Finally, Vanole Is Invited to Join National Team : Soccer: Goalie who held out in January gets the call he has been waiting for from U.S. federation officials.
Goalkeeper David Vanole was a leader of a holdout against the U.S. soccer team in January, which proved to be a problem for him when no one followed.
He was the only player who did not report for the team’s first training camp of the year in January at La Jolla, and U.S. Soccer Federation officials promptly withdrew their contract offer and told Vanole they would call him when he was needed.
More than three months later, long after he had become resigned to the likelihood that the call would never come, the phone rang in his Manhattan Beach apartment.
A USSF official asked him to report to the U.S. B team for a tournament next week in Canada. But before he had time to pack, another USSF official called and asked him to report to the national team’s camp in Princeton, N.J., where it has been preparing for today’s game in Piscataway, N.J., against Malta.
“I was giving up hope of this ever happening,” Vanole said. “I was very skeptical because everyone’s ego and pride, including mine, got in the way. I was excited when they called, but I think it was a good move for the federation, too. It showed the players that (USSF officials) are more human than we thought they were.”
A starter for the national team in the 1988 Summer Olympics, Vanole, a member of UCLA’s 1985 national championship team, lost the position to Tony Meola of Kearny, N.J., four games into last year’s regional qualifying tournament for the World Cup. Still, he was among the 16 players offered contracts by the USSF in December.
Those contracts, however, made none of the players rich and hardly any of them happy. Disgruntled as they were, all reported to camp except for Vanole, who was dismissed from the team without even having a chance to discuss his grievances. The other players believed that the federation was making an example of the goalkeeper. If so, it worked. All of them eventually signed their contracts.
Vanole is now playing for $40 a day, but he does not believe he made a mistake.
“I had my reasons for not signing,” he said. “If they offered me another contract today, I still don’t know if I would sign. I don’t believe it’s a fair contract. But I’m trying to put all the politics behind me and concentrate on the game. I believe that the time off helped me. I’m a lot more hungry now. While I wasn’t playing, I remembered how much I wanted to play. Before, maybe I was going through the motions.”
U.S. Coach Bob Gansler said he re-called Vanole for two reasons.
One is that he is a positive influence on the team, a rah-rah player who plants a small U.S. flag beside the goal when he is playing.
The other is that Gansler needs another goalkeeper on his 22-man roster for next month’s World Cup in Italy in case either Meola or reserve Kasey Keller of the University of Portland is injured. Gansler is believed to be considering Vanole and Mark Todd of Richardson, Tex., for the third spot.
Perhaps Vanole should just be glad to be with the team again, but he said he is in camp to win back his starting job. He said he has been told that he may play in an exhibition game May 12 against Ajax of Amsterdam in Washington.
“I’m not here to be the third goalkeeper,” he said. “That would be ludicrous. I’m a professional. I won’t be happy just to go to the World Cup. I want to play in the World Cup.”
Soccer Notes
Austria, a first-round opponent of the United States in Italy, tied the World Cup defending champion, Argentina, 1-1, Thursday in an exhibition game in Vienna. Maradona played for Argentina for the first time this year but did not score. . . . The United States will play Poland on Wednesday night in Hershey, Pa., Ajax of Amsterdam on May 12 in Washington and Partizan of Belgrade on May 20 in New Haven, Conn.
U.S. midfielder Hugo Perez, who broke his leg in March while playing for a team in Paris, is working out again at his home in San Diego. . . . The U.S. B team plays against the Mexican and Canadian national teams next week in a tournament in Vancouver. Four national team players, including defender Paul Krumpe of Los Angeles, are with the B team.
Spanish League champion Real Madrid, which features Mexican star Hugo Sanchez, will play in the Camel Nation’s Cup May 22 and 24 at the Coliseum against Mexico, FC Cologne of West Germany and a Central American All-Star team.
