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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:14 EST |
Kubik a cap casualty
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
Even though MLS clubs have not officially been informed of what their 2001 salary budgets will be, Chicago Fire coach (and my big bro) Bob Bradley has had "more than a rough idea" of what it will be for some time now.
So, the trade that was announced today - the Fire sent Lubos Kubik to Dallas for Sergi Daniv - is a deal Bob has known the Fire would have to make for some time. He and Kubik sat down more than two months ago to flesh it all out.
Basically, each year, a certain number of player salaries escalate to a point where roster moves become necessary. In '99, the Fire alleviated cap problems with one move. They did not bring Jorge Campos back. In 2000, they had to make more moves. First of all, they did not pick up the options on Roman Kosecki or Jerzy Podbrozny. Then, when the Fire had to clear more room to fit Hristo Stoitchkov under the cap, they moved Francis Okaroh and Paul Dougherty. This year, in order to get back under the projected cap, the Fire had to move one of their big guys, Peter Nowak, Chris Armas, Stoitchkov or Kubik.
Because it is not an option to only have, say, a 15-man roster, the Fire had to say farewell to the best sweeper in MLS history. In the end, Kubik knew his only options were to accept an unthinkable paycut, retire, or accept a trade. "While we're going to miss him in Chicago," said Fire GM Peter Wilt, "I am pleased that we were able to keep Lubos in MLS."
"We didn't expect this to be a popular trade," Bob told me this morning. "And I think that's something we can be proud of as an organization, that our fans really appreciated a great player like Lubos. But, these are the rules we play by. We think Sergi Daniv is a player who fits in well with the team we have. So we will try to move on."
Moving and shaking
With two allocations and the first, eighth and 10th picks in the SuperDraft, San Jose coach Lothar Osiander is enthused that he will put a young, exciting team on the field in April. Anything would be an improvement on last year's Earthquakes, who finished with a league-worst 7-17-8 record and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
"Last year, the first seven picks in the draft were all starters," Osiander said. "I'm hoping that can be extended to the first 10 picks. We need to find three starters with our first six picks. From what I've seen, the pool of players, including some of the guys who are supposed to be coming out of the A-League, is going to be strong." Osiander said that if UConn's Chris Gbandi, the Herrmann Trophy winner, were to come out, he'd be the obvious No. 1 pick, "But we are hearing that he's not going to be coming out."
As for his allocations, Osiander has been in Poland, Russia, Germany and Norway and says, "There are a couple of young Polish players and a couple from Russia who are good, young players that are affordable for MLS. They would make us a much better team immediately. I'm especially excited because they are young. I was talking to some very established, older players in Germany and they are very interested in coming here, but they aren't realistic about the money and may be unaware of the high workrate in MLS. Lothar Matthaus learned this is not a league where you can step on the ball."
Osiander said that Iranian Khodadad Azizi will not be returning to the Quakes, nor will Giovanni Savarese, who finished the year in San Jose. "I admit I had a bad season last year, on and off the field," Osiander says. "I thought the team that finished the '99 season only needed a few changes and I was wrong. I won't make that mistake again."
In tight space...
Colorado Rapids midfielder Joey DiGiamarino has signed a mutli-year contract
with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, where he will join Americans Frankie Hejduk and
Landon Donovan.
We were wrong in reporting that Greg Vanney is on trial with German second-division club F.C. Nuremberg. He is currently training with the Galaxy, preparing for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Revolution defender/midfielder Ted Chronopoulos has returned from his trial with Hearts in Scotland and is still looking for a new MLS deal.
The MetroStars will hold their second round of stadium meetings with Newark, Harrison and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority next week and will also meet with the New York Economic Development Agency.
Both the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion are said to have an interest in Scottish midfielder John Spencer, who's played most recently with Motherwell.
Got a question for the Boot Room? E-mail jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.
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