet to be a formal announcement of new dates. The Premier League has already said it will not release the French players at Arsenal and Chelsea. Presumably, that would also mean the United States would be without Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel. For ticket information, you can contact the Mexican federation: Federacion Mexicana de Futbol Associacion AC Abraham Gonzalez 74 CP 06600 Col. Juarez Mexico 6 DF MEXICO phone: 011-52-5-566-2155 or you could also contact FIFA FIFA P.O. Box 85 8030 Zurich SWITZERLAND phone: 011-41-1-384-9595 J. Burton Rush, Ky. Why doesn’t MLS include team sponsors on replica jerseys that are sold like Sharp on Manchester United’s jerseys? To me this would help attract sponsors as fans would be a walking billboard like in NASCAR and other sports. Ridge Mahoney: J.: This is a most timely question, J., since three of the shirt sponsors — Fuji, Bandai, and MasterCard — are in the process of negotiating renewals of their contracts. Up for renewal next year are Pepsi, AT&T, Allsport, Snickers, BIC and Budweiser. One element in the negotiations is the topic of including sponsor logos on replica jerseys. According to the MLS office, they were not included initially due to many of the deals being signed rather late in the startup process. Sponsors want the exposure, obviously. Do the fans want the logos, since they are part of the official uniform look? MLS says they do. Of the suppliers, Nike objects much more strongly than Reebok or adidas, but as sponsorships are signed, the logos will be incorporated into the replicas. Another consideration is design. There is no strong sentiment to put sponsor logos on the jersey front, as is the case on European and South American jerseys (thank God!). There are two sponsor display points on an MLS jersey — on the sleeve, and on the back. Replica jerseys will have the logos in these places, starting either next year or in 2000. If a replica does not have a name and number on the back — like a real jersey — the logo would not be displayed on the back, only on the sleeve. Regardless of what they look like, I hope the league does a much better job of distributing them. They can be found in soccer shops, most of the time, but a lot of the major sporting good stores have rows and rows of Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning and Arizona Diamondbacks jerseys — not to mention Bulls, Cowboys, Packers, Yankees, etc. — but nada soccer. It’s an outrage. Kevin Sims Chattanooga, Tenn. Looking at the women’s roster that competed in the Nordic Cup, I question the inclusion of overage players and full national-team players (Lorrie Fair, Tiffany Roberts, Laurie Schwoy, Robin Confer, Cindy Parlow). Given the dearth of international matches available to the next wave of potential national-team players, do you think it appropriate to include players who have considerable experience with the full national team over players who may be desperate for such exposure? Is the U.S. perhaps too motivated by results in the Nordic Cup when perhaps long-term development of less experienced players on a grand stage is important? Dean Caparaz: Thanks for the question, Kevin. I find it very appropriate that some of the younger national team players play on the U.S. under-20 team. Right now, it’s more important to commit to their development than to bringing up new players to the youth national teams, because the younger U.S. players are pegged to replace the veterans, many of whom may pack it in following the 2000 Olympics. I don’t think the Federation or the U.S. women’s coaching staff is “too motivated by results,” as you put it, to bring ringers into the Nordic Cup, a tournament in which other nations also bring their share of senior national team players. It’s another way to get young talent ready for the next major senior tournament, the 1999 Women’s World Cup, while still developing youth national team talent. One of the top players on the U.S. team this summer was Susan Bush, a high school player. As a side note, this year’s tournament was an under-21 event, as opposed to the under-20 format in years past. Just like last year, teams were able to bring a few overage players. Of the younger national team players you mentioned — Lorrie Fair, Tiffany Roberts, Laurie Schwoy, Robin Confer, Cindy Parlow — only Parlow and Fair get any real quality playing time with the national team. Even Roberts, a former starter, does not get the amount of time on the field with the national team that would allow her to develop. Playing on the U.S. Nordic Cup team as starters does allow that. For Parlow and Fair, who are both 20 years old and still young internationally speaking, being able to play in an arena in which they are among the best players can only help their confidence as well as let them develop. If the younger senior national team players aren’t invested in, the gradual aging of the U.S. team will bring the U.S. down from the upper echelon of women’s soccer. As far as other young players, the “next wave” as you put it, there are still opportunities to play on the U-20 team as well as the new under-18 national team. Garrick Roegner Dallas MLS has a salary cap, which is good, but for the most part, MLS’s foreign signings are less than impressive and really aren’t bringing in the Hispanic fan base. Also, some of them are downright horrible. Instead of spending lots of money to buy five average foreign players per team, why doesn’t MLS spend the same amount of money to buy two or three really first rate, exciting, and internationally famous players. It seems that this would bring in more fans, increase the level of play, and bring better international credibility to the league? Paul Kennedy: There’s no easy answer to this problem. 1. The big problem is that you could take all the money MLS spends on transfer fees for its foreigners and it could buy perhaps one “internationally famous” player, as you call it. 2. Many of the foreigners who have been brought here would fit the “exciting” tag, but they haven’t adapted. 3. Will these players really bring in more fans over the long haul? That’s the question. There’s a lot of quick fixes MLS could attempt, but it must be able to draw fans over the long term to survive into the 21st century. Unfortunately, the jury is still out. I think one question to consider — especially as MLS launches Project 2010 — is whether MLS is going to reduce the number of foreign players to, say, four per team. Considering the money wasted on some players and the fact that few teams use even four foreigners, it does make some sense. Ted Jones, Knoxville, Tenn. This may be a stupid question, but I want to know what the official definition of an “assist” is. For example, if a player passes the ball to someone who then beats two guys and scores, is an assist credited to the passer? Can you have two assists on the same play? How about three? Or is it all a judgment call with really no strict rules? Pete Bailey: In 1998, MLS official scorers are awarding assists “to the player who made the last pass before the goal and if appropriate, the next-to-last pass that led to the goal, as long as there was consecutive possession — i.e. possession of the ball was not interrupted by a defender. However, if the opposing goalkeeper does handle, block or deflect the ball during the sequence leading up to the goal, it will not count as interrupted possession.” No more than two assists can be awarded on a goal. Here are some examples: Miami’s Carlos Valderrama, just beyond the halfway line, makes a routine square pass to Diego Serna, who dribbles into the corner under pressure and crosses the ball. Paulinho McLaren heads the ball into the goal. Score the play as a goal for Paulinho McLaren with assists to Serna and Valderrama because possession was never lost on the attack. D.C. United midfielder Marco Etcheverry takes a corner kick and sends the ball to Eddie Pope, who back-heads the ball across the goalmouth for Roy Lassiter, who kicks the ball into the goal. Score the play as a goal for Lassiter with assists for Pope and Etcheverry. Columbus keeper Juergen Sommer punts the ball down the field and Brian McBride chests it down and volleys the ball into the goal. Score it a goal for McBride and an assist to Sommer. The MetroStars’ Alexi Lalas wins a ball from Tampa Bay’s Roy Wegerle in NY/NJ’s third and makes a short pass to Tab Ramos, who makes a brilliant solo run through the Mutiny defense, dribbling the length of the field and scoring. Score this play a goal for Ramos and an assist for Lalas. Los Angeles midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos attempts to pass to Cobi Jones, but the ball is intercepted by Colorado’s Steve Trittschuh. L.A.’s Martin Machon tackles the ball away from Trittschuh and passes to Jones, who scores. Score this play a goal for Cobi and an assist for Machon. Cienfuegos does not receive an assist because the possession was broken. San Jose’s Victor Mella passes the ball down the wing to Eric Wynalda, who crosses the ball into the middle where New England keeper Ian Feuer attempts to catch the cross, but only gets a piece of the ball. Ronald Cerritos then runs onto the ball and scores for San Jose. Score this play as a goal for Cerritos and assists for Wynalda and Mella because the possession was never broken by a member of New England’s defense. Kansas City midfielder Preki shoots a left-footed rocket from thirty-five yards that Dallas keeper Mark Dodd does well to block. The ball rolls to Wizards’ forward Digital Takawira, who passes to Mo Johnston, who scores. Credit a goal for Johnston with assists for Takawira and Preki. Preki would also receive credit for a shot, with the result being a save. Chicago midfielder Piotr Nowak passes to forward Roman Kosecki in the penalty box. He turns and fires a shot that hits the post and rebounds across the goalmouth for Josh Wolff to tap into the goal. Score this play as a goal for Wolff and assists for Kosecki and Nowak, as possession was never broken.