One Word for These All-Stars: ‘Awesome’
During his 30 years of beating the drum for soccer in the United States, Ron Newman has seen a lot and heard a lot more.
But the Hall of Fame coach, as known for his one-liners as for the winning teams he builds, said Tuesday he had not seen anything like the talent assembled for tonight’s Major League Soccer All-Star game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
“Your team is awesome,” Newman told Bruce Arena at a luncheon Tuesday, “but mine is awesomer.”
Newman will coach the Western Conference squad in the 4:30 PDT game, seeking to avenge the 3-2 defeat that the Eastern Conference imposed on the West last year in front of 78,416 at the same stadium.
Tonight’s crowd will be considerably smaller. For one thing, it’s a Wednesday night as opposed to a Sunday afternoon. For another, there is no doubleheader featuring world champion Brazil playing against a world all-star team as there was last July 14.
And rain is forecast.
None of this bothers Newman, coach of the Kansas City Wizards. But having Newman on the opposing bench tonight might bother Arena, coach of defending MLS champion Washington D.C. United.
Arena’s team leads the league with a 13-4 record this season, but when United played the Wizards recently, it was trounced, 6-1. Last season, the Wizards (then known as the Wiz) defeated D.C. United three times--5-1, 3-2 and 4-2.
Reflecting on those results Tuesday, Arena recalled that more than 20 years ago Newman had considered drafting him out of Cornell to play for the Dallas Tornado, but didn’t.
“I guess you knew me pretty well as a player,” he told Newman, “and since we’ve never beaten you [the Wizards], you must know me pretty well as a coach.”
Arena will have a starting lineup that includes half a dozen of his D.C. United players, led by the potent attack formation of Jaime Moreno, Raul Diaz Arce and Marco Etcheverry.
Newman will counter with an attack depleted by the loss to injury of Eric Wynalda but bolstered by the call-up of Cobi Jones, one of three Galaxy players on the West roster. The others are playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos and goalkeeper Jorge Campos.
The teams feature many of the best U.S. players as well as an array of foreign stars whose unfamiliarity with the all-star concept has added a novel twist to the event.
“It’s fascinating to see what the All-Star game has turned into just in our mere two years of history,” Doug Logan, the league’s commissioner, said Tuesday. “Last year, we had a fantastic, 3-2 game and it was almost as though it was scripted, with Tab Ramos and Giovanni Savaresi of the hometown MetroStars scoring two of the goals.
“It was a spectacular game. When I walked into the locker room afterward and stood in front of [Colombia’s] Carlos Valderrama and [Bolivia’s] Marco Etcheverry, who were sitting there just completely spent and exhausted, I felt like saying, ‘You don’t seem to understand what an All-Star game is all about in the United States. It’s a little muscle-flexing and smiling for the cameras and then you go out there and fool around.’
“But last year was a dead-serious game and we expect the same this year. Mauricio Cienfuegos actually approached [Galaxy General Manager] Danny Villanueva and asked if he could be held out of the friendly against Chivas [of Guadalajara at Soldier Field in Chicago] on Sunday so that he could be in top form Wednesday. So that’s how important the players are taking this game.”
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MLS All-Star Game
Game Facts
* WHAT: Second MLS All-Star game.
* WHO: Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference.
* WHERE: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
* WHEN: 4:30 p.m. PDT.
* TV: ESPN.
Starting lineups
WESTERN CONFERENCE
* GOALKEEPER--Mark Dodd (USA), Dallas.
* DEFENDERS--Richard Gough (Scotland), Kansas City; Marcelo Balboa (USA), Colorado; Diego Sonora (Mexico), Dallas.
* MIDFIELDERS--Preki (Yugoslavia), Kansas City; Mauricio Cienfuegos (El Salvador), Galaxy; Chris Henderson (USA) Colorado; Alain Sutter (Switzerland), Dallas.
* FORWARDS--Dante Washington (USA), Dallas; Vitalis “Digital” Takawira (Zimbabwe), Kansas City; Damian (Mexico), Dallas.
* COACH--Ron Newman, Kansas City.
* ASSISTANT--Glenn Myernick, Colorado.
*
EASTERN CONFERENCE
* GOALKEEPER--Walter Zenga (Italy), New England.
* DEFENDERS--Jeff Agoos (USA), Washington; Alexi Lalas (USA), New England; Eddie Pope (USA), Washington.
* MIDFIELDERS--Roberto Donadoni (Italy), New York/New Jersey; Carlos Valderrama (Colombia), Tampa Bay; Robert Warzycha (Poland), Columbus; John Harkes (USA), Washington.
* FORWARDS--Marco Etcheverry (Bolivia), Washington; Raul Diaz Arce (El Salvador), Washington; Jaime Moreno (Bolivia), Washington.
* COACH--Bruce Arena, Washington.
* ASSISTANT--Thomas Rongen, New England.
