Cup vets come home from abroad

By Ridge Mahoney, Special to SI.com, Soccer America

Former bad boy Clint Mathis has settled down at Real Salt Lake, his second go-around with the club after a second stint in Europe. Mike Stobe/Getty Images for New York Red Bull

Clint Mathis, Bobby Convey and Eddie Lewis all have played in the World Cup and lived the ups and downs of European soccer. For different reasons, they have returned home to settle down and are discovering new roles on their MLS teams.

Clint Mathis: Playing a different game

Nearly seven years ago, Mathis sent a searing strike into the South Korean net during the most successful U.S. World Cup. He trapped a throw-in from John O'Brien, touched the ball past a defender and hammered home a blast from well outside the box that yielded a 1-1 tie with host South Korea, and eventually, cemented a spot in the round of 16.

The goal seemingly typified the unerring trajectory of his career. He had the swagger, the skill, the Mohawk and the allure of perennial German powerhouse Bayern Munich bidding for his services. At age 25, fame and fortune looked to be a sitter, but alas, he couldn't hit the target.

Bayern had bid slightly more than $1 million for him, not the $5 million widely reported, and MLS turned it down. He eventually would go to Germany, but to a lesser club and not much success.

After joining Hannover in January 2004, he scored four goals in 16 matches for coach Ralf Rangnick. Yet when the club replaced Rangnick with Ewald Lienen, his playing time nearly evaporated. He played just four games of the '04-05 season prior to the winter break, scored one goal, and raised enough fuss to get out of his contract.

"It might not have been the best decision at that time," he says of leaving Germany, where his fondness of nightlife and initial success -- four goals in the first five games -- fed the voracious sporting and tabloid media. When his luck changed, so did the coverage. "But it is what it is. I just wanted to continue playing soccer and enjoy playing soccer."

Former Real Salt Lake coach John Ellinger offered him his initial opportunity to return in '05, but it quickly turned sour for the player, the coach, and the team. A year with the Rapids and a more productive stay in New York followed. Cut loose from MLS once again in January '08, he headed back to Europe; there was an offer from Turkey, but he chose to play for Ergotelis, a small club on the Greek island of Crete.

The rabid fervor of Greek league games often boils over into violence as giants Panathinaikos, AEK and Olympiakos usually predominate. "I saw some of that in Germany, because the fans are really crazy in Germany," he says. "I saw a quite a few fights and riots, I guess. It's a little bit different in that regard, but I never felt threatened to where I was worried about my safety. But it was kind of interesting to see the security guards with their helmets bringing out their riot shields."

When the season was over, with his wife Tracey coming due to give birth to their first child, he began discussions with MLS. He envisioned a return to one of his former MLS teams. Correct scenario, but wrong team.

"I thought we were going to work things out with the Galaxy and I guess things just got prolonged with the situation regarding Ruud Gullit," he says of a possible move to Los Angeles, not far from his wife's hometown and where he began his pro career in '98. Instead, Jason Kreis, who had played for Ellinger and replaced him as head coach early in the '07 season, got in touch.

"Jason made a call to see if he could get my rights, and the Galaxy said, 'Yeah.' That was pretty much the situation." RSL traded a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2010 SuperDraft. It didn't need to offer much; nobody else was interested.

He joined Kreis in Salt Lake City in time to play 11 matches. He failed to notch a goal or an assist, yet not coincidentally, RSL surged strongly down the stretch and got into the playoffs with a last-minute goal in Colorado. Another pair of dramatic games eliminated Chivas USA 3-2 on aggregate before the dream ride ended against, ironically, the Red Bulls, Mathis' previous MLS club.

"Maybe when I was younger, not scoring a goal or getting an assist would have really bothered me, because usually that was what I was expected to do," he says. "I was the guy who had to score goals. But I'm playing a different game here. I got myself fit and I've dropped into midfield, where I can do a lot of things to help the team. I've known Jason for a long time, he's a good friend of mine, but we don't let that affect how we do our jobs. He's the coach, I'm the player, and what he says, that's it."