Questions for the stretch run

Focus, national teamers return to MLS for All-Star Game

They’re back … finally. Now that the national team’s two-month-long odyssey is over, it’s time to focus on MLS again as teams welcome their top players back for the rest of the season. With the All-Star Game between MLS and Chivas de Guadalajara on tap for Saturday at the Woodshed in L.A., here are the questions on my mind for the stretch run:

• How is San Jose leading the league?

All credit to coach Frank Yallop and the lads, who are top of the table despite having only one player on the All-Star team (Landon Donovan). The key? First-rate jobs by guys like Richard Mulrooney, Pat Onstad, Todd Dunivant, Jeff Agoos and the Brians (Mullan and Ching). Yallop has a real knack for finding solid players to fill his team’s needs, and with Donovan and Dwayne DeRosario back in the fold things are looking good.

• Can a 40-year-old win the MVP award?

You bet. Preki is my midseason choice for sparking the Wiz with his eight goals, 10 assists and preferred method of execution for opponents: death by a thousand cutbacks. At the same time, the ageless one’s continued reign makes us wonder….

• Is the quality of play in MLS suffering?

No question. While we applaud the American youth movement’s increased role in MLS, the league hasn’t been able to fill the shoes of Carlos Valderrama (retired), Marco Etcheverry (about to retire), Mauricio Cienfuegos (about to retire) and Preki (never to retire?). Word has it that U.S. coach Bruce Arena isn’t pleased at all about the league’s declining quality this season and its impact on the American player. Which reminds me, isn’t it about time the MLS salary cap ($1.7 million) started inching upward for the first time since 1996?

• Which teams are the most fun to watch?

The MetroStars would love to get Eddie Pope back from injury, but their games have been rip-roaring fun over the past two months for fans, particularly the stretch from their 4-4 tie with San Jose through the 3-3 draw against New England. Amazingly, first-year coach Bob Bradley has Metro in contention for the title despite the extended absences of Pope, Clint Mathis (national team duty) and Tim Howard (sold to Manchester United). My other favorite teams to watch when I’m clicking through the Shootout package on Saturdays: Chicago, Kansas City and (of late) Colorado.

• Now that full lineups are back, which teams have the best prospects?

Anything can happen when eight of the league’s 10 teams make the playoffs, which is why I still think L.A. will make noise in the playoffs, especially if the acquisition of Ryan Suarez and Antonio Martinez from Dallas starts paying dividends. (It says here they will.) Look for Metro and Chicago to remain the class of the East, and for L.A. and Kansas City to put some serious pressure on San Jose in an entertaining race out West. I would have put Columbus in this group if Brian McBride hadn’t suffered another unlucky eye injury last week.

• Who gets Freddy? (Or will anyone?)

Every American soccer fan will be keeping one eye on Finland next month when the U.S. plays in the under-17 world championship. Scouts from all of Europe’s top clubs will be there, and it could be the launchpad for 14-year-old U.S. phenom Freddy Adu. The question: If Adu lights it up, does MLS have any chance of signing him? For a league that needs some buzz in the mainstream, signing Adu is a huge priority. It won’t be easy, though: Agent Richard Motzkin tells me he spent much of his trip to Europe last month fielding inquiries from clubs interested in the young Jedi-knight-in-training.

• What’s up with the appalling meltdowns in New England?

The Revs lost five easy points by squandering two seemingly insurmountable second-half leads in recent weeks -- 3-0 against Metro (a 3-3 tie) and 2-0 against D.C. United (a 4-2 loss) -- at home, no less. It’s no mystery where the blame lies, either: on a back line that has caused the league’s best goalkeeper (Adin Brown) to have MLS’s worst goals-against average (1.60). We’re awfully impressed that New England’s Taylor Twellman has avoided the sophomore slump with a league-leading 12 goals at the break, but you can’t like the Revs’ chances with such a porous defense.

• Which coaches are on the hot seat?

With this week’s unfortunate resignation of GM Andy Swift from the last-place Dallas Burn, coach Mike Jeffries jumps squarely into the frying pan, no matter who his new boss may be next season. Columbus fans, no doubt accustomed to the demands placed on Ohio State football coaches, are starting to yelp for Greg Andrulis’ scalp. And despite a recent mini-surge, D.C.’s Ray Hudson appears to be wearing out his welcome with United fans. Then again, rumors had Colorado’s Tim Hankinson out earlier in the season, and now the Rapids are the hottest team in MLS.

11 random things

• If David Beckham ever joins the MetroStars, would they have to change their name to the MetroSexuals?

• Does Tim Howard really have a chance to win the No. 1 job at Manchester United? From everything we’re hearing out of Man Utd’s camp, the answer is yes. Can’t wait to be in Giants Stadium on Thursday night for Howard’s Red Devils debut -- a wonderfully felicitous stroke for one of MLS’s all-time classiest players to enjoy an appropriate sendoff from his home fans.

• U.S. women’s coach April Heinrichs continues delaying the announcement of her final roster for the Women’s World Cup -- in order to give Shannon MacMillan (torn ACL) and Heather O’Reilly (broken leg) as much time as possible to recover from injury. The jury’s still out on whether they’ll be able to recover in time.

• According to Mark Mravic, SI’s resident college football editor/MLS nut/Big Soccer junkie, the coolest part of watching MLS’s HD broadcasts in movie theaters has been seeing Rapids coach Tim Hankinson’s hair in all its wild-game majesty. (“It’s like a raccoon’s pelt.”) The downside? “They don’t sell beer at the theater.”

• I had no idea that my negative review of Victory would draw so much smack from you guys. Most responses had one of two takes: 1) How come you never saw Victory until 2003? or 2) How dare you mock a film classic? To which I say:

1) I’m 29. Anything in U.S. soccer before 1989 might as well have never happened. Plus, I’m late to the game sometimes. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I never saw Star Wars until I was a freshman in college. (Please don’t turn my parents in to social services. It wasn’t their fault.)
2) Perhaps I wasn’t in the right mood for Victory, which did have loads of unintentional comedy. (Ask yourself: How can any team with Pelé go down 4-0 like that?) Besides, forget Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine: How cool would it have been to crash a set with Pelé, Ossie Ardiles and Bobby Moore?

• Will Sissi, Brazil’s magnificent 36-year-old midfielder, be part of the Seleção come World Cup time? Perhaps not. Her absence from the recent friendly against the U.S. in New Orleans is the latest evidence of a spat between Sissi and the Brazilian coaching staff.

• Just got back from London, where every fan should visit SportsPages, the bookstore near Leicester Square devoted entirely to sports lit.

• One MLS All-Star tells me that the players at least considered the thought of not playing on Saturday to protest the league’s decision to take on Chivas in Los Angeles. Thankfully, that won’t happen. And while I still think it’s a screwy idea to subject MLS’s best and brightest to jeers and whistles in their own showcase event, I’ve gotta say I’ll be watching the game.

• A few thoughts on the recent Women’s World Cup draw:

1) After getting lucky with the venue change to the U.S., the Yanks got worked by the draw. Not only did the defending champs draw the Group of Death in the first round (Sweden, North Korea, Nigeria), but they drew the, uh, Quarterfinal of Death as well -- a match that would likely pit them against Brazil or Norway.
2) If the U.S. and China both win their respective groups, they can’t face each other in the final -- only in the semifinals.
3) Of the main contenders, Germany got the best draw: an easy first-round group (Canada, Japan, Argentina) and a less-than-difficult top half of the elimination bracket (with a likely Hege Riise-less Norway or Pretinha-less Brazil providing the only real resistance before the final).

• Was anyone else dumbfounded by George Vecsey’s delightful story that Manchester United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy surprised a minor-league indoor team by appearing at its Asheville, N.C. training site while on vacation last month? Why the heck is Ruud van Nistelrooy vacationing in Asheville, N.C.? Which reminds me, I prefer the bizarre UEFA spelling of his name: van Nistelrooj. (Asheville, by the way, is the hometown of UNC coach Rooj Williams.)

• Finally, a fond bon voyage to Jamie MacDonald, who has edited this column since, well, since forever, and is leaving SI.com to take a position with USA Hockey. Jamie’s eagle eye has been making this page readable for a long time -- how can you not love a guy who corrects your spelling of the name Petter Villegas? -- and he’ll certainly be missed. Good luck, pal.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl keeps you up to date with the world of U.S. soccer at SI.com. To send Wahl a comment, question or story idea, click here.

 

Related information

Stories

Previous Grant Wahl Columns and Mailbags

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video