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Hankinson: A latter-day Dick Howser?
This week's question | Quote of the week | Game of the week Remember when the late Dick Howser won 103 games as manager of the New York Yankees and still got fired by George Steinbrenner? Well, MLS may soon have its own Howser in Tampa Bay coach Tim Hankinson. According to sources close to the Mutiny, general manager Bill Manning has been telling people that Hankinson will get the ax if Tampa Bay doesn't get past the first round of the playoffs. This, of course, is the same Mutiny team that (with one game left to play) still has a chance to finish with the best record in MLS. What gives? It all goes back to the Mutiny's mid-season trade of Raúl Díaz Arce to D.C. United for John Maessner, two first-round draft picks and a second-round pick. Hankinson publicly criticized Manning for making the trade, and the two have been on icy terms ever since. Díaz Arce has flopped in D.C., and these days an emboldened Manning looks like a magician for having outfoxed United president-GM Kevin Payne, who recently admitted the deal "may turn out to be an extremely poor decision" by United.
The trade's surprising aftermath further weakens Hankinson's already-tenuous position, leaving us with this bizarre circumstance: The coach of an MLS Cup candidate has less job security than almost all of his colleagues, including San Jose's Lothar Osiander and D.C.'s Thomas Rongen, owners of the league's two worst records in 2000. Go figure. Arena's Tuesday morning quarterbackHere's a post-mortem from Bruce Arena on his players' performances in Sunday's 1-0 win against Guatemala: "I haven't looked at the tape yet, but the [Eddie] Pope/[Gregg] Berhalter combination was very good. Claudio [Reyna] had his moments, and John O'Brien was pretty good for his first game. [Brian] McBride was good too, and Cobi [Jones] contributed well." Arena's concerns included Eddie Lewis' red card. "Obviously, Eddie's seven minutes weren't good. I don't think we got a particularly good game out of Tony Sanneh. Joe-Max [Moore] worked hard, but he wasn't as dangerous as I had wanted him to be." Arena expects Chris Armas to be healthy and back on the team for the Costa Rica match next month. With Earnie Stewart and Eddie Lewis out on card-related issues, expect another new face or two in camp. Guatemalans protest Project MayhemFrom this week's never-thought-you'd-see-it file, check out the protest filed by the Guatemalan soccer federation with the FIFA game commissioner. At their hotel the night before the game, the Guatemalans formally charge, "We felt accosted and disturbed by groups of American fans, who in a violent form intended to enter the rooms of our players, and who were stopped by forces in charge of security for the Guatemalan delegation." As someone who was on hand at the hotel in the wee hours of last Sunday morning (read my article in Sports Illustrated this week for more details), I can safely say that the 15 American soccer fans of Project Mayhem only intended to make noise, not war, when they descended onto the Guatemalans' hotel floor carrying air horns and other noisemakers. They simply wanted to wake up their visitors, and they had no desire for a security goon to kick and shove U.S. fans (and yours truly, I might add) and later pull out a stun gun, which he fired in the air but (thankfully) did not use. But then conflict is par for the course between the U.S. and Guatemala, which have exchanged protests this year like two silly little boys running endlessly back to their mothers. After their original meeting in Guatemala in July, the Guatemalans filed a protest with FIFA over the eligibility of U.S. midfielder Armas, while the Americans filed protests over the late switch in venue and a change in the game ball that took place the day of the contest. Besides the protest against the American fans last weekend, the Guatemalans also lodged complaints about not being allowed to do a walk-through at RFK the day before the game (U.S. Soccer says they were in fact allowed) and about having the pre-game technical meeting site changed to the U.S. team hotel. (It had rained, U.S. Soccer says, forcing the change.) Not one of the protests has been upheld so far, which means both sides are simply wasting their time. Yet the Guatemalans' protest against the U.S. fans does reveal one thing: Despite the Central Americans' claims that the noise-making didn't bother them, it did -- a lot, in fact. And that in itself is a victory for Project Mayhem. Breakfast at Chez ArenaWriting for a national magazine means you get to do ridiculous things like calling the U.S. national team coach on a Thursday night and inviting yourself over to his house for breakfast the next morning. Arena was gracious enough to let me invade his home last week, and in addition to stuff I used for my SI article, what I saw and heard was pretty darn intriguing. Alex Trebek has his Potent Potables; with Arena, soccer fans have potent quotables. A selection: Arena defines gamesmanship: "It's every legal or illegal move you can make that can give your team an advantage. If you can get away with it, it's legit." Should the U.S. do more of it? "We should. And it's been a sore subject for me, because my whole career I've done everything possible to give my team an edge, and I've played by the rules, but there's a broad interpretation of what playing by the rules is." Sounds like another D.C. resident, no? For a guy who only two years ago knew next to nothing about the Internet, Arena couldn't live without it nowadays. He's online 24/7, he communicates to his players and U.S. Soccer via e-mail and instant messaging, and he reads just about anything in the way of American soccer journalism on the Web, as well as the BigSoccer.com message boards. "I got on BigSoccer.com through Bob Bradley. Bob said, 'These guys are ripping you all the time, you've gotta read it, it's pretty funny.' Actually, it helps me with some reports from Guatemala. I can find out more about their team over the Internet than just about any other way." If Arena could change any of the ways he approached the U.S.'s first two qualifiers, he said last month, he would have brought in more MLS players and taken advantage of their fitness. Other changes? "We may not have trained in South Florida. The heat and humidity, even in one hour on the field each day, took its toll over a week. Maybe you train in a cooler environment and deal with what you're hit with when you arrive. Also, I would have brought in bigger rosters and said, 'To heck with trying to support the MLS.' Maybe bring in 24 players because for the Costa Rica game we were really scraping the bottom of the barrel to get enough players." Yes, Arena cares about his players -- he invited all of them over to his house last Thursday night for a barbecue. But that only goes so far, he says. "They all get along well off the field. But all that stuff doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you don't win. It doesn't do us any good if we're eliminated after the first round and you say we had a great group of guys. If they're stealing each other's wallets and having fights and we advance, then everyone's happy." In a habit that, when you think about it, makes sense, Arena listens to Howard Stern every morning. He has Stern's station programmed into his radio's memory, as he showed me in his kitchen. "We're about the same age [46], and he grew up in the next town [on Long Island]. I think he's got a great sense of humor." Which brings me to an idea: Why not put Arena on Stern's show? "Why would he have any interest having a soccer coach on? There's no sex in that. Do you think he talks to Dennis Rodman about rebounding?" Finally, Arena works his tail off. Using his wicked cool video system -- satellite, giant-screen letterbox TV and a half-dozen VCRs -- he tapes and watches every MLS game, in addition to several European games every week that feature U.S. players. He also maintains a gigantic video library of games (at least 300), which even includes Toluca-Atlas (Toluca-Atlas!) Mexican League games from two years ago. Thanks for the tour, Coach. And try not to read too much BigSoccer -- or, for god's sake, soccer journalists. This week's question: MLS end-of-the-year awardsFor this week's poll, 18 MLS players responded to the following question: Who are your choices for this season's Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and biggest bust in MLS? The results: MVP Mamadou Diallo (T.B. Mutiny) ...
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Talk about split-decisions. Diallo (26 goals) could break Roy Lassiter's MLS record of 27 goals in a season this Saturday when the Mutiny takes on the Wizards. Mathis has 16 goals and 14 assists, and his addition, more than any other, has turned the Metros into title contenders. Meola was the main figure for the Wizards, the biggest surprise of the year. And Valderrama, though 39, has smashed the league record for assists in a season, with 25. My choice: First let's eliminate Diallo, since he has to face at least some degree of punishment for the Mike Ammann incident. (Let this be it.) Mathis would get the nod over Meola for finishing the season with a bigger bang, but when it comes down to Mathis and the ageless Colombian, I get visions of El Pibe's spectacular passes sparking yet another Mutiny attack. And so, by a hair (a long, orange, curlicued hair) I'll take Valderrama. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Carlos Bocanegra (Chicago Fire) ...
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Receiving single votes: Adin Brown (Colorado Rapids), Fernando Clavijo (N.E. Revolution), Bobby Convey (D.C. United) and Rusty Pearce (N.E. Revolution). No argument here. Bocanegra and Garcia were the class of this season's rookies, though I would have laughed if you had told me at the start of the season that Califf (and not Sasha Victorine) would be the Galaxy player getting RoY votes. Just a question, by the way, but isn't it a little bit disturbing that of the six rookie players who received votes, only one (Convey) is an attacker? My choice: You have to wonder if Olympic coach Clive Charles has seen an MLS game this year. If he had, then Bocanegra and Garcia would surely be playing for the U.S. in Australia. (They aren't.) In any case, I've gone back and forth on this one, but I'll take Bocanegra -- his mix of athleticism and tenacity is a shade better than Garcia's. BIGGEST BUST Khodadad Azizi (S.J. Earthquakes) ...
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Receiving single votes: Marco Etcheverry (D.C. United), Luis Hernández (L.A. Galaxy), Eric Wynalda (N.E. Revolution), Roy Wegerle (ESPN2) and Garth Lagerwey's Mom (Thank you, San Jose's Jimmy Conrad). So which moment was more embarrassing: Azizi connecting with a ref early in the season (and drawing a three-game suspension), Matthäus pathetically tossing his armband at a sideline official while play continued without him or Hernández mugging Chicago's Nowak in the U.S. Open Cup? My choice: Tough call, but I'll go with Hernández. No MLS player has so under-performed on the field (four goals in 15 games) or at the gate (no lasting effect on Galaxy attendance), or embarrassed himself more frequently (e.g., the Open Cup, the spitting incidents against Kansas City) for so much money (a $4 million-plus transfer fee). Garth Lagerwey quote of the weekMVP: Meola "The big goofy red-head on Extratime said so. The last time I did what the jovial red-haired figure on TV said, I voted for Randee of the Redwoods for President. But I've given up on MTV because they don't play music anymore, so I'll nominate the closest thing to a lunatic, a goalkeeper." Rookie of the Year: Fernando Clavijo "Gets New England to the brink of the playoffs for the first time since the big goofy red-head played there, kicking and scrapping his way through opponents, instead of 'breaking them down' with computer graphics." Biggest Bust: Wegerle "Handsome and stiff is good for dikes, but it doesn't measure up to a big goofy red-head whose hand gestures could turn all the windmills in Holland." "Just kidding Alexi. Rob Stone's stylist made me do it. See you on the field next year, if I make it back." Game of the weekChicago Fire (15-9-6, 51 points) at Columbus Crew (11-14-5, 38 points), 7:30 p.m., Sept. 9. How on earth is it that the Crew might miss the playoffs? We saw the Crew's collapse coming in our second-half preview during All-Star Week, but to watch it happen has been ugly, ugly, ugly. Losing two straight to the Fire this week would probably cost coach Tim Fitzgerald his job. All right, folks. I'm headed to Australia on Friday, and though I'll be doing regular Olympic soccer stories on the Web from Down Under, my MLS work is done until I get back stateside Oct. 4. So don't be annoyed about my lack of coverage of the U.S. women; you'll get plenty (including a revealing Tony DiCicco interview that was too long for this column). One last poll question for you readers: Should I shave my head when I arrive in
Melbourne? I've always been curious about how it would look, and now that I'm
away from my fiancée for a month, I can actually do it. To send all
questions, comments, suggestions ... click here.
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