Ready or Not, Here He Comes
With Brad Friedel of the Blackburn Rovers choosing to concentrate on preparing for the 2002 English Premier League season that opens Aug. 18 and Tony Meola of the Kansas City Wizards sidelined by injury, the United States national team needs a backup goalkeeper to Kasey Keller.
Coach Bruce Arena this week turned to Major League Soccer for help, inviting the Columbus Crew’s Tom Presthus and the Miami Fusion’s Nick Rimando into training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in advance of Sunday’s World Cup qualifying game against Mexico in Mexico City.
Rimando, the former UCLA goalkeeper from Montclair, was an excellent choice, said Miami Coach Ray Hudson, whose team has a league-best 10-1-2 record.
But is the 22-year-old Rimando ready to make the huge jump to the international level should Keller be injured?
“He better be ready, otherwise it would be kind of stupid for me to have him in here, right?” Arena told the Miami Herald.
Hudson was more effusive about the youngster with a 0.91 goals-against average, second-best in MLS.
“He’s been spectacular,” Hudson said. “He pulls off unbelievable saves. He’s grown more dominant. He’s grown more commanding. That part of it is still developing.
“Is he the finished product? Probably not. But the wealth of talent that’s in his entire body is purely natural talent. Arena sees this.”
Hudson added that Rimando inspires confidence in the Fusion.
“The players love him,” Hudson said. “He comes through when we’ve dropped our guard. When [opposing teams] have the goal at their mercy, Nick has come through and denied them, game in and game out.”
Although Hudson stressed that Rimando needs to be brought along slowly with the national team, it’s obvious he feels the young goalkeeper will do all right if called upon.
A New Dir-ection
For five years, Dave Dir was coach of the Dallas Burn, never failing to take the team to the MLS playoffs.
That wasn’t enough to save his job, however, and, while waiting for the next coaching position to come along, as it surely will, Dir became an online columnist for the league at https://MLSnet.com.
Now he has embarked on another career--in-studio analyst for MLS ExtraTime, the league’s weekly highlights and behind-the-scenes show that made its second-season debut Monday night on ESPN2.
Dir replaced Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas as sidekick to host Rob Stone, and while the chemistry is not quite the same, the show has lost little of the edge that made it a hit with soccer fans last year.
Such a Deal
Carlos Valderrama, the 1996 MLS most valuable player, was traded to the Colorado Rapids by the Tampa Bay Mutiny in a five-player transaction.
The 39-year-old Colombian midfielder, who in January signed a multiyear contract, was sent to the Rapids with goalkeeper Scott Garlick and defender Ritchie Kotschau for goalkeeper Adin Brown, defender Scott Vermillion and the Rapids’ first-round selection in the 2002 draft. Vermillion subsequently was traded to Washington D.C. United for defender Eric Denton.
Colorado is the third team for Valderrama, one of the most recognized players in the league for his flowing hairstyle. Valderrama twice this year has been red-carded for spitting at opponents.
Quoteworthy
Rapid Coach Tim Hankinson, after acquiring Salvadoran striker Raul Diaz Arce, the second-leading goal scorer in MLS history, from D.C. United earlier this month:
“He’s a guy who basically sets up his espresso table inside the six-yard box and just waits for something to bounce off of him.”
Quick Passes
The Chicago Fire is considering building a 15,000- to 20,000-seat modular stadium alongside Arlington Park, the Chicago Tribune reported. Renovation to Soldier Field will force the Fire to find a new home in 2002. . . . According to the Tribune, John Kluge and Stuart Sabotnik, the investor-operators of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, are negotiating to build a 25,000-seat stadium at Aqueduct Racetrack. . . . Greg Andrulis, who became interim coach of the Columbus Crew after Tom Fitzgerald was fired May 17, likely will remain in charge through the end of the season. . . . The New England Revolution, which lost goalkeeper Jurgen Sommer to a season-ending injury, has acquired Jose Carlos “El Gato” Fernandez, Bolivia’s national team goalkeeper. . . . The MetroStars and Wizards will represent MLS in the 16-team Copa MercoNorte this fall. In the first round, New York/New Jersey will play Guadalajara (Mexico), Barcelona (Ecuador) and Sporting Cristal (Peru), while Kansas City will play Santos Laguna (Mexico), Millionarios (Colombia) and Deportivo Italchacao (Venezuela) in the home-and-home, round-robin series. Only group winners advance.
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MLS Cumulative Standings
If MLS were organized in a single division, this is what the standings would look like halfway through this season:
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Team W L T GF GA Pts Miami 10 1 2 31 12 32 San Jose 8 2 4 23 13 28 Galaxy 7 4 4 30 24 25 Chicago 6 3 3 19 13 21 N.Y./N. Jersey 6 5 3 19 18 21 Dallas 6 6 1 25 23 19 Columbus 4 4 4 18 19 16 Kansas City 5 8 1 15 28 16 Washington 5 8 0 24 24 15 New England 4 7 3 17 23 15 Colorado 2 8 4 18 26 10 Tampa Bay 3 10 1 19 35 10
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