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The Greg Louganis Awards
Posted: Friday July 14, 2000 10:09 AM
Quote of the week | Game of the week He flopped. He flipped. He leaped like a salmon in mid-spawn. And when Miami's Diego Serna was done last Saturday, he had earned a penalty kick, a dangerous free kick and ... no yellow cards for his diving theatrics against the L.A. Galaxy. Which made me wonder -- who are the most prolific divers in MLS? How often are they carded for doing it? And why can't Serna at least try the pike position instead of the full layout once in a while? All those questions and more are answered in this week's Greg Louganis Awards, a term coined by one of the 24 MLS players who responded to this week's survey (Who is the biggest diver in MLS?) by saying, "Diego Serna is the Greg Louganis of our league, bar none."
First, the results: 1. Diego Serna, Miami Fusion 2. Ariel Graziani, Dallas Burn 3. Luis Hernández, L.A. Galaxy Receiving one vote: Mauricio Cienfuegos (L.A. Galaxy), Jason Farrell (Columbus Crew), Peter Nowak (Chicago Fire), Preki (K.C. Wizards), William Sunsing (N.E. Revolution) On Wednesday, when I told Serna that he was the recipient of this award, he gave a less-than-rousing acceptance speech. In fact, he said that he has never dived in a game. Ever. Really. "Taking dives is anti-soccer," Serna said. "I don't dive. When I fall, it's because somebody hits me. These guys need to be more willing to go after the ball and not the player." As I waited for Serna to tell me that the sky was purple in Fort Lauderdale, he continued. "If I was diving, they wouldn't have called the fouls. I'm smart enough to know that I don't want to get a reputation for taking dives, because then I'll be a marked man. All your survey does is tell me that these players need to work harder on their defense." But Diego, what about those obvious dives on Saturday? The whole country saw them on ESPN2's MLS Extra Time. "The replays they had were inconclusive. They should have had more cameras. Listen, I keep track of how many times I draw a penalty, and so far in MLS I have drawn seven penalties. This year I haven't received a single yellow card for taking a dive." Well, not quite. According to Jef Thiffault at MLS, Serna earned a card on April 8 against the Wizards for exaggerating contact. What's amazing, though, is that only three yellow cards have been given all season in MLS for acting (to Serna, Sunsing and Colorado's Junior Agogo), compared to 18 in 1999. (I know it's easy to complain about MLS refereeing, but come on guys.) In any case, the league has kept track of such penalties since 1998, and guess who's had the most? 4 -- Serna 2 -- Roman Kosecki 1 -- Agogo, Jeff Cunningham, Eric Dade, Paul Dougherty, Marco Etcheverry, Gilmar, Eduardo Hurtado, Cobi Jones, Brian Kamler, Roy Lassiter, Clint Mathis, Richard Mulrooney, Peter Nowak, Mike Petke, Ante Razov, Wellington Sanchez, William Sunsing, Billy Thompson, Mauricio Wright In other words, we have a winner. As one of our MLS survey voters explained, "Serna, hands down. Big guy, falls easy. He probably does it in practice. Ask Garth." Which brings us to Serna's Fusion teammate Garth Lagerwey and the ...
Garth Lagerwey quote of the weekFirst, many thanks to Garth, who subbed splendidly for me while I was away. Amazingly, though, Serna didn't get his vote, which went to L.A.'s Mauricio Cienfuegos. Garth had this to say: "The prospects for the Salvadoran gymnastics squad at the upcoming Sydney Olympics must be good. Mauricio's sordid collection of dives, falls, rolls and squeals of anguish bespeak a solid tumbling background as a youth." Mazatenango, Oh, MazatenangoIt's no secret that Guatemala switched the site of this Sunday's World Cup qualifier against the U.S. from Guatemala City to tiny Mazatenango to inflict the area's heat, humidity and mosquitoes on the visiting Americans. But there's more to Mazatenango than just those minor discomforts. To wit, American goalkeeper Kasey Keller remembers playing in Mazatenango in 1988 with the U.S. under-20 team. What sticks out in his mind? One of his teammates woke up one night with a scorpion in his bed. The last time U.S. defender Greg Vanney played in Mazatenango was in 1998, when the L.A. Galaxy was taking a preseason tour of the area. In the middle of the game, an earthquake struck. Fearing a collapse of the stands, players and fans raced onto the field to avoid falling debris. "At first I just thought there was a fight in the stands," Vanney recalls. "But then I heard this rumbling, and suddenly a thousand people are charging the field." After a 10-minute delay, the teams returned to the field. "All I remember is that we won handily," says Vanney. According to one U.S. embassy staffer in Guatemala City, Mazatenango is "the only region of Guatemala that doesn't have a home population. They're all nomads and peasants. But they're hot-blooded peasants who love their soccer." In other words, expect the usual urine-filled bags, batteries, etc. to be flying out of the stands at the U.S. players on gameday. Enjoy the trip, guys. Only in AmericaI couldn't leave you without a story from Euro 2000. It was there that 22-year-old French striker Thierry Henry told me an amusing tale two days before the final. Turns out that Henry and buddies Nicolas Anelka and Sylvain Wiltord are such NBA fanatics that they'd stay up late -- really late, like 2 a.m. -- during Euro 2000 to watch live telecasts of the Lakers and Pacers. In fact, Henry made his one and only trip to the U.S. a year ago for the NBA Finals, but upon arrival in New York, confoundingly, couldn't score a ticket to see the Knicks and Spurs. "Nobody knew me," he explained with a laugh. One can only hope that if he keeps scoring for the best soccer team of our time (we're talking France here, not Arsenal) young Thierry might someday get a V.I.P. seat anywhere -- even in the Big Apple. Game of the weekU.S. vs. Guatemala, Sunday, July 16, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN2. In their history of World Cup qualifying, the Yanks are 0-3-3 on the road against Guatemala and Costa Rica. Now they open the road to Japan/Korea 2002 with ... consecutive road games against Guatemala and Costa Rica. Can they pull out a win in Mazatenango? It won't be easy, but it says here that the U.S. will get a late goal from Ante Razov for a hard-earned 1-0 win in the stifling heat. 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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