MLS Is Wise to Add Iran’s Azizi
If you can’t beat them, sign them.
That might not really have been the thought behind the San Jose Earthquakes’ acquisition of top-flight Iranian striker Khodadad Azizi, but it does ring true.
After all, Azizi, 28, was largely responsible for Iran’s 2-1 victory over the United States in World Cup ’98. And Azizi tore the American defense apart early in Iran’s 1-1 tie with the U.S. at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 16.
The latter game drew 50,181 fans, most of them from California’s sizable Iranian community.
Major League Soccer, which hardly could have failed to recognize such an untapped audience, immediately set about trying to sign an Iranian player with instant name recognition and ability.
Azizi fit the bill perfectly.
The 5-foot-7 forward was Asia’s player of the year in 1996 and runner-up for the same honor the next year. His signing to a multiyear contract is a significant plus for MLS and especially for the Earthquakes.
Suddenly, the Galaxy’s anticipated lock on the Western Conference title isn’t as secure as it once was thought to be.
“He is a very, very technically gifted player and we’re delighted to have signed him,” said Ivan Gazidis, the MLS executive vice president who surprised even himself by engineering the coup.
“We didn’t imagine that we would be able to achieve an agreement with Khodadad.”
Earthquake Coach Lothar Osiander couldn’t believe it either.
“I’m speechlessly excited,” the former Galaxy coach said. “The man has been in my dreams for a long time, and I think a miracle was happening when they allocated him to us. He fits perfectly into our scheme of things. With his outstanding drive to the goal, I think he will complement [Ronald] Cerritos and maybe Abdul Thompson as well. We’ll have a good attacking line now.
“I like individualism and exciting players, and he’s certainly one of those. I also like him because he is sort of a second forward with playmaker abilities, which I need on this team. We have two guys on top who can score maybe, and now we have the guy who can feed them the ball.”
Born in Mashhad, Iran, Azizi has played 36 games for his national team and will be a part of Iran’s World Cup 2002 qualifying campaign later this year. He most recently played for FC Koln in the German Bundesliga.
There, he frequently butted heads with Lothar Matthaeus, the Bayern Munich and German national team defender who arrived in New York on Friday as the league’s most significant signing for the upcoming season.
Azizi, however, might turn out to be the better buy.
“After I saw all the Iranian fans [in California during Iran’s three-game tour in January], I made up my mind to join MLS,” Azizi said. “Hopefully I can be one of the better players [in the league].”
Azizi’s debut at Spartan Stadium in San Jose is April 8, against Matthaeus and the MetroStars--the league’s top new attacker against its top new defender.
Los Angeles area fans will be able to see the player Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid readily would have signed had he been given the chance when the Earthquakes pay the first of two visits to the Rose Bowl on May 27.
IRAN, PART II
It was a good week for Azizi, but a lousy one for his Iran national teammate Mohammad Khakpour.
The 31-year-old defender was waived by the MetroStars, whose rebuilt defense features Matthaeus, former U.S. national team captain Thomas Dooley and No. 1 draft choice Steve Shak of UCLA, as well as former Galaxy starter Mark Semioli.
“We are determined to put an improved team out on the field this season,” said Nick Sakiewicz, the MetroStars’ general manager. “We upgraded our club up front with the addition of [Colombian strikers Adolfo] Valencia and [Alex] Comas. Now, with the arrival of Lothar and the additions of Dooley and Shak, we have strengthened our club across the back.”
The MetroStars had a league-worst 7-25 record last season. Whether Khakpour-- released for salary-cap reasons, according to Coach Octavio Zambrano--will be picked up by another team is uncertain.
MONEY MATTERS
What U.S. Soccer says and what U.S. Soccer does are often so far apart that the federation is undercutting its credibility at every turn.
The latest instance involves the salaries it pays to its national team coaches, as revealed in federal tax records obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Tony DiCicco’s women’s team went 25-2-2 in 1999 and won the Women’s World Cup, three years after winning the Olympic gold medal. DiCicco earned $167,166.
Bruce Arena’s men’s team went 7-4-2 and finished third in the Confederations Cup, its most significant achievement. Arena earned $482,852.
That’s a difference of $315,686.
Is it any wonder DiCicco resigned in November?
April Heinrichs, DiCicco’s successor, is believed to be earning about $100,000 this year.
The next time U.S. Soccer officials make lofty claims about being leaders in gender equity, pardon us if we laugh.
ARENA PLAYS IT SMART
Realizing that today’s friendly match against Tunisia at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., offers the ideal chance to experiment, Arena is doing just that.
The U.S. coach raised few eyebrows in midweek when he called in David Regis from France to assess the World Cup ’98 defender’s progress.
Nor was the recall of John O’Brien from Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands a big surprise. The midfielder from Playa del Rey has been on the fringe of the national team for a long time but always has been hindered by injuries.
What made everyone take notice was Arena’s reshuffled forward line. Brian McBride remains from the unbeaten Gold Cup squad, but Eric Wynalda was dropped.
Brought in have been forward Chris Albright of the U.S. Under-23 national team and 17-year-old DaMarcus Beasley, the midfielder/forward from Fort Wayne, Ind., who was traded by the Galaxy to the Chicago Fire last month.
Beasley scored 16 goals in 42 games for the U.S. Under-17 national team and looked impressive in MLS spring training in Florida.
Today’s game is on ESPN2 at 11:30 a.m.
Next up for Arena’s team is a trip to Moscow, where it will play Russia on April 26.
HEINRICHS PLAYS IT SAFE
Burned by losses to Norway in her first two games in charge of the U.S. women’s national team, Heinrichs has scrapped her youth policy and will start a lineup loaded with veterans against Portugal today.
Of the 18 players she selected for the eight-nation Algarve Cup tournament, 14 were on the world championship-winning roster last summer.
Among the notable absentees, however, are midfielder Michelle Akers and goalkeeper Briana Scurry.
Akers underwent nasal surgery on Monday to correct residual damage from a broken cheekbone suffered in the 1999 Women’s World All-Star match in San Jose. Scurry has a leg injury.
The Algarve Cup squad does feature a couple of goalkeepers from the U.S. Under-21 team: Siri Mullinix, 21, of Greensboro, N.C., and her understudy at the University of North Carolina, 19-year-old Jen Branam of Placentia.
It also includes forward Christie Welsh, 19, of Penn State and 19-year-old defender Danielle Slaton of Santa Clara University.
After today’s game against Portugal, the Americans play Denmark on Tuesday and Sweden on Thursday.
If they win their group, as expected, they will play for the championship on Saturday against the winner of a group that consists of Canada, China, Finland and Norway.
