|
|
|
|
My Top 5 Performers
1. San Jose Earthquakes
newcomers Jeff Agoos, Dwayne DeRosario, Landon Donovan, Manny Lagos and Frank Yallop (MLS Cup VI champs)
2. Tiffeny
Milbrett, New York Power, WUSA MVP
3. Argentina (one loss in 18 games of brutal South American World Cup qualifying)
4. Clint
Mathis' jaw-dropping scoring tear for the U.S. and MetroStars in March and April
5. Joe-Max
Moore's two-goal game against Jamaica to clinch the U.S.'s World Cup berth
5a. Bayern
Munich's Champions League win and New York City bar binge -- both in the same week! |
|
|
|
|
Overrated
|
Mia Hamm
The cult of personality surrounding the forward is mystifying, considering she
hasn't been her own country's best player since 1998 (see: Michelle Akers and
Tiffeny Milbrett), has never dominated when it counts (in the World Cup or the
Olympics) and was M.I.A. for the last place Washington Freedom this year, not
even making the WUSA's top 10 in points. Frankly, Hamm also lacks any
personality to match the cult. Still, she draws the most squeals from the pigtailed hooligans, somehow won FIFA's first Female World Player of the Year award and rakes in $2 million a year in endorsements. As a distaff
marketing phenomenon, Hamm rivals only Anna Kournikova and Venus Williams.
Sadly, her performance these days comes closer to matching that of the former
than the latter.
|
|
Underrated
|
Jeff Agoos
No player in U.S. history has had more hard luck. In 1994, he was one of the
last cuts before the World Cup (whereupon he burned his uniform in despair). In
1998, after playing throughout Cup qualifying, Agoos suffered the indignity of
tutoring his last-second replacement, David Regis, for the U.S. citizenship
test. (Agoos didn't play a minute of World Cup '98.) At 34, the cagey defender
should finally get his first chance to play on soccer's biggest stage next
summer in Japan and South Korea. Agoos certainly deserves it. He logged more
minutes than any other American in World Cup qualifying, was the best defender
in MLS this year and led the San Jose Earthquakes to a victory in MLS Cup VI.
Yet for some reason, "Goose" still never gets any pub.
|
|
Annoying
|
Diego Maradona
A drug-addled, blubber-saddled bloviator, he somehow remains a larger-than-life
figure in Argentina on the order of Evita. Upon resurfacing there in November
for his farewell match, El Diego reached new depths of anti-Americanism,
presumably acquired while living the past two years in Cuba with pal Fidel
Castro. Among other things, Maradona: 1) wore a black turban in a show of
support for the Taliban; 2) appeared in a magazine donning an Osama bin Laden
mask; and 3) asked reporters, "How can we talk about violence in soccer
when the Americans are bombing Afghanistan?" On cue, nearly 60,000
Argentines filled a stadium to honor this nut job a few days
later.
|
|
Breakthrough
|
Young American goal-scorers
These Gen Y Yanks know how to find the net. First it was Clint Mathis and Josh
Wolff, both 24, who proved during World Cup qualifying that they can score at
the international level. Then it was 19-year-old Landon Donovan, whose five
goals in six playoff games for the Earthquakes made him the MVP of the MLS
playoffs. Can this trio take the next step in 2002? Can Mathis and Wolff recover
their edge after long-term injuries in 2001? And can Donovan earn a starting
spot on the U.S. World Cup team? The answers to those questions will determine
who fills this space next
year.
|
|
Uplifting
|
Hernán Dario Gómez
Ecuador's national team coach was pistol-whipped and shot in the leg by thugs
last May after the son of Ecuador's exiled former president was left off the
country's youth team. Instead of resigning in fear, though, Gómez heeded
his thousands of Ecuadorean supporters, stayed on as coach and in November
guided Ecuador to the first World Cup qualification in the nation's
history.
|
|
MVP
|
Phil Anschutz
As in, Most Valuable Pursestring-Holder. MLS simply wouldn't exist were it not
for Anschutz, the oil and communications tycoon who was the world's 16th-richest
person (net worth: $15.3 billion) the last time Forbes checked. Though
the league has hemorrhaged $250 million, Anschutz has more than just held on to
the five MLS teams he owns. He also brokered the deal in which ABC/Disney
purchased television rights for the next two World Cups -- and got the new MLS
long-term TV deal thrown in on the side. Why does St. Phil believe in MLS? Does
he actually think pro soccer can be profitable in the U.S.? Nobody knows. The
mysterious Anschutz hasn't given an interview in more than two
decades.
|
|
Storyline to follow in 2002
|
World Cup questions
Can France repeat and enter the history books? Can Argentina continue its
remarkable run of the past two years and unseat the French? Can Brazil make
people forget its humiliating qualifying problems? For that matter, will the
U.S. gain respectability by reaching the second round or (dare we say) the
quarterfinals? Let's just hope the questions stick to soccer and not the dicey
security situation many pundits are
expecting.
|
|
|
|
