It’s Anything but a United Front
When is an MLS “championship preview” not a championship preview?
When one of the teams, Eastern Conference regular-season champion Washington D.C. United, announces it will be resting four key starters and pulling a few others at halftime because, well, a more important nonleague game looms next week.
On paper, tonight’s matchup between United and the Western Conference-leading Galaxy at the Rose Bowl offers the current cream of Major League Soccer--teams that played for the inaugural MLS Cup in 1996 and have lately looked as if they are gearing for a rematch in November. United has won a club-record 10 consecutive matches; the Galaxy is 15-7 since Sigi Schmid took over as coach in late April and is 8-2 in its last 10 matches.
At stake is the MLS Supporter’s Shield, awarded to the team finishing with the best regular-season record. United has 54 points in 29 games, the Galaxy 48 in 28 games.
A nice little trinket to add to the trophy case, perhaps.
But to view it from the D.C. perspective: Who cares about the Supporter’s Shield when the CONCACAF Champions Cup--and a potential $1.5-million payout--is there to be had next week?
The Champions Cup, an annual tournament featuring the top professional clubs from North America, opens Tuesday in Las Vegas. United, the defending titlist, is entered and scheduled to play CD Olimpia of Honduras Wednesday. For United to repeat, it would have to win three games in five days--which is why Coach Thomas Rongen says he plans to rest Marco Etcheverry, 1998 MLS player of the year; Ben Olsen, 1998 MLS rookie of the year, all-star forward Jaime Moreno, and starting midfielder Richie Williams tonight.
Rongen also says he may pull goalkeeper Tom Presthus, along with a few others, at halftime.
“We want to win in L.A. and we’ll put a team on the field that can do that,” Rongen said earlier this week. “But with CONCACAF just around the corner, we also have to be smart. It’s a very important tournament for us and American soccer.”
How important?
The winner of this year’s Champions Cup will advance to the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship, to be played in Brazil next January, featuring the likes of Real Madrid and European club champion Manchester United. Manchester United has made the World Club Championship such a priority that the club is bailing out of England’s FA Cup tournament--one of the most prestigious in soccer--for the opportunity to play in Brazil.
Should D.C. win the CONCACAF Champions Cup, it would get the unprecedented chance to test its mettle against the best clubs in the world--along with a $1.5-million award for qualifying for the World Club Championship.
Bruce Arena, the former D.C. coach now in charge of the U.S. men’s national team, has given United his blessing in marshaling an all-out effort to qualify for the World Club Championship.
“I think it would be great,” Arena said.
As for the Galaxy?
See you in November--that is the United attitude. As in Nov. 21, Foxboro Stadium, the MLS Cup championship game.
Most likely, Rongen wouldn’t be resting any starters in that one.
