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Kraft-y move in MLS
Posted: Wednesday June 07, 2000 11:24 AM Extra Time | Game of the Week
And once again the question came up: How can you have an organization trade a player to itself and expect to be called a legitimate sports league? For his part, Gulati says that he stepped aside and let the respective coaches and general managers work out the deal. "Did I know about it? Yeah," Gulati says. "But I said that I would stay out of trades between the two teams. It's a check on the system."
New England clearly comes out ahead in the trade, just as it appeared to have when it dubiously swapped little-used Jair for San Jose's Jeff Baicher during last year's stretch run. (In the end, neither player stuck with his new team.) In this case, the Revs acquire Wright, 29, a dynamic Costa Rican back who's known for making long, dangerous offensive runs. In return, San Jose gets Calichman, 32, and Burns, 29, two players who weren't starting for New England and are on the downsides of their careers. As far as the draft pick is concerned, the Quakes will get an unspectacular starter at best, a bust at worst. In any case, the trade also helps Gulati as he finally tries to land long-overdue allocations for each team. San Jose now has an open foreign slot, though it's no longer a sure thing that Mexican forward José Manuel Abundis will be coming to fill it. E-Quakes coach Lothar Osiander traveled to Guadalajara and visited with Abundis after Toluca's 4-1 win over Chivas last weekend, and the coach offered a less-than-ringing endorsement, calling Abundis "a decent player" who "only plays 15 to 30 minutes a game" because of an injured knee. "It's a league decision," Osiander offers, sounding like a guy resigned to the fact that Abundis's fan appeal might bring him to San Jose even if the coach doesn't want him. Meantime, the trade firmed up New England in the back, and now Gulati and coach Fernando Clavijo have decided to pursue a Portuguese forward. Keep this in mind, though: Of the top 20 scoring forwards in the Portugual's first division this season, only one was actually Portuguese -- Benfica's Nuno Gomes, 23, a national-team member whose transfer pricetag is estimated to be nearly $12 million, way out of MLS's league. Below Portugal's top 20 you start running into names like former MLS flameout Chiquinho Conde. In other words, a Portuguese scoring savior is going to be hard to find. Americans on the move in Europe?Tuesday night I spoke with three top Americans who are in camp with the national team and might soon be changing their club addresses in Europe. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller, the best player the U.S. has ever produced, still has a year left on his contract with Spain's Rayo Vallecano, but he might be heading elsewhere after sitting on the bench at season's end following his recovery from a shoulder injury. Reports out of England Tuesday once again had him headed to Arsenal. "I've been linked with Arsenal since October, so I'm just laughing it off," Keller says. "If it happens, great, but it's nothing that I'm thinking about." Sooner or later, though, Keller, 30, wants to take a step upward. "I've never played for a big club and I'd like to have that opportunity before the end of my career," he says. Meanwhile, midfielder Jovan Kirovski and goalkeeper Brad Friedel need to find situations where they can play regularly, or they risk losing their spots on the national team. Kirovski, 24, is at the crossroads of his European career, having already spent eight years on the Continent. The Manchester United youth-program product never caught on in Germany with Borussia Dortmund, and now that his contract is up he says he'll likely sign a deal in the next two to three weeks with a club from England, Spain or Portugal. "Wherever I go, the key now isn't about money. It's about playing," explains Kirovski, who says he had fruitful discussions recently with a couple of Premiership teams. "I don't want to go to a massive club and not play. That's why this decision is so critical for me." Going to a massive club and not playing much is exactly what happened to Friedel, 29, who spent most of his time this season playing with the reserves at Liverpool. Though Friedel has one year left on his contract, it's unlikely he will get his work permit renewed (Liverpool has already signed Pegguy Arphexad as a backup) and he may get to leave on a free transfer. "It's strange," Friedel says. "This year I probably learned the most of any year I've been in sports, about how to keep fit and keep training, so when you're called you can play well. Obviously I'm not happy about not playing, but you have to deal with it." Mutiny on the Mutiny?It was pretty clear last week that Tampa Bay Mutiny coach Tim Hankinson bitterly disagreed with general manager Bill Manning's decision to trade high-scoring forward Raúl Díaz Arce to D.C. for John Maessner and a couple of draft picks. Sources close to the team tell me that Hankinson said he was going to return Díaz Arce to the starting lineup against Kansas City last Saturday in a two-striker front line next to Mamadou Diallo. What's more, before the trade Tampa Bay had already nixed one offer from D.C. for Díaz Arce, demanding a " Ben Olsen/Eddie Pope- caliber player." Maessner certainly doesn't fit that bill. Tampa Bay is a league-operated team, of course, and the big question is whether MLS put pressure on the Mutiny to send a player who had been riding the pine to a team in need of a scorer and fan draw. While MLS HQ denies the charge, there are folks in Tampa who are convinced that's exactly what happened.
In other words, the players think: 1. The Galaxy is by far the team to beat. Though it's only the second-best team in the Western Division so far, L.A. gets unanimous support for reaching the MLS semis. 2. D.C. United will rebound. Though it has the worst record in MLS, D.C. will recover in time to make another playoff run. 3. Kansas City isn't as good as its record. Though they're 10-0-2 in their first 12 games, the Wizards have less support than L.A. or even Chicago, which trails K.C. by 13 points in the standings. What's up with all the D.C. votes and the dissing of Kansas City? Experience and talent, according to one player who picked United but not the Wizards. "I really feel like D.C. only plays well when they want to," he explains. "With all the talented players they have, they'll pull their heads out and start winning. K.C. is riding a confidence high. Everyone has bought into a system, and it is going very well for them, but the interesting thing will be to see how they respond when they have a bad game. Will that hurt their confidence and will they start pointing fingers at people?"
Garth Lagerwey Quote of the WeekOur favorite MLS third-string goalkeeper wasn't as prolific this week as he was in our last survey, but we're still going to need an extra page for the guy. Lagerwey's final four: 1. Miami Fusion
To find out why Garth likes these four teams, click here. Extra TimeD.C. United discovery player Michael Blackwood, late of Aston Villa reserves, won't arrive for a tryout for another two weeks after bruising his ribs in a car accident in England last weekend. What's more, according to D.C. president Kevin Payne, the agent for the 19-year-old forward denied a BBC report Tuesday that Blackwood had signed with Wrexham. ... How was D.C. United able to fit the newly acquired Díaz Arce under its salary cap, even though it couldn't fit the lesser-paid Roy Lassiter at the start of the season? Contrary to reports, the salary cap does indeed apply throughout the season, not just at the start. But in what GMs tell me is a common practice, Tampa Bay will eat Díaz Arces's salary this season, since there's no way the Mutiny can add another significant player. The dubious part of the deal: Tampa Bay agreed to pay part of Díaz Arces salary next year, too. ... When only 17,831 fans showed up in L.A. for Luis Hernández's second game, I recalled what La Opinión reporter Rigoberto Cervantez told me at Hernández's debut: "The fans want three or four big-name Mexicans on this team, not just one." ... Chicago GM Peter Wilt expects that the Fire won't lose striker Ante Razov for any games beyond those he misses for U.S. Cup, even though Razov was red-carded against the MetroStars last Saturday. In years past, both Marco Etcheverry and Carlos Valderrama have not had to miss extra games when red-card suspensions and national-team duty have overlapped. ... Brian McBride, Chris Armas and Eddie Pope are the frontrunners for the over-age Olympic team spots, sources say. Game of the WeekU.S. men vs. South Africa, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, ABC. It's hard to know exactly what to expect from the U.S. since coach Bruce Arena plans on using different lineups in the first two U.S. Cup games before choosing a top starting XI for next week's finale against Mexico. For the first time in Arena's tenure, though, getting results is paramount as the Americans prepare for the start of World Cup qualifying in July. Prediction: U.S. 1, South Africa 0. Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl will keep you up to date on U.S. soccer teams and players each
Wednesday. To send him a question or comment click
here.
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