Bad Boys Afoot in MLS
Major League Soccer suffered its first coaching casualty of the season with the dismissal this week of Miami Fusion coach Ivo Wortman, but the story behind his firing Monday points to a more widespread problem in the league.
In its fifth season, MLS suddenly finds itself with a handful of players who are exhibiting what might best be described as a little too much “attitude.” Consider:
* San Jose Earthquake midfielder/forward Khodadad Azizi of Iran was the victim of a harsh tackle by Nick Garcia and got into a bench-clearing brawl involving the Kansas City Wizard rookie. Azizi was red-carded by referee Reggie Rutty, then made matters worse by pushing Rutty. MLS handed Azizi a three-game suspension and fined him $7,500.
* New England Revolution and former Galaxy striker Eduardo Hurtado was suspended for two weeks by MLS for going AWOL for the second time this season.
* Chicago Fire and former UCLA forward Ante Razov lashed out at Soldier Field fans who had been booing him mercilessly before his recent goal-scoring streak.
“Those people can go to hell,” Razov told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t play for them. I play for the guys on my team. I don’t care if they boo or not. I’ve led this team in scoring every year, and that’s how they treat me.”
* Tampa Bay Mutiny striker Mamadou Diallo of Senegal, unhappy at splitting time as a starter with El Salvador’s Raul Diaz Arce, has threatened to quit the team.
“I left my country to come over here and play,” Diallo told the St. Petersburg Times. “You have to trust me that I’m a good player. If you don’t trust me, then I cannot stay.
“I knew that Raul Diaz Arce was here, but I was told we’d be playing together. If it was any different, then I wouldn’t have signed my contract. Now I only play when Raul is not here, and then when he’s here I don’t play. If it is like that, then I will go to another club.”
* Dallas Burn striker Ariel Graziani, apparently having learned nothing from the Azizi incident, was red-carded by referee Noel Kenny for throwing an elbow at Tampa Bay’s Steve Ralston.
Instead of simply accepting it and leaving the field, Graziani turned on Kenny and shoved him. MLS on Wednesday turned Graziani’s automatic one-game suspension into a three-game ban.
* Now, in the wake of Wortman’s ouster comes the accusation by Fusion captain Francis Okaroh that certain Miami players deliberately played badly in last Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Fire in order to get Wortman dismissed.
“Several of them, about five or six of whom I will not name--but they know who they are--were not trying to win Saturday,” Okaroh said. “They wanted to make Ivo look bad. I was not happy and I made my feelings known to them.
“I was out there Saturday yelling at teammates, ‘Move or get off the field.’ I have never had to worry about a teammate before.”
Okaroh, who won the MLS championship with Chicago in 1998, called the players’ action “embarrassing, shameful and disgusting.”
QUICK PASSES
MLS Vice President Ivan Gazidis scotched rumors that former Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos will return. “We would love to have him back in MLS, and I think that feeling is mutual,” Gazidis said. “We have a great deal of respect and regard for Jorge. If the timing was right, he could return, but I don’t see it happening this year.” . . . Former Galaxy winger Harut Karapetyan has been signed by San Jose, which acquired him from Kansas City for a third-round draft selection in 2001.
