Country’s Gain Is Galaxy’s Loss
Flag-waving being the order of the day, this is hardly the time to raise the club-versus-country issue, but Major League Soccer makes it inescapable.
Tonight, before the Fourth of July fireworks at the Home Depot Center, the Galaxy plays the New England Revolution in what normally would have been one of the red-circled games on the MLS calendar.
Between them, the clubs feature four of the top 10 goal scorers in the league this season in Pat Noonan (eight goals, one assist), Clint Dempsey (six goals, seven assists), Landon Donovan (six goals, four assists) and Taylor Twellman (six goals, three assists).
But only Twellman will be playing tonight.
The other three are with the U.S. national team that begins play Wednesday in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a 12-nation tournament that runs through July 24 in six U.S. cities.
New England is losing five players to the Gold Cup. The Galaxy is losing four.
In all, there are 27 MLS players who will miss anywhere between one and four games for their club teams while playing for their national teams.
This is on top of all the time they have to spend away from their MLS clubs while involved in 2006 World Cup qualifying games this year.
Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson says it is high time that MLS addresses the problem.
“I personally believe that our league is in a position right now where we don’t have to continue playing league games when our national team is playing matches,” he said Sunday.
“I believe the league and the sport is on enough solid footing that you could take a week- or two-week break and not have it impact the league. That’s my personal belief. Now, I’m sure the league office might disagree with that.
“I think players want to be available for the national team. They want to be able to give 100% when they’re with their club. But when you look at the schedule, it makes it very difficult for the guys who are consistently getting national-team play to be at their best for their club, and vice versa.
“It’s impacting both sides.”
It’s also having an effect on MLS fans, who are regularly being deprived of seeing the best players. Tonight’s game is a perfect example.
“It diminishes the product on the field for people who are paying good money to come watch,” Sampson said. “And -- let’s be honest and blunt about this -- coaches are being evaluated by results, and fans, the management, the press, I don’t think they really care how they [coaches] get the results just as long as they get the results.
“You take the top four or five players off our team and it’s a different team.”
Until all MLS teams have their own stadiums and can switch to a winter season -- the league’s long-term goal -- the solution could be for MLS to either take a break during international tournaments or, in some cases, for the United States to field second-string teams.
“We had the same issues in Costa Rica,” said Sampson, a former U.S. and Costa Rica national team coach, “and the resolution was that the federation would use the Gold Cup to look at younger players and second-tier players.
“I believe that kind of agreement would fit both the [U.S.] federation’s needs and [U.S. Coach] Bruce Arena’s needs. There’s no reason, in my opinion, why the top, top American players need to be playing in the Gold Cup.”
Sampson also said he would like to see the Gold Cup held every four years, not two, but realizes finances dictate the scheduling.
“Economics is driving it,” he said. “And in the end I think it’s the players who end up getting the wrong end of it. They’re the ones who end up getting injured because of all the soccer they’re playing.
“But the issue gets back to, does the league feel that you can have a two- or three-week absence of games and still survive economically and being out of the newspapers and out of the public eye?
“I believe it can.”
GALAXY TONIGHT
vs. New England, 7, FSNW2
Site -- Home Depot Center.
Radio -- 830, 1540.
Records -- Galaxy 7-5-3, Revolution 9-1-4.
Record vs. Revolution (2004) -- 1-1.
Update -- Because Guatemala and Jamaica will play their first two Gold Cup games in Los Angeles, they allowed the Galaxy to keep Guillermo “Pando” Ramirez and Tyrone Marshall for tonight’s game before they join their national teams. The Galaxy asked U.S. Coach Bruce Arena to release Landon Donovan for the game, but Arena declined, saying he would then also have to release New England’s Pat Noonan, Clint Dempsey and Steve Ralston. Arena did release Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis, meaning Reis will start against former Galaxy teammate Kevin Hartman. Galaxy forward Jovan Kirovski is questionable because of an injury, and midfielder Ned Grabavoy is expected to be the playmaker in the absence of Donovan and Kirovski.
