Youth Brigade
Can a 19-year-old player with a broken rib be the salvation of Major League Soccer?
If that seems too heavy a burden to put on the shoulders of Landon Donovan, perhaps he can split the load with other youngsters.
DaMarcus Beasley will gladly take his share. So will Bobby Convey. Count on Edson Buddle to lend a hand. Jose Burciaga also is willing to help.
And there are plenty of others.
The future of MLS, which begins its sixth season Saturday, is increasingly being turned over to young American players whose talent far outstrips their years.
Just last Thursday, the San Jose Earthquakes scored a coup of sorts by signing Donovan, a Redlands teenager who led the United States to a fourth-place finish at the FIFA under-17 World Championships in New Zealand in 1999, then helped the U.S. finish fourth at the Sydney Olympic Games last fall.
The league lured him away from his German club, Bayer Leverkusen, with a four-year contract and a simple promise: playing time.
While top-flight American players continue to be drawn to Europe like moths to the proverbial flame, the fact that many are burned once they get there makes MLS an increasingly attractive proposition.
And, to its credit, the league has been active in trying to keep as many promising Americans at home as possible.
Donovan, Beasley, Convey, Buddle and Burciaga all are members of the U.S. under-20 national team that has qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina this summer. Already, all are MLS players, with, respectively, the Earthquakes, the Chicago Fire, D.C. United, the Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards.
D.C. United dipped even deeper into the youth ranks this year by drafting 16-year-old Santino Quaranta, a member of the U.S. under-17 national team. The Dallas Burn did the same, drafting Ed Johnson.
The overall effect is a younger league with a distinct red, white and blue look. Sure, old-timers such as Carlos Valderrama, 39, are still around, but the teenagers figure to catch the eye in 2001.
Donovan, Beasley and Convey already have done so to such an extent that each has already played for the full national team, and any or all of them could be on the 2002 World Cup squad that goes to Japan and South Korea next year, should the U.S. qualify.
Meanwhile, MLS has to hope that the distractions it faces in 2001 will not impact it too greatly, because Commissioner Don Garber has decreed that attendance has to rise from the league-wide average of 13,000 last season.
Apart from ongoing World Cup qualifying and the World Youth Championship in Argentina, both of which will rob the league of players during the season, there is also the second FIFA World Club Championship in Spain to draw away fans’ attention.
At least that tournament, in late July and early August, will give the league a chance to showcase its growth, since the Galaxy will be playing in it.
The dozen teams in MLS have been active in the off-season, not only in player acquisition and player trades, but also in carrying the gospel of MLS to foreign shores.
Teams scattered far and wide to prepare for the season ahead. They went to Portugal and Germany, to Colombia and Costa Rica, to Mexico and China and Japan.
Finally, they all gathered in Florida in March to put the finishing touches to their preparations. On Saturday, the seven-month process of separating the best from the rest begins.
The burdens the coaches are operating under are an 18-player roster, a reduction from previous seasons, and a $1.72-million salary cap.
The pluses? New stadiums are in the works in Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Washington and New York, and expansion is still a probability, despite massive financial losses estimated at $250 million since the league’s launch in 1996.
All 12 teams start out in the belief that this is the year they will emulate D.C. United, the Fire or the Wizards, the only three teams to have won league titles.
By the time the All-Star game is played in San Jose on July 28, the dream already will have been dashed for some. But not until the championship game, MLS Cup 2001, is played in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 21, will the truth be known.
Chances are, it will be the team with the best American youngsters that will carry the day.
Chances are even better that it will be a Phil Anschutz-operated team. After all, the Denver billionaire has control of one-third of the league.
As goes Anschutz, so goes MLS.
A team-by-team look at how it all shapes up for 2001:
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CAPSULES
CHICGO FIRE
LAST SEASON: 17-9-6 (First place Central, MLS runner-up).
NEWCOMERS: Sergi Daniv, Justin Evans, Henry Ring, Matt Chulis, Jim Curtin.
LEFT TOWN: Sam George, Lubos Kubik, Ante Razov, Chris Snitko, Yuri Lavrinenko, Mike Sorber.
WHAT’S NEW? The Fire is waiting to see what becomes of Soldier Field and whether it will remain its home.
WHAT’S UP? Chicago, by wide consensus, is the MLS champion-in-waiting. Why? Because the Fire has Bob Bradley as coach and he has persuaded Hristo Stoitchkov to come back for another season. Chicago has da Bears and da Bulls, but it also has DaMarcus, as in Beasley, as in a hotshot prospect every bit as exciting to watch as Landon Donovan. Then there are Josh Wolff, Zach Thornton, Peter Nowak, Carlos Bocanegra and Chris Armas. The only thing the Fire would like to hide is that its defense is considerably weaker without Lubos Kubik.
*
COLORADO RAPIDS
LAST SEASON: 13-15-4 (Third place West, playoff quarterfinals).
NEWCOMERS: Geoff Aunger, Neathan Gibson, Steve Herdsman, John Spencer, Gus Cartes.
LEFT TOWN: Jorge Dely Valdes, Paul Dougherty, Anders Limpar.
WHAT’S NEW? Coach Tim Hankinson, formerly of the Tampa Bay Mutiny.
WHAT’S UP? Now that Mile High Stadium won’t be torn down around them, at least not immediately, the Rapids at least have a place to play. What else they have is precious little. Panamanian Jorge Dely Valdes has hot-footed it to the J-League, hoping Tokyo will be more lively than Denver. Colorado’s first pick in the draft was Steve Herdsman, so little-known that his name should be followed by a series of question marks. There’s also Gus Cartes, a teenager who supposedly was a rising star in Greece.
*
COLUMBUS CREW
LAST SEASON: 11-16-5 (Fourth place Central).
NEWCOMERS: Tenywa Bonseu, Edson Buddle, Duncan Oughton, Tom Presthus.
LEFT TOWN: Jason Farrell, Mario Gori, Miroslaw Rzepa.
WHAT’S NEW? Nothing, except that Columbus will get the championship game, even if its team isn’t in it.
WHAT’S UP? Coach Tom Fitzgerald walked a swaying tightrope last season but managed to keep his job. His balance is going to have to be extraordinary to repeat the trick this year. Forwards Dante Washington and Brian McBride are a draw, but McBride’s focus will be on qualifying for the World Cup. The Crew picked up another forward, New Zealander Duncan Oughton from Cal State Fullerton, who would have joined fellow Kiwi Simon Elliott with the Galaxy had Columbus not taken him first.
*
DALLAS BURN
LAST SEASON: 14-14-4 (Third place Central, playoff quarterfinals).
NEWCOMERS: Edward Johnson, Lubos Kubik, Ryan Suarez, Joselito Vaca, Chris Snitko.
LEFT TOWN: Sergi Daniv, Ricardo Iribarren, Mark Santel.
WHAT’S NEW? The coach, Mike Jeffries, who learned his trade under Bob Bradley at Chicago.
WHAT’S UP? How well the Burn does will depend on who is running the team: Jeffries or General Manager Andy Swift, the man who pulled the plug on former coach Dave Dir. On paper, Dallas looks interesting. Ariel Graziani up front, with Jason Kreis, means there will be plenty of goals. Veteran Czech defender Lubos Kubik comes down from Chicago, courtesy of the salary cap. Ryan Suarez from San Jose State was a solid draft pick who can add depth to an increasingly imposing defense. Newcomer Joselito Vaca is being touted as the next Marco Etcheverry.
*
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
LAST SEASON: 16-7-9 (First place West, MLS champions).
NEWCOMERS: Jose Burciaga Jr., Roy Lassiter, Mark Santel, Mike Burns.
LEFT TOWN: Vicente Figueroa, Chris Henderson, Miklos Molnar, Uche Okafor.
WHAT’S NEW? Not much, except that the USA-Costa Rica World Cup qualifier April 25 will draw a bigger crowd to Arrowhead Stadium than the MLS champions will this season.
WHAT’S UP? Coach Bob Gansler got rid of playmaker Preki and winger Chris Henderson and picked up Roy Lassiter. Those moves should tell anyone that the Wizards will not repeat in 2001. Sure, Mo Johnston has come out of retirement. But he should have gone out on top and now he won’t. The Wizards will need goalkeeper Tony Meola and first-round draft pick Jose Burciaga Jr. more than ever because they aren’t going to be scoring any goals.
*
GALAXY
LAST SEASON: 14-10-8 (Second place West, playoff semifinals).
NEWCOMERS: Isaias Bardales Jr., Brian Ching, Alexi Lalas, Brian Mullan.
LEFT TOWN: Seth George, Zak Ibsen, Jorge Salcedo.
WHAT’S NEW? With Lalas in town, every day will bring something new, at least as far as quotes go.
WHAT’S UP? The most glaring Galaxy weakness remains its lack of scoring punch. Luis Hernandez is in Mexico and will be lucky to play one-third of the MLS season. Soccer America magazine reported that he is “being shopped” around the league. Team officials deny that. Cobi Jones has signed on for three more years. Sasha Victorine isn’t a striker, no matter how much Coach Sigi Schmid is trying to turn him into one. So where are the goals coming from in 2001? First-round pick Brian Mullan might be the answer.
*
MIAMI FUSION
LAST SEASON: 12-15-5 (Third place East).
NEWCOMERS: Chris Henderson, Carlos Llamosa, Antonio Otero, Greg Simmonds, Preki, Ian Bishop, Alex Pineda Chacon.
LEFT TOWN: Brian Kamler, Roy Lassiter, Martin Machon, Nelson Vargas.
WHAT’S NEW? The lineup, since Coach Ray Hudson has pretty much rebuilt the team from scratch.
WHAT’S UP? Getting midfielder Preki and winger Chris Henderson from the defending champion Wizards and midfielder Antonio Otero and defender Carlos Llamosa from D.C. United are big pluses for the Fusion, which either has to do something on the field and at the gate this season to escape being relocated next year. Rochester, N.Y., and Winston-Salem, N.C., are possible new homes.
*
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
LAST SEASON: 13-13-6 (Second place East, playoff quarterfinals).
NEWCOMERS: Yari Allnutt, Nick Downing, Eric Pogue, Shaun Tsakiris, Matt Okoh.
LEFT TOWN: Paul Keegan, Jose Luis Morales, Juergen Sommer.
WHAT’S NEW? Unfortunately for the Revolution, not much.
WHAT’S UP? Fernando Clavijo starts his second season as coach without having had a top-20 draft pick with which to improve his team. Getting Colombian midfielder Leonel Alvarez to stick around will help. Getting forward-midfielder Yari Allnut, a 1992 Olympian, from the A-League’s Rochester Raging Rhinos might help. The Revolution fans are among the best in the league, but their numbers will dwindle unless the team is a contender. Striker Eric Wynalda desperately wanted to be traded to the Galaxy. It didn’t happen. Now he wants to beat Los Angeles.
*
NY-NJ METROSTARS
LAST SEASON: 17-12-3 (First place East, playoff semifinals).
NEWCOMERS: Rodrigo Faria, Martin Klinger, Richie Williams, Pedro Alvarez.
LEFT TOWN: Mike Ammann, Thomas Dooley, Lothar Matthaus, Roy Myers.
WHAT’S NEW? An average age that no longer can qualify the team for Social Security benefits, now that Dooley and Matthaeus are gone.
WHAT’S UP? The MetroStars are obviously intent on cornering the market in Colombians. Coach Octavio Zambrano has added midfielder Pedro Alvarez to supply the passes from which forwards Adolfo Valencia and Alex Comas are supposed to score the goals. That, presumably, leaves Americans such as Clint Mathis, Mike Petke and newly acquired Richie Williams to scurry around and look busy in front of new No. 1 goalkeeper Tim Howard. More Meadowlands melodrama awaits.
*
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
LAST SEASON: 7-17-8 (Fourth place West).
NEWCOMERS: Jeff Agoos, Chris Carrieri, Dwayne DeRosario, Zak Ibsen, Manny Lagos.
LEFT TOWN: Khodadad Azizi, Dan Calichman, Abdul Thompson Conteh, John Doyle.
WHAT’S NEW? The team operator, Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment, which also operates the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, and the coach, Frank Yallop, the first of the league’s former players to make the jump to coach.
WHAT’S UP? The ability to speak Canadian will be a plus. Yallop is from north of the border, as is Canada national team striker Dwayne DeRosario. Former U.S. national team midfielder Dominic Kinnear is Yallop’s assistant. MLS top draft pick Chris Carrieri hails from North Carolina, where he was the NCAA’s leading goal-scorer in 2000. DeRosario, Carrieri and Landon Donovan will be the offense, but Donovan’s broken rib will delay his debut for a month or more.
*
TAMPA BAY MUTINY
LAST SEASON: 16-12-4 (Second place Central, playoff quarterfinals).
NEWCOMERS: Devin Barclay, Ali Curtis, Craig Demmin.
LEFT TOWN: Kalin Bankov, Manuel Bucuane, Dominic Kinnear, Manny Lagos.
WHAT’S NEW? The coach, Alfonso Mondelo, who didn’t make it with the MetroStars but is being given a second chance.
WHAT’S UP? Midfielder Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama is back for another season or two. El Pibe, of course, is Spanish for “I’m almost 40 but I still can stand in the center circle and pass.” In the draft, Mondelo used the second pick to select Duke forward and 1999 Hermann Trophy winner Ali Curtis. The Mutiny has two interesting series to look forward to this season: when Mondelo plays his former team, the MetroStars, and when the Mutiny plays its former coach, Hankinson of the Rapids.
*
WASHINGTON D.C. UNITED
LAST SEASON: 8-18-6 (Fourth place East).
NEWCOMERS: Mike Ammann, Abdul Thompson Conteh, Mark Lisi, Ryan Nelsen, Santino Quaranta, Mark Watson.
LEFT TOWN: Jeff Agoos, Geoff Aunger, Carlos Llamosa, Tom Presthus, Richie Williams, A.J. Wood.
WHAT’S NEW? The operator, Phil Anschutz, who added D.C. to his list of MLS teams, which already included the Fire, the Galaxy and the Rapids.
WHAT’S UP? General Manager Kevin Payne and Coach Thomas Rongen sent players packing this year, two of them top-flight defenders, Jeff Agoos and Carlos Llamosa. The defense will suffer in the short term and new goalkeeper Mike Ammann will wish he were back in New Jersey, but if D.C. each season can add a player like Bobby Convey in 2000 and Santino Quaranta in 2001, it soon will contend again. First-round draft selection Ryan Nelsen of New Zealand will have an immediate impact.
