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Project 2026?
Quote of the week | Game of the week With the U.S. having faced a must-win game against Barbados in the semifinal round of qualifying on Wednesday night (a 7-0 win that became the soccer equivalent of invading Grenada), it's a good time to ponder Project 2010, the U.S. Soccer Federation's blueprint to become a contender for the World Cup title by 2010. But I didn't have the stomach to listen to any bloviating "suits" pontificate on the matter. So I asked the players. It was a simple question: In your honest, most realistic assessment, by what year will the U.S. men be a legitimate contender to win the World Cup? And more than half of the 23 MLS players I surveyed said this: 2010 is too soon. It broke down like this (decimals come from split votes): 2018 and Beyond ...
10.6
Just as revealingly, while you have to admire the enthusiasm of players who responded "2006, dude!" those who had the most detailed arguments were the guys who think the U.S. is a long way from going head-to-head with Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo and Edgar Davids on the world stage. A few samples: Dante Washington, Columbus Crew (2014-2022): "It's going to take our generation coaching the younger generations to understand what it's like playing at the international level." Mike Ammann, MetroStars (2022): "By that time MLS should be one of the major sports in the USA. When that happens, and only when that happens, will we actually be a favorite to win." You've heard of Jesse (The Body) Ventura? MLS has Chicago's Jesse (The Bleak) Marsch, who says the U.S. won't reach the Promised Land of soccer until after 2050. "Until I begin to see soccer as part of mainstream American culture," Marsch argues, "we will have no realistic chance of winning a World Cup." As for Garth ... Garth Lagerwey quote of the week"We'll win in 2034 and be competitive in 2010. The current crop of players has gotten us a long way. Without an established system of roads and supplies they are the pioneers. Unfortunately, we haven't made it to the Pacific yet and had the California gold rush of talent that the next generation of players following an established path will take. "Kids have to see the MLS as a viable way to earn a living and gain notoriety as athletes in other sports do, or soccer will not draw enough of the elite athletes in this country to compete with the great soccer countries in the world. Getting those kids will happen sooner than 2034, but winning for the first time without hosting is as likely as getting the sport of chihuahua bowling in the Olympics. Chihuahua bowling is fun and a great way to meet MLS cheerleaders, but it hasn't yet made anyone famous in the national sports marketplace. MLS's level of play has rapidly improved, but without a concurrent rise in player salaries, too many players will go to Europe and not enough of the kids who are gifted athletes will continue with soccer beyond high school." The no-trade deadlineAll right, enough self-pity. We still have a league, after all, and as Quique Ocampo, ex vice-chief of the Boca Juniors barra brava, once told me, "Cheering for the national team is like cheering for your aunt or uncle. Your club, Americano -- your club is like your mother and father."
Well, then, our immediate families were decidedly static over the past week. Tuesday's MLS trade deadline came and passed without a single deal, a far cry from past years. In 1999 Dallas sent Leonel Alvarez and a first-round draft pick to New England for Ariel Graziani, who has turned into one of MLS's top snipers. (Smart move, Walter Zenga.) And the year before that, the Burn got Oscar Pareja from the Revolution in a trade-deadline deal for Damián. (The Burn outsmarted Zenga on that one, too. Pareja still starts for Dallas; Damián is out of MLS.) What's up with the inactivity in 2000? According to Dallas coach Dave (Master of the Trade Deadline) Dir, it comes down to a couple of things. "It's hard enough to make trades in this league because there isn't a large player pool and it becomes a big risk. Everybody wants too much," Dir says. "This year it's even harder because teams are so close and nobody feels like they're out of it." Chicago GM Peter Wilt contends that even if a trade would improve his team he probably wouldn't pull the trigger. "Our chemistry is so good right now that bringing in a new player might disrupt it," Wilt says. "We would have to improve our team dramatically or get a first-round pick to do a deal." MLS's rigid salary cap also discourages the kind of salary-dumping you see in baseball. In other words, until there are more incentives to make deals (including "franchise player" designations and an earlier trade deadline), don't expect MLS to have a flurry of deadline action anytime soon. Bradley, five-star generalThe competition for the services of Chicago coach Bob Bradley is starting to heat up. Bradley, the only coach besides Bruce Arena to have won an MLS Cup and be named the players' choice as top coach in the league, has no contract after this season. Sources at D.C. United say that GM Kevin Payne will go after Bradley if United fires coach Thomas Rongen. But Chicago is already trying to head off D.C.'s challenge. The Fire recently offered Bradley a new multi-year contract that would make Bradley the highest-paid coach in MLS, according to Wilt. (Rongen's salary, reportedly around $200,000 a year, is believed to be the league's richest.) That may not be enough to keep Bradley. A year ago Bradley could have cashed in when the MetroStars came calling (sources say the Metros were willing to offer as much as $500,000 a year, similar to past deals for Bora Milutinovic and Carlos Alberto Parreira), but the Fire refused to let Bradley interview for the job. Bradley says he has no resentment toward the Fire, and while he says his family is his top priority, he also points out that money isn't everything. For starters, Bradley doesn't even have an agent. What's more, he says, "We feel good about what we've done here in Chicago with our nucleus of young players. That means a lot to me, too." Negotiations between Bradley and the Fire may continue before the end of the season. More likely, he'll wait and see what happens with United and Rongen. Stay tuned. Clive Charles: Loyalty over quality?Much has been said about the first-time presence of professionals from MLS on the Olympic team, which was announced Tuesday. But here's my question: Why did coach Clive Charles pick the wrong guys from MLS? This is a team, after all, that includes defenders Brian Dunseth (Revolution) and Ramiro Corrales (MetroStars), but not MLS rookie of the year candidates Carlos Bocanegra (Fire) or Nick Garcia (Wizards); forward Conor Casey (Charles's homeboy from the U of Portland, where Casey is about to begin his sophomore year) but not the Galaxy's Sasha Victorine (scorer of the U.S.'s only goal against Bolton Wanderers last month); Frankie Hejduk but not ... well, anybody besides Frankie Hejduk. "How can he not pick Bocanegra?" asks one U.S. Soccer insider. "Frankie Hejduk has played one game in six months, and so has Joey DiGiamarino. And you could put a ball in front of me and I'd do a better job defending than Brian Dunseth has recently." To his credit, Charles picked youngster Landon Donovan, who would be ideal up front in a tandem with Josh Wolff. Yet it was strange that Charles didn't appear to defend his choices in a much-anticipated U.S. Soccer teleconference on Tuesday. (He cited a family emergency.) I caught up with Charles late Tuesday afternoon, though, and he had a few things to say: 1) Victorine was the last cut from the team. "He's done well enough to make it," Charles said, "but we have an abundance of forwards. It was a numbers game." 2) Bocanegra hasn't been in his plans for a long time. "My two central defenders all along have been Chad McCarty and Brian Dunseth. Danny Califf has done well, too. Bocanegra is a very good marking back, but we don't play that style with our back four." 3) When making his decisions -- especially on over-age players Chris Armas, Hejduk and Jeff Agoos -- Charles wasn't necessarily looking for the most talent. "Don't look at it as, 'Are there better players out there?'" he said. "I'm looking at filling the needs of this team." 4) And, finally, loyalty was one of his top concerns. "It's very important," he said. "These guys have been with us for a long time, and they've done well. They've never let me down." In any case, this much is certain: Charles has stuck to his guns. Whether he shoots himself in the foot remains to be seen. Game of the weekU.S. vs. Barbados, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2. Granted, I'm no Michael Lewis when it comes to predictions. But after over-estimating the U.S. in both of its qualifiers in Central America, I'm ready to go back to the well one more time. A win is paramount against the Bajans, and we'll finally see whatever "character" the Americans really have. Look for Joe-Max Moore to score in the opening 20 minutes, followed by a good old-fashioned butt-kicking. U.S. 4, Barbados 1. By the way, I'm moving from New York to Seattle this week. Anybody know of a good soccer bar in Seattle? Wahl's cross-country move gets in the way of his Aug. 23 column, but feel free
offer suggestions on where in the world of specialty coffee he can whet his
soccer whistle. Maybe he'll have some comments on your comments when Inside U.S.
Soccer returns Aug.
30.
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