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MLS teams have personality
Posted: Friday June 23, 2000 03:50 PM
Regardless if they're good, bad or mediocre, each Major League Soccer team has its own unique personality, which it gets from its coach, general manager, players or sometimes even circumstances out of its control. As the MLS season passes its midway point, let's take a look at the personalities that make each team so special: Team 30-Something So far, so very good for the surprising Kansas City Wizards and coach Bob Gansler. They find themselves atop the Western Division with the best record in the league, at 10-2-4. But can this experienced team with several key players over the age of 30 survive the long, hot and humid summer? Look at their ages: Preki and Mo Johnston are both 37. Peter Vermes and Alex Bunbury are both 33, and Miklos Molnar is a "youngster" at 30. Goalkeeper Tony Meola is 31, but that shouldn't be a problem. Keepers start hitting their peak in their early thirties. Team Arsenal The Chicago Fire's Hristo Stoitchkov goes down with an injury? No problem. There's Dema Kovalenko who starts filling the net. Ante Razov off with the U.S. national team? No problem. There's Josh Wolff to step in and be just as dangerous. The scuttlebutt around MLS is that the Fire is the best team in the league, despite its 9-7-2 record (which is good enough to lead the Central Division). And remember, coach Bob Bradley still has some other reserve firepower as well (DaMarcus Beasley). Because of injuries, circumstances and the players he has, Bradley has turned the Fire from a defensive-oriented side into a dangerous attacking one. Team UCLA Want to know why Clint Mathis and Joey Franchino aren't members of the L.A. Galaxy (7-3-7) any more? They went to the wrong college. The Galaxy's roster is dominated by 11 players who played ball at the school under current coach Sigi Schmid. Those former Bruins are Cobi Jones, Paul Caligiuri, Kevin Hartman, Greg Vanney, Adam Frye, Seth George, Zak Ibsen, Matt Reis, Jorge Salcedo, Peter Vagenas and Sasha Victorine. Schmid has some talented players, but his biggest challenge in the second half will be reshaping the team chemistry (without Mathis, Myers and Joey Franchino) and trying to coax some goals out of Mexican forward Luis Hernandez. Team Score-By-Committee After losing Joe-Max Moore and Giovanni Savarese to teams in England and Italy, respectively, and Eduardo Hurtado to self-destruction, the New England Revolution (7-5-5) has managed to stay atop the Eastern Division without any marquee scoring threats. Yes, Wolde Harris has six goals, but do you want to have him as your main scoring threat during the stretch run or playoffs? His most productive year brought 13 goals with Colorado two years ago. The Revs have been spreading around the wealth as 12 players have scored at least one goal, the most of any team. The Revs still have an allocation coming to them and they are still focused on a forward -- Portugal's Jorge Cadete. Team L.A. Since the Octavio Zambrano took over the coaching reigns, the MetroStars (7-7-1) have more of a West Coast look. He has brought in six players with ties to the Southern California area. Zambrano, former coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy, obviously wanted to go with players he is familiar with or has coached in the past. The burgeoning list includes four former Galaxy players -- Steve Jolley, Clint Mathis, Roy Myers and Daniel Hernandez -- plus Orlando Perez and Steve Shak. And that that doesn't include Mike Ammann, Ramiro Corrales and Mark Semioli -- who already were on the team when Zambrano arrived. Team Thunder Since becoming general manager of the Tampa Bay Mutiny in February, Bill Manning has started to reshape the team in his image, philosophy and background by bringing in several members of the A-League champion Minnesota Thunder. Defender Kalin Bankov, midfielder bKevin Anderson and forward Amos Magee were added to the roster (another former Thunder player, Manny Lagos, already was on the team). Add Manning's decision to deal forward Raul Diaz Arce to United without consulting coach Tim Hankinson, and you've got strained relations between the two most important men on the team. Even though the Mutiny (8-8) is in second place in the Central Division, you have to wonder if Hankinson walks the plank if the team goes into a mini-tailspin. The Mutiny did not look good on Wednesday, losing at home 4-1 to the Fusion, which had won only once on the road this season. Team Injury The Colorado Rapids' 7-8-1 record isn't all that bad when you consider the circumstances. Rapids players have missed a combined 71 games due to injuries. Eight players have been knocked out of games with injuries, forcing coach Glenn Myernick to juggle his lineup. The Rapids have yet to travel with a full complement of 16 of their own players. They were without five starters and had only three reserves (before two players were called up from the United Soccer Leagues) for 4-2 loss in San Jose on June 3. At one time, it was so bad that the Rapids' practice session was reduced to a 5 vs. 5 scrimmage. "I still don't know what my best starting 11 is," Myernick said. Team Dir The Dallas Burn is literally David Dir's team. No coach has been able to assert his personality and philosophy on an MLS team more over a longer period than Dir. He has directed the Burn since the very first season in 1996, the only one of the original 10 coaches who is still a directing the same team. Saying that, Dir will be praised when things go well -- the Burn has never missed the playoffs --but his neck will be on the line if the Burn can't improve on its 6-8-3 record. He should be able to, with two of the most exciting players in the league in Ariel Graziani and Jason Kreis. Team Inconsistent No team has sputtered more than the Columbus Crew (5-7-4), which has not been able to put together a sizable winning streak. In fact, the Crew seemingly can't put together any kind of streak in any direction. The Crew had a two-game winning streak, but has gone into a 0-1-3 slide since then. The Crew loses a game, wins one then ties a third. Losing midfield leader Brian Maisonneuve for the season to ankle surgery and forward Brian McBride from four to eight weeks with a fractured cheekbone certainly didn't help. Some unspecified internal problems might also be playing a role as well, sources said. Team (Con)Fusion Commissioner Don Garber recently intimated that if attendance doesn't improve with the Miami Fusion, it could be a candidate to be moved to another city. Very few things have gone right for this team from the very beginning. The team failed in its attempt to play in the Orange Bowl, settled on Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and opted not to change the name of the team. Ray Hudson, the team's third coach in as many years after replacing Ivo Wortmann earlier this season, was supposed to be an interim coach. He directed the team to three consecutive wins and was named full-time coach. Since then, the Fusion (6-7-4) has been 2-4. We'll see if the team can build on its 4-1 triumph in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. Nothing against Hudson, but I want him back in the booth so soccer fans can be entertained by what he does best -- giving wonderful color and commentary about this beautiful game. Team Even-Steven Want to know why the San Jose Earthquakes (4-7-5) won't make the playoffs again this year? The player chemistry and mix on this team is out of kilter and they play too many draws. Remember last season when the Earthquakes -- then known as the Clash -- finished with a deceptive 19-13 record? But they wound up in fifth place because 10 of those victories were in shootouts. They have been following a similar path this season. They've tied five games, second most in the league (to the Galaxy's seven), and lost a sixth game in overtime. Coach Lothar Osiander is walking a tight rope with the Fire coming to town this Saturday. Team Snakebit Can't anything go right for D.C. United? The defending champions have been the victim of own goals, deflected goals, losing late leads and -- except for Jaime Moreno -- forwards who consistently can't find the back of the net. Perhaps all that success is finally catching up to United (3-10-4). D.C. did manage to pull out a 2-2 draw against the MetroStars, overcoming a two-goal halftime deficit on Wednesday. But United needs a five-game winning streak to get back into the race. There have been unsubstantiated rumors bouncing around that coach Thomas Rongen's job is on the line. Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book, Soccer For Dummies, was published this spring. To submit a question or comment to Michael Lewis, click here.
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