Elliott Caught in Soccer Bind
All things considered, Simon Elliott would rather be in Mexico.
The Galaxy midfielder would prefer to be playing at Guadalajara’s Jalisco Stadium tonight, instead of at Denver’s Mile High Stadium.
And who can blame him?
After all, what he will be doing here is starting for the Galaxy in just another Major League Soccer game against the Colorado Rapids. In Guadalajara, he would have been starting for Oceania champion New Zealand against European champion Germany in the FIFA Confederations Cup.
But the choice was not Elliott’s.
He was merely a pawn in a club-versus-country conflict. Such conflicts, in which a player’s commitment to the team that pays his salary are at odds with his desire to represent his country, happen all too frequently in soccer.
“Simon had been requested by New Zealand,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “I had conversations with Ken Dugdale, their coach. But it was a situation where he wanted Simon in the middle of June. I said no.
“Then he requested him again and said he had to determine whether [Elliott] was going to make the team. I said, ‘I can give him to you for two games in July, but he needs to be back with us for a game and I’ll release him to you on July 12 after we play New England.’
“Then [Dugdale] said he was 90% certain that he’ll make the team so he wants him from July 1 on. I said I can’t release him from July 1 on.”
At that point, New Zealand dropped the matter and set off for the eight-nation Confederations Cup without one of its more experienced players.
FIFA rules require that clubs release national-team players five days ahead of whatever FIFA-sanctioned games they are called up to play in, and Schmid was well within his rights in holding on to Elliott.
“I thought us releasing him 12 days in advance of the tournament was more than adequate,” he said. “It was no different from when we were releasing [U.S.] national team players [Robin Fraser and Cobi Jones].
“We weren’t violating any FIFA rules or anything like that. We tried to work it out on Simon’s behalf. [Stanford Coach] Bobby Clarke is a friend and used to coach the New Zealand national team. He called on my and Simon’s behalf and tried to work it out, but Simon said if it came down to a conflict, he wanted to play for us.”
Elliott said the decision was the New Zealand coach’s call, though it was very disappointing.
“But at the same time,” Elliott said, “it’s really good being part of the Galaxy team. It’s really nice to have the opportunity to play professional soccer in America. Things are going along pretty well here at the moment.”
