Power Brokers Still Rule U.S. Scene
Two bits of news in the last few days underline that soccer in this country is controlled by an elite few whose roles and titles may change but whose grip on power remains firm.
Consider:
* Alan Rothenberg of Brentwood, former president of U.S. Soccer and founder of Major League Soccer, was named chairman of a new multinational company that, in its words, “will be the definitive online network for the world’s billions of soccer fans.”
* One-time Marina del Rey resident Sunil Gulati, former deputy commissioner of MLS and a narrow loser in the race for U.S. Soccer’s vice presidency, was named managing director of Kraft Soccer Properties.
Throw into the mix Hank Steinbrecher, U.S. Soccer’s executive director, and you have a trio of men who, for 15 years or more, have been at the forefront of the sport’s move to prominence in the U.S.
All three can claim some of the glory for the success of the soccer tournaments of the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games, the 1994 World Cup and the 1999 Women’s World Cup.
All three cannot claim they have not benefited financially. It has been a rewarding ride, and now it continues.
Rothenberg’s latest venture might be his most ambitious. Selling the American public on the game is child’s play compared to grabbing and keeping the attention of the planet’s soccer populace. But that’s exactly what Goal Media Group Inc., the company he now chairs, will be trying to do.
Abandoning modesty, the company says it plans to launch a “global soccer Web site” on Nov. 15.
According to the Goal Media Group, the site-- https://www.goalnetwork.com--
will offer “match results, news, exclusive stories and feature coverage from a worldwide network of top international soccer journalists [and] will also feature the world’s largest online store for soccer merchandise, online auctions of soccer memorabilia [as well as] community services, including message boards, chat and free home pages and e-mail accounts.”
And the founders of this venture?
One is Clive Toye, the former British journalist who is best known on this side of the Atlantic as the man who brought Pele to play in the United States. That was in the 1970s, when Toye was president of the New York Cosmos. Rothenberg, of course, was in charge of a rival NASL team, the Los Angeles Aztecs.
The other name is less familiar. Craig Stoehr is co-founder and chief executive officer of the Goal Media Group. He might be better known in Los Angeles, however, as a former attorney at Latham & Watkins, the same L.A. firm in which Rothenberg is a partner.
There are those who argue that soccer will never make it in the U.S. There are others, like Rothenberg, who smile and continue about their business, having proven for the better part of a quarter-century that, through soccer, they can make it very well, thank you.
GULATI REDUX
Eight months after being ousted as deputy commissioner of MLS--and only a matter of weeks after the man who ousted him was himself shown the door--Sunil Gulati is back in the fold.
Robert and Jonathan Kraft, the father-and-son owners of the New England Revolution and San Jose Clash, have achieved something of a coup by bringing Gulati back into a league where he once wielded so much power that it eventually led to his firing by then-commissioner Doug Logan.
Brian O’Donovan, the Revolution’s chief operating officer, described Gulati’s hiring as “a huge leap forward.” Of course, he couldn’t have said much else considering Gulati will be his boss.
“This is a move that we had dreamed about during the season-- that we would get somebody with Sunil’s connections to help us change our course from being a team that has succeeded so much off the field but has had such difficulty getting a competitive product on the field,” O’Donovan said.
New England has averaged 19,092 fans a game during its four seasons (16,735 in 1999) but is only 53-75 overall (12-20 in ‘99) and has failed to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
Gulati will have control of all soccer matters for both clubs, as well as exploring new soccer ventures for the Krafts, including possibly fielding teams in the A-League and the forthcoming women’s professional league.
His immediate concern, however, is rebuilding the Revolution.
Both the Clash and the Revolution fired their coaches near the end of the regular season. San Jose dropped former U.S. national team midfielder Brian Quinn and hired former Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander in his stead.
The Revolution got rid of former Italian World Cup star Walter Zenga--a fine goalkeeper but a lousy coach--and is searching for a replacement.
“The qualities we will look for are pretty straightforward,” Gulati said. “Ideally, it’s somebody who’s got great experience with American players--and by that I mean knowledge of and mentality of--and ideally it’s someone who’s got some experience with professional players.”
Former Liverpool player Steve Nicol had charge of the Revolution for its final few games after Zenga left, but his lack of experience with American players counts against him.
Signing a college head coach is a possibility. MLS assistants are another possibility. There are former MLS coaches available, such as former Columbus Crew coach Timo Liekoski or former Galaxy coach Octavio Zambrano.
But here is another scenario: What if the Krafts put a lucrative contract on the table for the most successful coach in U.S. soccer history? The sort of offer that is impossible to refuse.
What if they go after two-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist Tony DiCicco?
WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
Necaxa, the Mexican club that won the CONCACAF (now the Football Confederation) club championship in Las Vegas last month, was drawn to play Manchester United of England, Vasco da Gama of Brazil, and South Melbourne of Australia in Group B of the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship to be played in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo Jan. 5-14.
Group A will consist of Real Madrid of Spain, Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia, Corinthians of Brazil, and the eventual winner of the African championship, which won’t be known until December. The winners of the two groups will meet in the final in Rio on Jan. 14.
Michael Zen Ruffinen, FIFA’s general secretary, said at the draw in Rio that FIFA wants to make the world club championship an annual event and that future tournaments might involve as many as 16 clubs.
USA WOMEN
The reigning Olympic and world champion U.S. women’s national team, having ended its outdoor season with a 25-2-2 record after beating Brazil last Sunday for the U.S. Women’s Cup title, now embarks on a 12-game indoor tour. Then DiCicco--or whoever the coach might be--will gather a much-enlarged squad in Florida to begin preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
EURO 2000
World champion France and European champion Germany head a list of 12 countries that have reached next summer’s European Championship, to be played in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the final round of qualifying, Italy, Romania, Portugal and Yugoslavia joined previously qualified Norway, Sweden, Spain and the Czech Republic in next year’s tournament, along with the co-hosts.
Eight countries advanced to a playoff for the last four berths. The draw, held in Aachen, Germany, yielded the following matches: Scotland-England, Israel-Denmark, Slovenia-Ukraine, and Ireland-Turkey.
The games will be played as home-and-home series Nov. 13, 14 and 17.
PORTUGAL 2004
With the next European Championship still eight months away, UEFA officials named Portugal as host of the tournament, in 2004.
The Portuguese, who have never staged such an important event, defeated a bid by Spain and a joint Austria-Hungary bid.
“I always had a feeling we could do it,” said Portugal’s most famous player, Eusebio. “I feel like I did when Benfica won the European Cup in 1962 and I scored twice. Portugal is a small country, but everyone loves football.”
Portugal will hold the tournament in eight cities: Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Faro/Loule, Guimaraes and Leiria, and will spend about $500 million on stadium building and renovation.
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FIFA Rankings
In the latest FIFA rankings of the world’s 203 national teams, the United States dropped two places to No. 22 as Scotland broke into the top 20. Mexico, meanwhile, maintained its top-10 position.
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No. (Previous) Country Pts 1. (1) Brazil 839 2. (2) Czech Republic 771 3. (3) France 768 4. (4) Spain 767 5. (5) Germany 734 6. (6) Croatia 726 7. (9) Norway 716 8. (7) Argentina 713 8. (10) Romania 713 10. (8) Italy 709 10. (10) Mexico 709 12. (12) England 688 13. (13) Portugal 686 14. (15) Sweden 677 15. (17) Yugoslavia 669 16. (14) Netherlands 664 17. (16) Denmark 660 18. (18) Paraguay 647 19. (19) Russia 639 20. (28) Scotland 630 21. (21) Slovakia 625 22. (20) United States 621 23. (24) Chile 618 23. (26) Ukraine 618 25. (26) Austria 616 25. (23) Colombia 616 27. (24) Israel 614 28. (21) Morocco 613 29. (31) South Africa 594 30. (37) Greece 591
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