MLS Seeks International Flair, Even if It Won’t Talk About It
The buzz in Bucharest and Istanbul earlier this week was that Major League Soccer was about to deprive Europe of two more top players.
Romanian World Cup stars Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu were said to be ready to abandon Turkish league leader Galatasaray in favor of MLS.
Hagi, well-remembered for his exploits in the 1994 World Cup, was even quoted as saying, “I might go to United States,” after the 2000 European Championship in June.
If he does, it will only be on vacation, according to MLS Executive Vice President Ivan Gazidis.
“We’ve had no talks on either of those players, and at the moment they are not on our radar screen,” Gazidis said.
Gazidis has done an excellent job this season in bringing a host of new names into the league, players such as Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus, Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoitchkov, Iran’s Khodadad Azizi and Colombia’s Adolfo Valencia.
But even though he is actively pursuing others, including a Mexican striker for the Galaxy, Gazidis is reluctant to talk about who might be coming to MLS.
“We are in talks with a variety of different players and player agents, but at this stage I want to be very careful not to prejudice any of those negotiations by entering into a public discussion of them,” he said.
For a young league that needs all the publicity it can generate, media speculation about potential newcomers would seem to be a healthy thing.
Not so, Gazidis said.
“Once players’ names are out in the public arena, you run a couple of risks,” he said. “The first is that you raise expectations which may subsequently be dashed, and that loses the league and the teams involved credibility.
“The second issue is that once names are in widespread circulation, it sometimes will place pressures on the clubs [involved in the negotiation] because the fans find out and so on. That can change the nature of the negotiation and make it move away from you a little bit.
“Certainly, speculation would generate interest, there’s no question about that, but it’s little bit like the boy who cried wolf. At some point, people would just completely discount it when they see names raised and then nothing brought to fruition. That can actually be counterproductive ultimately.”
So there will be no speculation here about Luis Hernandez, Roberto Baggio, Paul Gascoigne, Francisco Palencias. . . .
SALVADORAN RUCKUS
Kevin Payne, the president of MLS champion D.C. United, has stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest in Washington by saying he would beef up security at RFK Stadium specifically to deal with unruly Salvadoran fans.
Ever since D.C. United traded popular Salvadoran forward Raul Diaz Arce after the 1997 season, there have been fights and other incidents in the stands whenever visiting teams that feature Salvadoran players come to RFK.
The Salvadoran fans cheer for the visitors, which sparks trouble with the home fans.
“This is strictly an issue when we have [the Galaxy’s Mauricio] Cienfuegos, [the Tampa Bay Mutiny’s] Raul [Diaz Arce] or to a lesser extent, [the San Jose Earthquakes’ Ronald] Cerritos here,” Payne told the Washington Post.
“I’m disappointed the Salvadoran community still chooses to act this way, or at least the Salvadoran fans who come to our games still choose to act this way.”
Salvadoran community leaders in Washington have accused Payne of generalization and discrimination, but Payne said he is intent on stamping out fan violence before it escalates.
“We’re just going to have a massive show of force,” he told the Post. “There are going to be arrests the next time, I guarantee that. If I have to personally press charges, I will.”
QUICK QUOTES
* Colorado Coach Glenn Myernick, on his injury-ravaged team: “I’m sure there are some body parts that we haven’t covered, but we’re well on our way to trying to cover the whole anatomy.”
* New York/New Jersey MetroStar defender Matthaeus, to the German magazine Bild on his MLS debut: “I was more like a fireman than a key figure in the game. I had to remain very passive when going forward so that nothing caught fire behind me.”
* Dallas Burn Coach Dave Dir, on his approach to early season games: “The first six games, you don’t get too bent out of shape over.”
SHORT PASSES
United midfielder Marco Etcheverry was fined $1,000 by the league for chopping down Cienfuegos with a late tackle from behind during the Galaxy’s 4-0 victory at RFK Stadium. “I was angry and my emotions were too high,” said Etcheverry, who also served a one-game suspension because of the incident. . . . Chicago Fire Coach Bob Bradley waived backup goalkeeper Greg Sutton after Sutton, filling in for injured starter Zach Thornton, gave up eight goals in his first two games. The Fire acquired former UCLA player Chris Snitko from the Kansas City Wizards for two draft picks and Snitko shut out the Columbus Crew in his first start.
