Price of U.S. Women’s Pay Issue Could Be Gold
A meeting will take place in Los Angeles today that quite possibly will have a significant impact on whether the United States wins the gold medal in women’s soccer at the Sydney Olympics.
On one side of the table will be John Langel, the Philadelphia attorney who represents the players on the U.S. women’s national team.
On the other side will be Alan Rothenberg, the Los Angeles attorney who represents, well, so many things that it’s difficult to know which hat he’s wearing on any particular day. In this case, though, it will be U.S. Soccer.
At issue is how much the women will be paid, and the two sides are far apart.
“Bob Contiguglia [the federation president] has instructed Alan to make a fair and equitable offer,” said Hank Steinbrecher, U.S. Soccer’s secretary general.
“This is part and parcel of sport in America today,” he said of the labor dispute that resulted in the world champions boycotting a recent four-nation tournament in Australia.
April Heinrichs, who was named coach of the U.S. team Tuesday, needs the veteran players on hand in time for a Feb. 6 game against Norway at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but there is no guarantee the dispute will be resolved before then.
“There are some very tricky issues here,” Steinbrecher said. “Money is not the only issue that has to be discussed.”
Beyond the Feb. 6 game, all sorts of tournaments loom on the road to the Olympic Games in September. There is the Algarve Cup in Portugal, the Pacific Cup in Australia, the U.S. Women’s Cup, the German soccer federation’s centenary tournament (where China, Norway and Germany await the U.S. in July) and the first CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup.
The competition in women’s soccer is intense at the highest level, with a handful of teams--China, Norway, Germany, Brazil and the U.S.--capable of winning the gold in Sydney.
Unless U.S. Soccer settles this dispute once and for all, each day’s delay hurts U.S. chances of repeating as Olympic champion.
FOUDY FUTURE?
One of the hottest rumors circulating last week was that, having successfully removed coach Tony DiCicco and key assistant Lauren Gregg, the federation next would move to oust midfielder Julie Foudy.
Foudy, of Mission Viejo, is co-captain of the women’s team and a vocal leader. Conspiracy theorists claim that the federation aims to remove her because it still is smoldering over the women’s indoor victory tour--taken against U.S. Soccer’s wishes--and the players’ subsequent boycott of the Australia Cup.
Steinbrecher emphatically denied the suggestion.
“She’s always been outspoken and she’s always been a leader,” he said. “If the coach wants any player to play, that player will play. We’ve had numerous players who have been outspoken.
“The federation does not tell a coach who to play. It’s a coach’s decision, totally. And I remind you that that’s also illegal, that’s called retribution, and that will not occur.”
BARBED HOOKS
U.S. Soccer’s fumbled handling of the women’s team has led to some intense criticism in the national media since the Women’s World Cup, with Steinbrecher, as the federation’s highest-ranking staff official, bearing the brunt.
“I’ve been called the last bastion of male chauvinism since Bobby Riggs,” he said.
“Soccer as a sport in America has had to take significant hurdles. This is another one. Very few people dreamt that the World Cup would be as successful as it was, that our women would be on such a high plateau and high platform.
“While it is hurtful at times, it’s to be expected. Experience teaches you that you have to remove yourself from that and depersonalize it. It’s not a personal issue. But in a way it disparages the sport and we don’t want to see that happen. We’re anxious to get everybody back together again.
“I do have people who have called me and said, ‘Welcome to the big time. This is what it’s about.’ ”
What bothers Steinbrecher most is the inaccurate impression given that the federation has done little for the women’s game.
“If people were to come in and ask, ‘Well, how much has the federation put forth toward the women’s program?’ I don’t think the arguments would be justifiable,” he said.
“I certainly don’t think they’d be justifiable when you compare them to other nations in the world and to other women’s leagues, teams or [sports] associations in this country.
“The reality is that our team captured America. And of course we are a government and the nature of the American people is that they don’t like government, so we’re always the guys who are going to be on the bad end of the publicity.
“But we know what we’ve done and we’re pretty confident we’ve done what it has been within our power to do.”
FALLING DOMINOES
Major League Soccer’s off-season has not exactly been replete with significant player trades, but Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said that will change as the Feb. 6 draft approaches.
“I think it’s like a domino effect,” Schmid said. “Everything hinges around the MetroStars right now because they’ve got the No. 1 draft choice. They really have very little thereafter in the draft, so I’m sure they’re looking to [change] that.
The key will be what the league, which owns all player contracts, does about the MetroStars’ Tab Ramos, a former U.S. national-team midfielder who was awarded the maximum salary ($270,000) last season but spent virtually all of it on the sideline because of injuries.
“That affects New York’s salary cap,” Schmid said, referring to the $1.8-million limit on each MLS team. “I know there are some trades that are on hold because of that, because New York doesn’t know what they have to do [to stay under the salary cap].
“Once that first domino falls, then I think you’ll see other things fall into place. Within the next week to 10 days, some of that will start happening.”
One development that will help the Galaxy in its quest for new players is that El Salvador midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos soon should be earning his U.S. citizenship. That will free a place for another foreign player to be signed. Carlos Hermosillo’s place also appears open because it seems he will not return from Mexico.
As for the Galaxy’s plans for a new stadium, team owner Phil Anschutz recently made a helicopter tour of potential sites, but any firm decision appears unlikely for a while. Carson, according to insiders, has an edge over Los Angeles at the moment.
GAG ORDER
Coach Octavio Zambrano and Nick Sakiewicz, the MetroStars’ general manager, flew to Alicante, Spain, to meet with Lothar Matthaeus, the German World Cup winner who has been critical of the team and who has threatened not to honor his contract with the MLS club.
“I can unequivocally say that Lothar, Octavio, and I are all on the same page,” Sakiewicz said afterward. “Lothar is coming here first and foremost to play soccer, and not coming here for a vacation, as many have reported.”
Matthaeus had said just a week ago that “they can’t take me to New York in handcuffs.”
That prompted Tim Leonard of the Bergen (N.J.) Record to write: “Never mind the handcuffs. How about a gag?”
QUICK PASSES
Marla Messing, the Los Angeles attorney who was chief executive of the hugely successful Women’s World Cup last summer, has been interviewed in Colorado Springs for the position of the U.S. Olympic Committee. . . . Galaxy players Robin Fraser, Gregg Vanney and Cobi Jones are on the U.S. roster for its game against Chile in Coquimbo, Chile, on Saturday.
