SOCCER / JULIE CART : Does Rothenberg Really Have to Be Involved With <i> Everything</i> ?
Alan Rothenberg, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, was right when he called Sunday a monumental day in American soccer history. It was the day his organization awarded Rothenberg’s bidding group, Major League Professional Soccer, Inc., the right to organize the next professional soccer league, which will be partially funded by the anticipated surplus generated by World Cup ‘94, which has Rothenberg as its president, chairman and CEO.
It gets more interesting. The USSF’s national board of directors, which awarded the potentially lucrative franchise right, has among its members scores of employees who work for Rothenberg, including two members of the U.S. men’s national team and two from the women’s, whose paychecks come directly from the USSF and Rothenberg.
Rothenberg has announced that 30% of the surplus generated by next year’s World Cup will go to help form the new professional league. Based on Rothenberg’s own prediction of a $20-million surplus, his new league will get a $6-million boost, thanks to his decision.
These apparent conflicts of interest don’t mean that Rothenberg’s group was not the best qualified. In fact, MLPS has been working for months on its plan, which the board accepted by an 18-5 vote Sunday.
The point is, why place yourself and others in such a questionable ethical position? Why jeopardize the credibility of a fledgling enterprise?
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From Mick McCarthy, manager of English first-division team Millwall, on his American goalkeeper Kasey Keller: “People have talked about him leaving Millwall, but I couldn’t sell him--not unless I wanted to be strung up by my underpants from the South Stand.”
In its way, a ringing endorsement, the kind of recognition Keller would like to get in his own country. Keller, a former All-American at the University of Portland, is the unseen third man in the long-playing drama that surrounds the goalkeeping position with the U.S. national team.
With Tony Meola, starting goalkeeper for the 1990 World Cup team, and Brad Friedel, college soccer’s most valuable player in 1992 while at UCLA, both in training camp and taking turns starting games, Keller seems to be out of sight and out of mind.
The national team coaches certainly know Keller, although it is doubtful that newly appointed goalkeeping coach Milutin Soskic has seen Keller play. Nor has Keller been called up to join the team for international matches. His last full international was against Scotland in 1992.
“I met with Bill (Nuttall, the U.S. team’s general manager) when he was in London a few weeks back,” Keller said from his home in London. “They always say, ‘We’re watching you. You’re part of the picture.’ It’s nice to know you’re part of the team. But I’m still waiting for that call that says, ‘What’s your schedule? We’ll try to bring you in for a match.’
“But, all I can do is continue with my career in England, which, thankfully, is going well.”
Keller was the backup keeper at Millwall until the starter was injured, then started 51 consecutive games and earned 16 shutouts. Millwall’s fans--among the most notoriously tough in England--voted Keller the team’s most valuable player last season. The team hasn’t lost in its last six games and is tied for fourth.
The U.S. national team will keep three goalkeepers on its World Cup roster, the best two available and a young keeper, possibly from the Olympic team.
Keller, who was Meola’s World Cup backup in 1990, knows that whether he’s playing with the U.S. team or not, the experience he’s getting each week is helping him. For example, the U.S. team will play three games in December--Keller will play five in 12 days over Christmas.
“I think everything is going to come to a boil in the last 45 days before the World Cup,” Keller said. “It all comes down to who stops the shots. That’s goalkeeping.”
Soccer Notes
Joe-Max Moore’s four goals against El Salvador on Sunday marked the first time an American has scored that many in a full international since Archie Stark did so against Canada in 1925.
The U.S. national team has called up five foreign-based players for the game against world champion Germany, at Stanford Stadium on Dec. 18. Expected to play are striker Ernie Stewart of Willem II in the Netherlands, midfielders Chad Deering of Schalke 04 in Germany and Dario Brose of St. Brieuc in France, and defenders Brian Bliss of Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany and Cle Kooiman of Cruz Azul in Mexico. Brose, who was on the 1992 Olympic team, will make his first appearance with the national team. Kooiman is recovering from knee surgery and is expected to be ready to play.
The national team’s next game is Saturday at Cal State Fullerton against Kongsvinger, a Norwegian club. The 6 p.m. game is the second part of a doubleheader with the L.A. Salsa. The Salsa plays Club Hallelujah in the first game at 4 p.m.
