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New England Rising In The East As Favourites Fade Elsewhere

Compiled by Gavin Willacy

THE excitement continued in MLS this week with goals galore and more unpredictable results. If betting on soccer was big in the US, the bookies would have a field day as few favourites are fulfilling their expectations. While DC United have finally snapped out of their spring misery - once they had a free midweek they arrested the slide - they remain bottom of the Eastern Division. Last year's play-off contenders Dallas Burn and Columbus Crew are both struggling and Los Angeles Galaxy, last year's runners-up and early-season pace-setters, have stopped winning.

Dallas, much like a bowl of their shirt sponsors Kelloggs' Frosted Flakes, tend to start off crisp and sparkling but soon turn into a soggy mess. Despite playing some of the best football in MLS - for the first half-hour at DC last week they were superb with quick passing and movement superior to anything seen in thre league all season - but they find themselves bottom of the Central Division with just four wins. An away record of played six, lost six, doesn't help - will they win away before defender Ricardo Iribarren's hair reaches his waist?

Jason Kreis, reigning 365 MLS Player Of The Year, can't be blamed for the Dallas demise: he's scored eight goals and set up seven more, a record which meant he missed last Saturday's home defeat by the improving Tampa Bay Mutiny because he was at the Nike US Cup with the national team.

In the USA's 4-0 hammering of South Africa at Washington's RFK Stadium on Saturday, Kreis came on as sub for Cobi Jones to become the ninth MLS player to see action. Jones was the star man though, scoring twice in the first half and also being involved in both second half goals. DC's Jeff Agoos received his 100th cap, the fifth American to do so, on Saturday and Jones should progress from his current 127 - one behind all-time most-capped player Marcelo Balboa - to set an unbeatable tally, leaving Galaxy team-mate Paul Caligiuri (110) and Miami Fusion striker Eric Wynalda (106) way behind.

While LA's Luis Hernandez - without a goal in three games at the club - is expected to play for Mexico against the USA and South Africa, having missed the 2-2 draw with the Republic of Ireland, the only other MLS player on show at the Nike Cup is South Africa Ivan McKinley. The New England Revolution midfielder will be frustrated at lasting just 33 minutes against the hosts but can take some consolation in his club's incredible turnaround under new boss Fernando Clavijo, the former USA international.

They beat those depleted-but-pesky upstarts from Miami on Saturday to remain top of the East but need to keep their foot on the gas to get a play-off place, something that was beyond them last season. Presuming the Fusion and MetroStars win their games in hand, the Revs would be clinging on. They were surprise early leaders, but don't put your house on seeing them in MLS Cup 2000.

"We've not been playing well but we've been winning," midfielder Paul Keegan admitted to Football365. "People thought we'd get annihilated this year. We lost Joe-Max Moore, who was a good player who worked hard and was well respected. He's done well at Everton but he didn't get much service here and dropped back to try to create something. But coach (Fernando) Clavijo has brought in some new players and Wolde Harris seems to have a new lease of life - he was crap for three weeks, scored a goal and suddenly became the skilful, strong striker he can be."

Given they have few stars and have just traded two defenders, USA veteran Mike Burns and 1996 MLS All-Star Dan Calichman, for one, San Jose Earthquakes' Costa Rican international Mauricio Wright - "he's good but I don't know if he's worth the two players we’ve lost" pondered Keegan - it's pretty amazing that a team without a single current US international can be top of the table. So what's Clavijo's secret?

"He doesn't coach as much as the previous coaches did," explained Keegan, the Dubliner who played for St Patrick's Athletic before taking up a scholarship at Boston. "He just lets us play. We had too much tactical stuff with Walter Zenga. I prefer somewhere in between the two. Fernando has played here for a long time and knows all about the players. Frank Stapleton (Keegan and the Revs first boss) was great but he knew no-one and it was the same with Walter - plus he found it harder to communicate, being Italian and in goal!"

One problem the departure of Burns did bring to the club was that it left them with no locals in the squad whatsoever.

"I feel like I'm the Massachussetts man here," joked Keegan, who represents that huge Irish population around Boston. "It's tough because the league wants to do well as a business but you need locals involved to connect with the people. That's why I disagreed with letting Mike Burns go.

"It's harder with the draft system here instead of apprenticeships and reserve teams - they could get more local college players but you can only have 20 players on the team so they don't want to waste a spot on young players. We have one player who went straight from high school to Project-40 (a youth development collective) - Jamar Beasly - but he's from Indiana!"


NOSTALGIA CORNER
24 Years Ago This Week... a 20-year-old Liverpudlian called Tommy Tynan scored his first NASL goal for Dallas Tornado in a 2-0 win at St Louis Stars.

It had taken him nine games to break his duck. He went on to become an absolute legend in Plymouth, smashing all goalscoring records for the Pilgrims. You'd never have guessed after he notched only twice in 17 appearances for Dallas. And who said American soccer was a piece of cake?

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News 5
Wednesday 07 June 2000

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