Skip Walker

Chapel Hill, N.C.

In the 11/15/96 Q&A you advised a person wanting suggestions to improve their jumping ability:

“To jump better, perhaps you can try wearing ankle weights and doing jumping reps. I can’t promise this will make you able to dunk, but you should be able to see some improvement in your vertical leap.”

I must say that I find this advice to be rather horrible, and somewhat dangerous. Using the method described, one would be very likely to injure their knees due to the undue stress placed on them by the weights. Although I am no medical expert, I have had ACL reconstruction, and I was always told never to do any such thing. I was also told never to run with ankle weights since running with them can cause place a great deal of stress on the knees as well.

I would suggest to you that you get somewhat reputable medical opinion on your advice, and retract your advice if necessary.

Pete Bailey: Skip, your concerns are valid, and I would add to the prior response to do the drills solely on grass and not to go overboard on the amount of weight used. Remember two things, however: first, we’re not publicizing ourselves as experts on drills or exercises, we respond to a question of this nature through relating some our own experiences; second, as we’ve mentioned in previous pieces, it is always best to check with your coach and your trainer/doctor before altering your workout routine or the exercises and drills you do. I personally never had problems when I used one-pound ankle weights in college (remember, this is for a few sets of jumping reps, not running a mile), but all knees are different, which is why making sure your coach and doctor are on top of the situation is imperative.

Tom Hill

Foxboro, Mass.

When MLS was putting together their 1997 schedule, any idea why they completely ignored the South American World Cup qualifying dates? They also left NO room for off weeks for the CONCACAF second-round games, many of which fall within the MLS season. And they also did not figure in the U.S. Open Cup dates, even though those dates have been announced for some time. Finally Copa America will take ALL of the South American and Mexican internationals away for about three weeks.

With all this going on, don’t you agree that MLS owes more to its fans than to shoot itself in the foot with a bad schedule and 75 percent of the international-class players forced to miss several league games? Oh yes, remember how they had to take a break between the playoff rounds? Well, the SAME thing will happen again this year–there are four South American qualifiers set for Oct. 12! This schedule was set in place almost two years ago.

The 1996 schedule may have been worse, but I am willing to give them slack for mistakes based on ignorance (not aware of the World Cup schedule) or oversight (too much to deal with to get the league going). However, Year 2 is when you correct mistakes like these, and the only conclusion I can draw was that this schedule was based on arrogance (“we don’t CARE that the game exists outside our domain”) or indifference (“most of our fans don’t follow the international scene anyway, so who cares if those ‘lunatic groups’ in the end zone get upset?”)

Is MLS too insular, myopic, and US-centric to realize what they’ve done?

Ridge Mahoney: Yeah, right, MLS — a league that will permit five foreigners per team in ’97 — doesn’t know what’s going on outside the U.S. borders.

If MLS bowed to all of the conflicts you speak of, it would have to skip more than half of the weekends between March and October and play a 12-game schedule. The league is not convinced — and neither am I — that it can presently survive by playing midweek games.

In an impossible situation, the league is trying to balance the player conflicts with its need to play on weekends. And, since national teams can call their players five days in advance anyway, the only solution would be to play every game on Monday nights, so the players can fly out Tuesday for Sunday matches. Now, there’s an idea.

You’re right, this could curtail quality of play, and hence, attendance. But there’s no solution other to plow ahead and let the teams deal with the issues as best they can. And your inference that MLS is “ignorant” of such conflicts reveals a disturbingly virulent strain of naivete. You’re the only person I’ve talked to or heard from that has stated MLS execs don’t know their fans follow the international scene. Who do you think are those fanatics bouncing up and down in the lower sections at RFK, or doing the Macarena in the Rose Bowl, or waving Colombian flags at Giants Stadium? It ain’t the AYSO crowd, that’s for sure. (And where have you seen U.S. Open Cup dates? They don’t exist as of now. Those games are to be played midweek.)

You can whine all you want, but you’d have more luck throwing sea shells at the sun to keep it from setting, or in your case, pleading with Brian O’Donovan to re-hire Frank Stapleton. Good luck. Better to cheer on the Revs regardless of who’s available, and hope for the best.

Tom Noftle

Yellow Springs, Ohio

In SA‘s positional depth chart for MLS you list forwards and strikers in a 4-4-2 formation. Can you tell me the difference in how these two positions are played?

Ridge Mahoney: Most teams that play with two true front-runners will usually designate one to play “higher” — i.e., closer to the goal — than the other. This changes often during the game, of course, and sometimes teams have only one true forward. But in the two-forward setup, one normally tries to play centrally and stay closer to goal — the striker, or targetman — while the other moves more freely in the attacking area — the forward.

Many coaches refer to this as the first forward (striker) and second forward in their terminology. And I have to admit, a few of my designations — as I explain in the story — were somewhat arbritrary.

But there’s a clear difference in how a ranging, roaming attacking forward like Eric Wynalda or Preki plays as opposed to a targetman like Giovanni Savarese or Raul Diaz Arce. Even a striker like Eduardo Hurtado will range wide or drop into midfield if he sees the need to do so, and he plays much differently than Brian McBride, who also covers a lot of ground. You’ll see McBride get in a lot of shots himself, or head the ball down so a teammate can shoot.

The main point was to emphasize the different styles of forwards who played in the league. If you watch the Crew, notice how Pete Marino tries to burst past defenders (like Roy Lassiter) while McBride, who’s not as fast, needs only a small space to shoot on the turn or first-time.

The best way to understand these positions — and any position, for that matter — is to watch games and players as carefully as you can.

When McBride scored against Costa Rica at Stanford, did you notice the looping run he made? He didn’t break directly for goal as the ball was played out to Ernie Stewart, because there were defenders inside the six-yard box. Instead, he curled around and arrived at the penalty spot just as one of the defenders bungled his clearance. He reacted instantly and put away the chance.

S. Germon

Ypsilanti, Mich.

Who are the top 10 leading scorers in the history of the U.S. national team and how many goals do they have?

Pete Bailey: Here are the U.S. national team’s all-time top 10 goalscorers through 1996:

Rank Name Goals Era
1. Eric Wynalda 27 1990-present
2. Bruce Murray 21 1985-93
3. Hugo Perez 16 1984-94
4. Joe-Max Moore 15 1992-present
5. Frank Klopas 13 1987-present
6. Marcelo Balboa 12 1988-present
— Rick Davis 12 1977-88
8. Peter Vermes 11 1988-94
9. Dominic Kinnear 9 1990-95
— Eddie Murphy 9 1955-69

Cobi Jones (8 goals) is next on the list.

Rae Engle

Seattle

Steve Sampson included Chris Sullivan in his roster for the 12/21 match in Guatemala. Please comment on your views of including an individual who does not play professionally, has not played internationally or professionally for several years, and ironically lives in Steve Sampson’s hometown of San Jose.

It seems to undermine any semblance of a hierarchy for players hoping to someday make it to the national team. Should a player strive to play at the highest levels (USISL to A-League to the MLS) domestically, try to make it overseas, or simply moved to Sampson’s hometown and play amateur ball?

Ridge Mahoney: You certainly have a point. However, one of the major problems in this country is this very hierarchy you speak of — in particular, the rigidity of ODP, state select, regional and national programs has certainly excluded players that didn’t fit into the ‘model’ preferred by USSF staff coaches, most of whom were trained in the English/Northern European tradition. (A few of these coaches in the mid-80s dismissed the chances of a kid named Tab Ramos because he was so small, and have we forgotten Bob Gansler’s exclusion of Hugo Perez?) This is why Sampson and MLS officials have formed Project-40.

Now, Sullivan isn’t a young player from the impoverished inner city — he’s from a well-to-do family, and chucked a comfortable life as a stockbroker to play in Hungary, where he met his wife, Denmark, and Germany. Also remember he did play for the U.S. in the late 80’s and early 90’s, not brilliantly, but competently enough.

It’s not unusual to see a player in his early or mid-20’s drop out of the national team picture, then return after several years of struggling. And frankly, I prefer Sampson to look at any player he think might help the U.S. team, and let’s be honest, most international coaches follow their instincts and give players they know more leeway than somebody they never heard of.

Back in the summer, Sampson quizzed me about Sullivan — where he’d been playing, if I or anybody I knew had seen him play. He was concerned about favoritism, but he still brought Sullivan in to train with the team for a friendly against El Salvador so he could see for himself.

In the past few months, Sullivan returned Hungary to play a dozen or so games with his former club, Rabat ETO. He trained again with the national team this week in San Diego, and has demonstrated his commitment to soccer by agreeing to play in MLS. And a player would be better off moving to Southern California, which is where Sampson has lived since 1990.

He’s a longshot to play in a competitive match for the U.S. — but a run of injuries at forward could leave Sampson shorthanded, and the head coach would also like to look at Pete Marino of Columbus. One other item: Sampson is actively pursuing the idea of forming a national ‘B’ team so older, second-tier players can get regular doses of international experience. Between 1991-93, a ‘B’ team of mostly young players included Brian Maisonneuve, Shane Battelle, Brian McBride, among others.

I mean, if Berti Vogts’ wife can recommend Oliver Bierhoff to her husband, and Bierhoff scores the winner in the Euro ’96 final, what’s wrong with Sampson giving an ex-international a few chances to prove himself? If he flops, so what? Bora looked at more than 50 players, and some of them were real stiffs:
Sadri Gjoubalaj, Mike Masters, Carlos Jaguende, Scoop Stanisic, Mirsad Huseinovic.

There is no “natural order” through which every player must pass. And if a coach starts bringing in every friend’s son or second cousin, he’ll lose the respect of his players and risks losing his job.

Cassie Pence

Federal Way, Wash.

How can I get more power when I kick the ball?

Poul Swain: The more solidly you connect with the ball the harder the shot will be. If you want power, aim for the center of the ball. Kick with the laces of your shoe, not with the side of your foot — you’ll have less accuracy, but much more power. Also, it’s important to keep your head over the ball to keep the ball down so that it won’t sail over the crossbar.

Jeff Moore

Hattiesburg, Miss.

Do the MLS teams have the financial wherewithal to keep some of the top stars from disappearing to Europe, Japan, etc.? Tampa has already lost Lassiter! Along that line, can we attract some top European stars like Klinsmann, who spends much of his offseason here in the US? I believe this is a must to maintain MLS as a “premier” league. I mean, are the owners serious about putting a top flight world team on the pitch, one that can compete with Inter Milans, Borussia Dortmunds, and Ajaxs of the world…or just an American team?

Ridge Mahoney: Where did you get the idea MLS is a “premier” league trying to maintain that status and that the owners are serious about putting a top-flight world team on the pitch? The owners believe an American league can eventually make money, and most of them couldn’t tell you who plays for Borussia Dortmund if you put a gun to their heads and spotted them the Karlheinz in Karlheinz Riedle (“Chancellor of Germany? Olympic silver-medalist in the downhill? 18th-century composer of angst-ridden operas?” might be their guesses.)

MLS will not be able to compete with the top clubs nor the richest leagues in the world for many years, and selling good players at a good price is part and parcel of making pro soccer work, although in this country, it will certainly hurt the league’s image. MLS will have to walk that fine line about keeping as many of its top players as it can, but selling them prudently if it makes good business sense. Eventually, it hopes to build itself into a prosperous operation, which takes time, money, and sound business decisions. It should also be noted that Lassiter is only on loan to Genoa at present.

Andrew S. Boyea Jr.

Boston, Mass.

How come there is so little coverage of New England Soccer? Is “good” soccer only played in the ACC and out west?

Mike Woitalla: If you check out our Dec. 30 issue (which covers the men’s Division I final four), you’ll see plenty of coverage of the best college teams and little mention of the West or ACC. Obviously, the ACC has deserved coverage in the past, as its teams have dominated the championship, but we haven’t ignored the success of other teams. New England? UConn was correct in complaining that it did not get a NCAA bid. Hartford reached the quarterfinals. Harvard reached the second round and Rhode Island and Boston University lost in the first. We had stories on all those teams or players from those teams, and will certainly keep track of them next season. I think New England is indeed on the rise.

Brendan McEvoy

Falls Church, Va.

Did George Mason’s victory over Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tourney mark the end of a dynasty?

Mike Woitalla: Duke’s 1995 semifinal win over Virginia, preventing the Cavaliers’ fifth straight title, ended the dynasty. Still, Virginia has some the nation’s best players and plays good, exciting soccer. I figure they’ll be ranked very high going into the 1997 college season.