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Tampa Bay Mutiny Mondelo aims for playoff success with Big Mama, El Pibe
By David Close, CNNSI.com The 2000 incarnation of the Tampa Bay Mutiny was arguably the most exciting team in Major League Soccer -- and the fourth winningest in the regular season -- but that wasn't enough for head coach Tim Hankinson to keep his job. While the Mutiny strikeforce led by Mamadou Diallo, Carlos Valderrama and Steve Ralston was scoring the third-most goals in the league, goalkeeper Scott Garlick was forced to lead MLS in saves. This type of "run-and-gun" soccer was masterminded by former Mutiny coach and current Colorado Rapids boss Tim Hankinson. Hankinson's score-at-all-cost approach led the Mutiny to their second straight playoff appearance. But it also played a part in their two-game ousting by the Los Angeles Galaxy, which outscored the Mutiny 6-2. A look at some of the Mutiny's statistics sheds light on where the Mutiny are and where they have to improve. 0 - Playoff games won since the MLS inaugural year of 1996. 26 - Carlos Valderrama's record-setting assist total last season -- six more than the previous mark. 1 - All-time games won vs. the Chicago Fire (1-5-2) 56 - Number of points scored by "Big Mama" Diallo, 10 more than second-ranked Clint Mathis of the MetroStars. 184 - Saves made by Scott Garlick in 32 games last year. Wizards keeper Tony Meola, by contrast, made 55 fewer saves in 31 games. 21 - Number of shots Garlick faced against the Earthquakes in the Mutiny's first game of the 2001 Spring Training tournament, compared with the seven shots Joe Cannon saw as San Jose's keeper. New blood on the bountyIn December, Tampa Bay president and general manager Bill Manning made Alfonso Mondelo the Mutiny's fourth head coach in six years. Despite making the playoffs in 2000, Manning had fired Hankinson after the two clashed publicly in midseason over the trade of forward Raul Diaz Arce to D.C. United. Mondelo brings nearly two decades of coaching experience to Tampa, most recently as the head coach of the U.S. Project-40 developmental squad. Mondelo was the head coach of the MetroStars in 1998, leading the team to the playoffs until Bora Milutinovic replaced him during a late-season slump. (The former U.S. national team coach promptly took the MetroStars to a league-worst 7-25 record in 1999.)
Mondelo inherits a team with loads of firepower. But in order to stake their claim as one of the elite teams in MLS, Mondelo and the Mutiny set out right away to fortify their defense, right? Wrong. With their first pick in the 2001 SuperDraft, the Mutiny selected a striker -- Duke University's Ali Curtis. Compiling a total of 53 goals and 28 assists, Curtis was an offensive force at Duke and was too good to pass up as the second pick overall. The Mutiny did address their defensive deficiencies four picks later, drafting A-League Rochester Rhinos defender Craig Demmin -- a three-time Rhinos MVP, All-A-League first team in 2000 and a Trinidad international. Demmin will likely be asked to step right into the starting 11 and add some much-needed depth on the backline. The Mutiny are also counting on Chad McCarty to see more playing time on defense. The No. 5 shirt missed 10 games last season due in part to the 2000 Olympics. Along with Demmin and McCarthy, Joseph Addo and Steve Trittschuh remain as Garlick's last line of defense. Addo and Trittschuh could also see time in midfield. However, the latter stands to miss up to three months of action with a fractured fibula suffered days before the start of the season. It's gotta be the hairValderrama turns 40 this year, but who's counting? El Pibe (The Kid) recently signed a new deal with Major League Soccer that will allow him to play through the 2002 season. And let's face it, as long as Valderrama dons the Mutiny kit, this will be his team. His fellow midfielder Steve Ralston hasn't seen El Pibe miss a step. "To me, he's still the best passer of the ball in the world. I have yet to see his game go down even a notch. Honestly, he could play until he's 50," Ralston told the Tampa Tribune. Mutiny fans won't be the only lucky ones if the Colombian midfielder hits the half-century mark in a Tampa uniform -- it's Diallo who would be the big winner. Maybe it's the shoesMany of Valderrama's record-breaking 26 assists found the white shoes of Big Mama. One of the biggest questions surrounding the Mutiny's upcoming season is whether or not the Senegalese striker can repeat as Major League Soccer's scoring leader. The answer might lie within the coaching change the Mutiny made in December. Hankinson employed a 4-5-1 formation with Diallo as the focal point up front and five midfielders serving balls to the 6-3, 210-pound striker. In Spring Training, Mondelo employed a 3-5-2 formation. With a two-pronged attack, Mondelo hopes that defenders will think twice about focusing strictly on Diallo. Enter the Duke Blue Devil. Curtis says he is up for the challenge of sharing the frontline with the MLS scoring champ. "I'm all set to go and ready to play," he said. "I've heard great things about Mamadou Diallo and his ability to score goals. I look forward to being on the same page as him. I'm very versatile and hopefully I can play off of him well and give him some great balls and maybe I will record some assists." Curtis will compete for playing time with Gus (Kartes) Karterouliotis, a 19-year-old Florida native acquired from the Colorado Rapids in late March for a pair of draft picks. Kartes, who had trained with the Mutiny as a guest player throughout the preseason, had been claimed by Colorado one week earlier in a weighted lottery following his clearance from the Greek soccer federation. "This was a no-brainer on our part," Manning said. Kartes, 19, had signed with Greek first division team Olympiakos as a 15-year-old, but failed to earn playing time with the first team during his four-year stay.
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