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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:16 EST |
Defending champs dream of playoffs
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
Wednesday night, with a minute or so remaining in extra time and D.C. United looking at a 2-2 tie with the MetroStars and, quite possibly, playoff extinction, Richie Williams ripped a ball into a pack of running players.
Somehow, the ball found the shin of A.J. Wood, wrong-footed Metros goalkeeper Mike Ammann, and trickled into the net.
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THE FIRST XI
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Overheard at the MLS All-Star game:
11. "I was told the brats were a buck, lady."
10. "Duck, Zach!"
9. "What do you mean Billy Walsh isn't playing?"
8. "That German accent means nothing here, bud, back of the line."
7. "Now that we've hosted an All-Star game, can we lose the weak logo?"
6. "Didn't that dude used to be Alexi Lalas?"
5. "Can I interest you in a soccer team in South Florida?"
4. "You want fries with that?"
3. "Pull up yer socks, Azizi!"
2. "That Kappa logo looks like my old mud flaps."
1. "Hey there's the short, gray-haired Insider guy!"
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It was a miracle that kept the defending champions on life support.
It still says here that D.C. will have to win six of its final seven games to stand a chance at making the playoffs, which would give United 42 points.
Here's what the bottom of the current playoff pool needs to accomplish to better 42 points: Colorado must win three of eight; Columbus and Dallas each needs to win three of seven;. Los Angeles, Tampa Bay and Chicago all need to win two of their final eight.
Can D.C. do it?
It would be one of the great comeback stories of all time, in any sport. If we were looking at this as a baseball race, D.C. is three and a half or four games back with seven to play. In other words, D.C. not only has to win six of its last seven (they've got four at home and three on the road), but they're going to need the competition to wilt.
A cold shoulder for Rochester?
They talk a lot about new MLS stadiums in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, yet only L.A. has brought any real news to the table recently on this topic, when it announced a "commitment" to building a new home for the Galaxy.
Commissioner Don Garber has repeatedly called the "stadium issue" the key to the future of MLS, and I've said here, repeatedly, that I wholeheartedly agree.
You know the whole rant by now: The games look lousy and feel lousy in NFL stadiums. ... There's never a sense that you're at something special when you're surrounded by empty seats and tarps. ... Bad fields usually mean bad games. ... Blah, blah, blah.
And then I think of what's going on in Rochester, where the A-League Rhinos are about to put shovels in the ground and begin construction on their 20,000-seat, $50 million stadium. And I wonder, is there any better way to stamp the future of MLS -- the New Stadium Era -- than by getting Rochester in the league ASAP?
I'll answer that one: No, there isn't.
Yet, I have to say, I get the feeling the league is in no hurry to get Rochester into the league. The commissioner talks about the Rhinos being part of the second wave of expansion, meaning 2004. And one other high-ranking league official said to me this week, "They haven't even begun to think about how they're going to pay their expansion fee."
No, maybe they haven't, but the folks in Rochester have put a little thought into building a fan base, selling tickets, creating an identity and, basically, getting a city to fall in love with professional soccer.
Have they done that in Philadelphia or Houston? For that matter, have they done that in Tampa? Kansas City? Fort Lauderdale? Dallas? Chicago? New York? None of those cities have season-ticket numbers that come close to what they sell in Rochester.
And -- oh yeah -- those folks in Rochester, they're building a stadium that will instantly become the best soccer facility in the United States. Bar none.
Open the door and let them in.
WUSA ... Well, we're waiting
The first season of the Women's United Soccer Association is now 10 months away.
Acting commissioner Tony DiCicco told me this week that the WUSA is about to announce the signing of some major foreign players, that every single WUSA game would be televised, and that, without a doubt the league will be the best women's pro soccer league in the world from Day One.
He also assured me that answers to two sort-of important questions were on the way:
1. What are the team names?
2. Where are they going to play?
OK, the team names is no biggie, though I will never forgive MLS for the shoddy job it did of getting names, logos and merchandise out to the public in its first year. Having been in Japan for the launch of the J-League, and the marketing assault that went along with it, let's just say I was shocked that MLS came out of the gates so poorly.
Really, the venue thing is what's got me really intrigued.
When DiCicco told me several months ago about the league's plan to rehabilitate some old municipal grounds and college fields to build intimate 10,000- and 15,000-seat stadiums, I was really impressed. I told him, I wished MLS had gone that route instead of the whole downsizing fiasco.
Now, I'm anxious to see the execution of this plan.
The cynic in me asks, Can this all be pulled off in the next 10 months? The optimist in me says, I sure hope they do.
In Tight Space
The news this week that Luis Hernandez will play for Mexican club America at the conclusion of the MLS season is the best news the Galaxy have received so far about their prized allocation.
You see, if Hernandez had been able to find work in Europe, he probably would have not been back until the end of May. By playing in Mexico, there's a chance he could join the Galaxy at the end of April. Of course, the Galaxy wish Hernandez wasn't playing year-round, but they'll take Mexico over Europe any day.
MLS decided this week which teams would represent the league in the next CONCACAF Champions Cup, which will be held some time after the MLS season. If the league gets two entries, it will be the yet-to-be determined 2000 MLS champions and the 1999 MLS Cup champion D.C. United. If MLS gets three teams, it will be those two, plus the 2000 runner-up.
When you think of tough spots to fill on the field, right back is not usually a position that comes to mind. But the U.S. national team is having trouble filling that spot on both the senior men's and under-23 level. Tony Sanneh's been trying to learn the position on the fly for Bruce Arena, while Clive Charles is praying that Frankie Hejduk will return to form.
Scan the MLS rosters and you won't find any true right backs anywhere. Strange.
Don't know if it will be this weekend, but Fernando Clavijo told me in Columbus last week that as soon as Eric Wynalda is ready to go, the Revolution will play a 3-4-3, with Waldo, Jose Luis Morales and Wolde Harris all running up top.
Heard something crazy out of the league meetings. MLS wants to force all teams to train in their home cities next season once MLS spring training ends. That means, instead of taking their annual trips to Mexico and Europe, teams will return to places like New York and Chicago in mid-February. The reason, supposedly, is that it will help sell tickets. Don't expect the coaches to take this news lightly.
Expect L.A. to get through the next round of World Cup qualifying with fewer player losses. As it stands now, Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney will not be called in for the Barbados game as Carlos Llamos and Jeff Agoos will return to action.
Pub Talk
I wrote last week that All-Star Games are lame, and I still feel that way.
But I was just talking about the games themselves. The events are fine for what they are: fan-friendly, sponsor-satisfying, company picnic kind of fun. Whatever.
Now, we can get back to the real season, and what should be an exciting conclusion.
Here's a few things I hope to see:
Another Hristo Stoitchkov free kick like the one he hit against D.C. early in the season.
A few teams feeling the heat of D.C.'s breath on the backs of their necks.
One more picture of Lothar Matthaeus in a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous pose.
Danny Pena back on the field for the L.A. Galaxy.
More supporters like the gang that followed the MetroStars to New England.
A goal that rivals Marcelo Balboa's bike for Goal of the Year.
A goal from Bobby Convey.
A plan to overhaul the Miami front office and give soccer a real go at Lockhart Stadium.
A playoff series as good as last year's Dallas-Chicago series.
A Cup final as good as the sold out one in RFK in '97.
Jeff Bradley covers soccer ... among other things ... for ESPN The Magazine. Boot Room hits the web every Thursday evening.
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