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San Jose Earthquakes 10 Questions: John Doyle | Coachspeak: Lothar Osiander
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 09:18 PM
The San Jose Clash had the seventh-best record in Major League Soccer last year, but it was not one of the eight teams to advance to the playoffs. That is guaranteed not to happen this year. First, because the Clash no longer exist. Second, because MLS changed its alignment to allow the best teams into the postseason regardless of their division. Say hello to the San Jose Earthquakes, who scrapped their old moniker and color scheme in favor of the nickname used by a Bay Area team in the now-defunct NASL. Despite setting a club record with 19 wins in 1999, the Clash was a model of mediocrity under coach Brian Quinn. It tied 13 of 32 games and took 10 of its wins in shootouts, an MLS record. That is also guaranteed not to happen this year, since the league scrapped the tiebreaker. The Clash ranked sixth out of 12 teams last year in goals (48) and seventh in goals allowed (49).
This year, the Earthquakes are under the direction of Lothar Osiander, who replaced Quinn late last season. Osiander has had success in the league before, leading the L.A. Galaxy to MLS Cup in 1996. The Clash was also in the middle of the pack in attendance last year, drawing an average of 14,959 fans to Spartan Stadium, down from 17,232 in 1996 but still better than the league average. Upon changing the team's name last October, General manager Lynne Meterparel said she hoped an improved team and a new image will revitalize fan interest in 2000. The Kraft family, which operates the Earthquakes along with the New England Revolution and the NFL's Patriots, made Meterparel the team's general manager last season, replacing Peter Bridgwater. Formerly the head of "crowd building" in New England, she's the only female GM running an MLS team. An improved squad hardly looked like a certainty through much of preseason, as the team and Sunil Gulati -- the deposed MLS deputy commissioner who was hired to run the Krafts' soccer operations -- had failed to secure a forward to pair with leading scorer Ronald Cerritos. Scoring AziziLast year, the team's roster featured proven MLS goal-poacher Raul Diaz Arce of El Salvador, but he was shipped to Tampa Bay in July for Costa Rican Alejandro Sequeira and future considerations. Sequeira has since been waived. "We're struggling," Osiander said at MLS Spring Training. "We can't find the goal." Those prospects got a lot brighter on March 8, when the Earthquakes obtained Iranian international striker Khodadad Azizi, one of the league's biggest signings for 2000.
The league had pursued Azizi since January, when he was the most dangerous attacker on the field in a 1-1 draw between the U.S. and Iran. Just as eye-catching for MLS, however, were the 49,212 mostly Iranian fans who showed up at the Rose Bowl to see the match. "I couldn't be more excited to add a player of Azizi's caliber," Meterparel said. "He will truly be one of the marquee players in all of MLS." Azizi was the Asian player of the year in 1996 and a starter at World Cup '98, where Iran defeated the U.S. 2-1. "I'm speechlessly excited," said Osiander. "The man has been in my dreams for a long time." Azizi will team on the attack with Cerritos, the club MVP for three straight years and the third leading scorer in MLS last year with 15 goals and nine assists. He signed a new contract in November. The Earthquakes also picked up forward Abdul Thompson Conteh from Comunicaciones in Guatemala. Conteh, 29, played for Sierra Leone's national team 17 times in 1994. He was born in Sierra Leone but moved to the U.S. as a teenager. Murky midfieldOsiander acknowledges that the outlook for his midfield is uncertain. "Our Trinidadians have to help us out there," he said, referring to the two Joe Public players he chose with the eighth and 20th picks in February's SuperDraft. Osiander has particularly high hopes for his first selection, 22-year-old defensive midfielder Travis Mulraine. "I thought he was outstanding [in the MLS combine]. And if he plays like that, I think he'll be a great addition," Osiander said. "The other one [Adrian Narine] I took because the good one needs a companion. "[Mulraine] has got great wheels. He's very attracted to the ball," Osiander said. "He wants it all the time, and hopefully he'll come through. If he doesn't, then we'll have to reload." Costa Rican international Mauricio Solis was brought in last year to fill the playmaking role, but he didn't manage a single assist in 12 starts. Midfielder Dario Brose, 30, returned to MLS last year from Germany but has failed to impress Osiander. "He's been playing poorly," the coach said. "He's got to improve his game or else there's probably not much room for him. "I think we have decent wide players; [Wade] Barrett and [Richard] Mulrooney are solid," Osiander said, but the wide player he's counting on the most is regular U.S. national team left-winger Eddie Lewis. "Hopefully, Eddie Lewis will have a good year with us," Osiander said. "He had a great year with the national team, but with us he was just another player, and I want him to be better than just another player." Lewis said he feels his performance with the Earthquakes has been "pretty good and getting better," but that impressing with the national team is easier because of the superior supporting cast. John Doyle: 'Go-to guy'Anchoring Osiander's system in central defense are veteran John Doyle and Costa Rican international Mauricio Wright. Wright, 29, was one of the league's top foreign acquisitions last year, showing a great willingness to go forward. But Osiander said he would rely on Doyle more than anyone else on the team. "He's the guy who's got to keep the spirit up of the players and get stuff organized," Osiander said of his 6-3, 200 pound defender. "Then we'll work off him." Doyle, who turns 34 in April, said that he considered retiring in the offseason. "For any other coach, I probably wouldn't have stayed around," said Doyle, the 1995 APSL defender of the year under Osiander. "Not because physically I can't do it, just because I wasn't enjoying it." A playoff berth could help make his return worthwhile, but both Doyle and Osiander were cautious in their optimism. "We'll be a decent team, depending on how we start" the season, Osiander said. "Won and loss record, I have no clue. "We'll have a better team than last year all over. Whether we win 19 games or not, that's another question."
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