MLS Misses Goal in Pursuit of German Star Matthaeus
Major League Soccer continues to take one odd step after another as it stumbles into uncertainty.
Last week it shuffled the pack again with a multiplayer trade involving the United States’ Eric Wynalda, Colombia’s Arley Palacios, Brazil’s Welton and Costa Rica’s Roy Myers, but the biggest news of the week was the foreign acquisition that didn’t happen.
The New York/New Jersey MetroStars apparently were set to announce the signing of Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain, Lothar Matthaeus, to a million-dollar, 18-month contract.
Matthaeus, 38, then pulled the artificial turf out from beneath the MetroStars, saying he would remain with German Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich for another year.
His decision apparently was based on a desire to play for Germany in next summer’s European Championship, being jointly staged by Belgium and the Netherlands.
“If I accept the [MetroStars’] offer, there will be no more games for Germany for me,” said Matthaeus, who has played a record 135 games for his country and is one of only two men--the other is Mexico’s Antonio “Cinco Copas” Carbajal--to have taken part in five World Cups.
Matthaeus could still join MLS after the European Championship next June, but does the league really need a million-dollar guy who’s 39 when it could get four 20-year-olds at $250,000 instead?
STAR QUALITY
The failure of the MetroStars to sign Matthaeus, or any other big-name foreign player, for that matter, did give MLS Commissioner Doug Logan the opportunity to deliver the line of the week.
“Neither Hillary Clinton nor a new international star have established residency in the New York area,” Logan said during his weekly media conference call.
But, the First Lady’s senatorial aspirations aside, Logan recognizes that New York/New Jersey presents a unique challenge for the league.
“It is a terrible curse, but it’s reality,” he said. “The curse being that one cannot, in the present environment, succeed with a young team of players 23-25 years old and grow into respectability the way that the Columbus Crew did. . . . The fans and media in New York require at least two or three or more well-known faces. . . . That’s the legacy of the Cosmos. . . . We’re trying to accommodate that without being financially irresponsible.”
Oddly enough, one of those former Cosmos stars helped kill the Matthaeus deal.
Franz Beckenbauer, once the sidekick of Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia and others in the heady days when the Cosmos regularly drew crowds of 70,000 to Giants Stadium, is president of Bayern Munich, and he recommended that Matthaeus stay at home.
“It would be better for Lothar to end his career in Munich,” Beckenbauer told the German newspaper Bild, saying Matthaeus should not follow the example “Der Kaiser” set in 1977 by leaving Munich for New York.
“I was 31, he is 38,” Beckenbauer said. “For me, it was very interesting financially. For Lothar, I think it would be better if he stayed with Bayern.”
FIELDS OF GREEN
According to Ivan Gazidis, an MLS executive vice president, the league is being viewed in a different light these days, at least overseas.
“The perception of MLS used to be a very unsophisticated one,” he said. “Players were looking for a big payday before retirement. As our reputation has grown--and it has grown--that perception has changed and become more sophisticated.
“Overseas clubs and overseas players now realize that we are a young, up-and-coming league, not a retirement home. A great number of players in Europe are looking to come to the United States. We’re not yet at the point where we’re going to sign stars in their prime, but there are players with good reputations in their 30s who are interested in MLS.”
DIEGO’S BUDDY
Having been rebuffed by one World Cup standout, the MetroStars have their eye on another. But he could be an even more problematic acquisition.
The latest name to surface in the team’s ongoing quest for star appeal is Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia, the long-haired midfielder who is a close friend of Diego Maradona.
“As far as Caniggia goes, it’s too early to make any comments,” Gazidis said.
The problem is that Caniggia’s friendship with Maradona extended to the use of recreational drugs. Like Maradona, he was banned by FIFA for cocaine use. That might not upset New York fans, who have long tolerated Darryl Strawberry’s antics, but it doesn’t appeal to MLS.
“We still continue to have the no-tolerance stance,” Logan said. “There are problems that people go through that they are able to cure. I can assure you that we would not enter into a contract with a player without the assurance that those problems are in that person’s past. It’s not a mixed message. Unless we had assurances that a problem was behind someone, we would not enter into a contract.”
Of course, assurances and reality are not always the same thing. Just ask the Yankees.
A NOVEL APPROACH
The MetroStars are taking an unorthodox approach to marketing their team with the announcement that they will host a four-team international tournament next month that does not feature their own team.
Even more unusual, the MetroStars have sandwiched the so-called Gotham Cup around one of their home games.
Fans in New York and New Jersey will happily turn out on July 23 and 25 to watch doubleheaders involving Fiorentina of Italy, Ajax Amsterdam of the Netherlands, Benfica of Portugal and Panathinaikos of Greece. They are all top teams.
But who is going to go to Giants Stadium on July 24, when the MetroStars play the Miami Fusion in a game being televised nationally on ABC?
At least Charlie Stillitano, the MetroStars’ vice president and general manager, recognizes where his MLS team fits in the greater scheme of things.
“We now have four internationally recognized teams for what will be an outstanding weekend of soccer at Giants Stadium,” he said.
QUICK PASSES
Ronaldo--remember him?--has traded in girlfriend-model-actress Suzanne Werner, surely the most photographed woman at World Cup ‘98, and bought a $320,000 Ferrari. Bright red, of course. “I am going to treat this car with the same affection that I treat a soccer ball,” Ronaldo said. “I love speed.” The 22-year-old Brazil and Inter Milan striker announced in Rio de Janeiro last week that he and Werner are going their separate ways.
Mexico’s championship series is tied after Atlas came from two goals behind to earn a 3-3 draw at home against Toluca in the first leg. Two goals by Uruguay’s Carlos Maria Morales and one by Paraguay’s Jose Cardozo gave Toluca a 3-1 halftime lead before Rafael Marquez and Argentina’s Hugo Castillo tied it for Atlas, adding to Cesar Andrade’s first-half goal. The second leg is scheduled today.
Boca Juniors made Argentine soccer history, defeating Rosario Central to extend their unbeaten league run to 40 games, breaking the record of 39 set by Racing Club in 1966. . . . Victor Bonilla scored the lone goal as Deportivo Cali of Colombia shut out Palmeiras of Brazil, 1-0, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores, or South American club championship in Cali.
Forward Ernie Stewart and defender Leo Cullen have been added to the United States roster for the national team’s game June 13 against Argentina at RFK Stadium in Washington. They replace defenders Mike Burns, who has a hamstring injury, and David Regis, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
The MLS all-star weekend in San Diego July 14-18 also will feature a match involving “a top Mexican League team against a top South American team.” No teams yet announced. . . . Jorge Campos, who will be in Chicago on Wednesday for Mexico’s game against Argentina at Soldier Field, may return to MLS. “He and I plan to have a conversation that afternoon before the game,” Logan said.
