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Q & Ray Fusion coach Hudson eyes MLS 'magician'
Updated: Thursday March 01, 2001 11:47 PM
Miami Fusion head coach Ray Hudson, who went from the TV broadcast booth to the sidelines last season, is preparing his team for the April 7 kickoff of the Major League Soccer season. CNNSI.com will check in regularly with Hudson as MLS gears up for its sixth season. Q: How's the team coming along? Ray: Everything's been wonderful. The guys have had a real good, early coming-together, both on a football level and in a team-spirit sort of way. The atmosphere's good. There's a sense of expectancy about the whole place, and a nice confidence. It's always that fitness and that health, everybody working hard and hardening themselves up, muscling themselves up, and pushing themselves individually. And they're prodding each other in the chest with fingers as well, to get more out of each other. I couldn't ask for anything more than what the guys have given to a man, everybody all the way through the team, the attitude has been exemplary. Q: Without going overseas as some MLS teams have done, do you feel like you're going to be able to get enough games? Ray: Yeah, I think we've got like 12 or 13 games lined up altogether, so we're going to have plenty of opportunities to get good quality competition and good games. We've got plenty of stuff going on.
We've got some games at the Orange Bowl that are going on. We've got foreign competition and Spring Training will obviously be a good opportunity for us to sharpen our swords. I really wasn't keen to take my players to the ends of the earth, to Europe or Asia or South America, because we have the weather here. We have the right attitude; we're going to have plenty enough games, and we want to concentrate on ourselves. I really didn't see a whole hell of a lot of point in playing teams that are in the middle of their seasons, at the peak of their games, and we're just concentrating on getting fit and getting to know each other. And so far so good because we're looking well, and we're still missing some very key elements. Q: Is Diego Serna's hold-out situation resolved? Ray: Yeah, we've kissed and made up. Diego has looked very impressive, very hungry. He's been like a dog after raw meat. He's got a lot of fizz in his game. He's looking better than I've ever seen him. There's a real menace about his game. If he can clean up certain parts of his games -- and it's the easy parts, if he can stop complicating his game where it doesn't need to be complicated in terms of holding the ball up and being more clinical outside of the final third -- he can be as good a forward as there is in this league. And probably the best forward in this league, if he can do that. That's how much menace he brings to opponents. He's a real pain in the backside to play against because he's an antagonist. He's a real Dennis the Menace. He's got all of the sharpness and the moves.
They call him El Humvee, and that's what he is. He'll just drive right through you and past you. Sometimes he can be a bull in a china shop, but other times he can be like a real gazelle with the ball. He's got that power in both legs that can just snap the back of the net. He's looking wonderful. His attitude has been great. He wants to win the championship. He wants to be a leader and not just a star of the team. There's a big difference. He is a star in our side. All of these players, the ones that we're bringing in, they all have egos, and that's the type of players I want. I want players with egos. I want footballers that know they can play and know that they're better than the others. That part of it is exactly what I need. Q: His coaches in the past have complained about his professionalism. Has there been improvement there? Ray: So far, yeah. He's been on time every morning. He's been fitting in with the rest of the guys, which is never a problem. Diego has never been a problem that you cannot handle; that's part of my job. It's not just coaching; it's man-management. I'm very honest with my players and they know where they stand with me. Diego appreciates that. He's one of those players; he does need stroking sometimes. He needs to get some sugar. But I give him a good dose of vinegar down his throat sometimes as well and drag him across the coals. He accepts it like a good pro. He's a wonderful kid. He's a wonderful person. Diego is a lovely man, but when he's on the field he gets these fangs in him like Dracula, and he draws blood in front of you. That part of it is the alter-ego in him, and that sometimes gets mixed up. Q: So you're looking at Serna as your primary offensive weapon? Ray: Sure. He's got to be the spearhead. He's got to be the one who leads from the front and takes the lumps. We've got some good defenders in this league who can really bottle up players. And he's playing in the hardest position in the field. He's got to have the full repertoire. You've got to be brave as a lion. You have to be as skillful and creative and inventive as a virtuoso. You've got to be ruthless in front of goal, and all that time you're getting chunks kicked out of you the size of Philly steaks. That's what Diego puts up with, and our guys know that he's a real warrior for us.
He can a frustration sometimes because he tries to bite off more than he can chew, but then in the same breath he'll try the same thing and get away with it. It's that unpredictability about him that makes him Serna, and as I say, if he can refine it this year, he'll have some very, very big clubs come knocking on his door at the end of his contract. Q: What about his fellow frontrunners? Ray: We're hoping that we have a player identified in [Honduran international] Alex Pineda Chacon that we hope is going to be the perfect foil for him. Chacon is a very creative, pinpoint passer, clever player that can lead a player by a millimeter -- slide-rule passes, a wonderful guile to his game. Those two should be able to hook up great and with the energy that we've got on the left and right in the likes of [Chris] Henderson, [Jay] Heaps and Tyrone Marshall, people like that, it's going to give us a lot of latitude. Q: Isn't Chacon a midfielder? Ray: No, we'll play him in the final third with Diego. He'll be a provider and an executioner as well. He's been a top goalscorer for Honduras. He's noted for his pinpoint passes, but he can finish off chances as well, so we're hoping that the two of them can combine for some real fireworks. Then we've got another player identified from within the MLS that will play just behind those two that is a real magician and can really pull rabbits out of hats. He has been a real headache for defenses and teams ever since the MLS started. Q: Do you feel like you're going to have to give up a lot for that? Ray: We feel as if we're close to getting the player at a price that we feel can afford and that he's absolutely worth it. Q: Won't your central midfield be a little crowded? Ray: The other player, [English midfielder] Ian Bishop, that we're hoping to come to terms with imminently, he's a great link player. He picks his passes; he's got great range in his repertoire. He can play it long, left and right; he can play it short, get it back and be the glue of the team. He'll play more as a link between the defense and the next line. But that will be in competition with the likes of Jimmy Rooney and perhaps even Pablo Mastroeni. But the way Pablo's playing in defense, it's hard to take him out of there, because he's looking like an absolute Hercules back there. It is going to be crowded in the midfield, but they're all going to be quality players, a lot of footballers, all great passers of the ball. That's got to be a good thing. We're going to pick up injuries, so there's going to be plenty of time for the guys to strut their stuff. That's what I have always intended. I think we've had too many players for too long at this club who have been a little bit in neutral gear, have been idling a little, and have not been the impactive players that we want. Since the departure of [Carlos] Valderrama, there's been a real void of real craft in our midfield. We'll have an abundance. I'm the chef putting this lovely pot of soup. I'm putting in all of these ingredients. They're all the right ingredients. We're spicing the pot up; it's going to have a lot. But I don't know how it's going to come out. We won't know until we taste it. That's the reality of it. We hope that we have all the right pieces. All the other things that are going to be working in conjunction -- the attitudes, the winning professionalism, the hanging together, the toughness, the accenting of satin with steel, our beautiful flowing attack creativity with some real nasty bastards at the back. That's the balance, and I think we've got it by adding Carlos Llamosa, with Pablo and Ivan McKinely, Leo Cullen and Tyrone Marshall. Q: You mentioned trading for a midfielder already in MLS. How soon do you think that might happen? Ray: It could happen by the end of this week, saying that with my fingers and my teeth crossed. He's a diamond of a player, always has been, highly respected and regarded, comes with the reputation of being another killer passer and proven goalscorer, another player that is just brimming with confidence and guile. Q: How do you feel you came out in the draft? Ray: I'm delighted because we got Llamosa from the draft. That was our draft. We picked up Ali Ngon, which I'm really excited about. He's the under-20 Canadian. We've had several offers from other clubs already that want to take him away. We haven't even introduced ourselves to him. He's still in Canada, but he's been scoring goals up there. He'll be a nice little addition. We'll bring him along nicely. We're not going to throw him into the fire. Q: What about Greg Simmonds? Ray: It's a big step up. He played in the A-League last year. It remains to be seen if he's got it in his makeup to really move up a gear... He might need a little bit of time before he's thrown in amongst the lions in MLS. He's still a little big wet behind the ears... He's got a lot of good things going for him. The Cubillas kid, Coquito, was another one that I felt deserved a chance. We'd seen him; he's been practicing with us, and we liked what we'd seen. Q: What have you thought of him so far? Ray: He's been quietly impressive. He needs time. It's the same as Greg, these aren't buns that come out of the oven ready to eat. Q: You also took Cory Gibbs, who has been looking in Europe. What do you think will come of that? Ray:
We felt that was worth taking a chance on at that point, because if things don't work out -- which we're seeing a lot of the time, it happens with these players that go over and throw the hat into the European ring, and for one reason or another it doesn't quite work out -- at least he knows he's got a set of open arms waiting on him here. And he's a local boy, which is great. It's a perfect fit. He was ecstatic to be a Fusion player.
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