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The team spent the day prior to the match exploring Kansas City, eating barbeque, shopping on the Plaza or gambling at the riverboats. I had family in the area, so I found myself renting a car and driving around most of the day in a vain attempt to visit everyone so that no one was offended. In short, I’m sure the players had a better day than I did. When I got back to Kansas City, I convened a staff meeting in my room at the Hay- the hotel across the street from Arrowhead Stadium where the Wizards play. Patronis informed me that Akwari, Maluleke and EJ were better off not starting. In their place went Huff, Chung and Karbasslyoon respectively. Ozimek would replace the injured Reyna and Thornton was tapped for goal. We decided that the bench would be Cunningham, Jim Johnson, Walsh, Akwari and White. Last decision of the night was to name Juskowaik the captain for the match.

August 22- San Jose at Kansas City.

The Kansas City night was in the 60’s which is incredibly cool for August. KC came out in a 442 with an attacking mentality, or at least that’s what the announcers claimed. If they were attacking, I wasn’t seeing it. They would bring the ball up and then turn it over to us in midfield. Not that we have much room to talk either. Our offense was just as anemic and we too seemed perfectly happy to play in midfield. Both teams only had 2 shots on goal, though KC won the possession battle. In short though it was not a great half of soccer and the 20255 fans voiced their displeasure as the teams left the pitch at the half.

The second half started as a carbon copy of the first. Neither team seemed willing to attack much. On 58 I subbed in Daniels for Davis, who had let a yellow card affect his play; I also told my team to quit pressing. The way things were going, we were going to need our energy for overtime. After the sub, KC started to coordinate their attack and put lots of pressure on Thornton, but the veteran held fast. On 72 I put in Jim Johnson for Chung. By this time we had turned the attacking tide to our favor and were pelting the KC defense and Jordan who stubbornly held on. KC went to a less frenetic pace so they could better cope with the pressure and I decided, since the momentum was going our way, to attack and to pass directly to our forwards. Still Matt Jordan continued to hold us off, playing like MJ. He was making spectacular save after save, showing why the Wizards had signed him from the A-League at midseason. Finally, when Juskowaik hit a fierce shot that Jordan somehow managed to deflect behind him, we got a corner. In the ensuing corner, Daniels sent it in and Paule out jumped everyone, including Jordan, to head the ball into the top corner. We ran out the last few minutes and emerged victorious 1-0. It was a lucky break for us and a nice reminder to the players that set-pieces are important. Matt Jordan got the consolation prize of the MOM for a truly outstanding performance. Had the KC offense not been so bad, he could have guided them to victory. As it was, we turned our thoughts to our next game, which was August 24 at home against Colorado in the Open Cup Semifinal.

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On the 23rd Patronis and I met as usual to discuss lineup and tactical concerns. By now the season had become a true grind, with games scheduled every 2 days or so. For a sport as dependent on constant energy expenditure, this meant we had some very tired payers. This game was not going to be any different. The lineup changes we made were a bit sweeping, but this was the Open Cup, not the league. Yes, I had thought the Open Cup was important as a means for entering international competitions, but now, in the heat of unrelenting fixture pressure, I could have cared less. I was more concerned with the health of my players than one damn game. In the end Patronis and I settled on these departures from the usual lineup. White would get the start in goal, Guilano (Lb) Jolly (Rb) Huff (DC, Salinas) Dartt (CMC) Joseph (RMC) and Cunningham (SC). In Cunningham taking the place of Juskowaik. The subs would be Beech, Chung, Paule, Pierce, and Thornton. I was merely hoping to get the game out of the way. I didn’t really care who won, though I was careful not to let the players know that. You never want to give the players a reason to get down on themselves. Professional athletes, like most human beings, are prone to depression and believing that they can’t do something. Tell them they’ll lose and they’ll believe you. Tell them they can win and they won’t believe you. You’re cursed either way. So, the best thing to do is to stay positive, never an easy thing to do.

August 24 was a nice day in San Jose. The players seemed ready to play as the teams kicked off at 7:00 pm. Prior to the game I had told the starters not to bother pressing or using the offside trap. Neither tactic had eorked in our last game against Colorado. Besides, a cobbled lineup would have trouble executing the trap with any deficiency. For their part Colorado came out with the same 3-5-2 with normal tempo that had served them so well in their win against us. But today was a new game. Both teams seemed tired and irritated. It seemed everyone on the pitch would have rather been in the nearest bar downing a beer. The lack of concentration proved fatal to Colorado first as on 23 wingback Corrales deflected a clearance back into his own net, giving us a 1-0 lead. Across the pitch I could see Colorado’s manager, Tim Hankinson fuming. I felt a twinge of sympathy, there’s not much one can do when all your players are acting like zombies and you only have three subs. Colorado’s play continued to deteriorate. By halftime they had largely given up trying to shoot. They had one shot all half. As a result, we were controlling the ball and the game. We were in no particular hurry ourselves, not really bothering to attack. We were happy to play at midfield, though since we were ahead, our concentration had sharpened quite a bit.

The second half began with Colorado finally starting to attack, but they remained punch less and devoid of any cohesiveness. But then again San Jose didn’t have much room to talk either. We weren’t really playing all that hard. On 64, Maluleke showed why he had played for the South African national side. From midfield he went on one of the most amazing runs I have ever witnessed as a coach. He bobbed and weaved through the crowd at midfield, sped into the area with most of the Colorado team in hot pursuit like a line of Keystone Kops and then found himself one on one with defender Joe Enoch. Enoch moved up to stop Maluleke who paused in his run, waited for Enoch to commit, then crossed the ball over on his feet, and broke Enoch’s ankles. Blowing by the faked Enoch, Maluleke launched a left footed volley that found the net. San Jose 2, Colorado 0. The game was over with 25 left to play, but I wanted to ensure our win. I subbed in Pierce for Maluleke and moved Pierce to a DMC position. I also subbed in Chung for Joseph. Having done that, I ordered Pierce to man mark Colorado’s AMC Kingsley, told Huff to mark Daley and told Akwari and Guilano to double team Zizi Roberts. My last instructions were to play defensively and put a man behind ball. All this defensive scheming might be called overkill, but I did not want to lose this game. I knew the complex and new instructions would keep my team focused and check Colorado in disarray. The smothering did the trick and Colorado quit. Oddly though, given the mentality and the fact that we were not counter attacking, Cunningham took a Chung cross as time expired and slotted it past Cannon to make the final score 3-0. The near capacity crowd of 19, 151 seemed thrilled that we had gotten our invite to the last dance in this Cup. That game would be held at the Rose Bowl in LA about a week after the MLS final. After the match, Maluleke was named MOM for his highlight reel run. We all went out for beers afterward, not knowing of the controversy that was about to engulf us….

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August 26, Transcript of a telephone conversation between Gus Coleman and the US Soccer Association.

Coleman dialed the number with shaking fingers. He was concerned that the schedule sheet was a typo. It couldn’t be. No organizing body would do such a thing. The phone rang once and was picked up, a pleasant female voice answered brightly.

Melanie: US Soccer Association scheduling office, my name is Melanie. How may I help you?

Gus: Hi Melanie, I need to speak with Mr. Tarter, the head of your office.

Melanie: I’m sorry sir; Mr. Tarter is very busy at the moment. May I take a message?

Gus: Look, I know you’re required to say Mr. Tarter is busy, that’s standard office procedure, but I need to speak to Mr. Tarter immediately, it’s an urgent matter.

Melanie: Sir, if you leave a message, Mr. Tarter will get back with you as soon as he can. What’s your name sir?

Gus: Ma’am my name is Gus Coleman and I manage the San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS. We have a problem that needs to be resolved immediately. When I say that this is a matter of urgency I am not joking. My player’s health is at stake. Can you please put your boss on the line? I swear I’ll never bother you again Melanie if you do me this favor.

Melanie: Ok Mr. Coleman, just a moment please and I’ll connect you. *Places Coleman on hold- forcing him to listen to 10 minutes of Muzak while presumably arguing with Mr. Tarter.*

Tater: Dan Tarter speaking, how may I help you Mr. Coleman?

Gus: Mr. Tarter, according to the revised schedule your office sent out last month, you have scheduled us for a doubleheader tomorrow. Is that correct?

Tarter: That is correct.

Gus: Well, can you change it? Soccer ain’t baseball, can’t play a doubleheader would be uncompetitive and unfair.

Tarter: Mr. Coleman we cannot change our schedule just to suit an individual manager’s needs.

Gus: Sir, we have 6 games scheduled for tomorrow afternoon but only one in the evening San Jose vs. LA. Tell me, how is that fair?

Tarter: *in an icy tone* Mr. Coleman, the issue is not fairness; the issue is when we can schedule games. That game cannot fit anywhere else. In addition, LA must play Colorado in Denver in the afternoon and then fly out to San Jose for the evening game.” You are at home for both games, you can hardly complain.

Gus: I can complain because your office has been scheduling games every two days it seems. Asking my players to play in two games in one day, given that they are tired already, is asking for trouble, and endangering the health of my players. Furthermore, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage, as I cannot field a fit squad.

Tarter: That’s your problem not mine. I do not care about the condition of your players. O care about the fact that the season must end in early September so that the playoffs may conclude in early Oct. The two games will stay as is.

Gus: If any of my players get hurt, I’ll file a lawsuit.

Tarter: By all means do so, however you will find that as a private organization, the league has the sole authority to schedule matches as it deems fit. Members who disagree may leave the league. Somehow I doubt Mr. Jamison would permit that. Thank you and good luck tomorrow. *hangs up*

I slumped in my chair. This season was turning into a conditioning nightmare already, but here we were, required to play back to back games. This would have been fine at the beginning of the year when the backups to the regulars were fresh, but now, no one was fresh. As Tarter had said, we could like it or lump it. We had no choice but to play the league mandated schedule. I could resign, but if I did that, then I would be unemployed and I wasn’t sire if I could land another job. Sighing at the state of American soccer leadership, I set to work figuring out a lineup for the doubleheader. Problem was no one was fit. We were going to have a difficult time tomorrow. The USSA had caved to polecat pressure not to play games while Columbus represented the league in the World Club championship and while the national team played in the Confederations Cup. Now we personally were reaping the seeds of that break. Damn MLS. I wanted out. At least the English set aside time for their cups and had consistent scheduling. But the time to leave hadn’t arrived just yet. I needed another job before I could leave, and none were available yet. Gritting my teeth, I set to work.

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The First of Two Games that were played on August 27

The players were just as unhappy about the doubleheader as I was. No one wanted to play this game, let alone two, but there was nothing they could do about it. Perhaps that explained the cynical and bitter feeling as the players left the locker room after practice was complete on the evening of August 26. As usual the staff stayed behind to consult with me on the lineup and tactical questions. This evening’s meeting was grim. As I had repeatedly pointed out, our players were tired and stretched to the breaking point already. If we played this kind of schedule for much longer, our players were going to start succumbing to injuries and with the backups not being as reliable, that could cause competitive problems. In sports, you can’t turn chickenshit to chicken salad. Furthermore, none of the coaches had ever had to prepare for two games in one day. With an already unfit squad, how do you manage two games without causing injury? In true coach mode, we decided to play the games one at a time. We would prepare for Kansas City in the afternoon and then prepare for the evening game against Los Angles. We then started to comb through the squad for the lineup. Eventually, we decided that the lineup changes would be: Thornton in goal. David Johnson at LMC, Chung at AMC and Beech at SC (EJ) The bench would be: EJ, Maluleke, Davis, Huff and White. Akwari would serve as the captain for the game. We felt that a lineup with most of the regulars would stand a good chance of winning at least one game on the day. We were uneasy however; this was virgin territory that probably hadn’t been an issue professionally since the 19th century.

The next afternoon was a hot one in the high 80’s. Nature had decided to be cruel to us as well. Still, I thought we might yet survive the day. A small crowd of only 14,000 had come to the afternoon match. Apparently the ticket and promotion offices had decided against issuing doubleheader passes. Therefore, most people were waiting to come to the evening match. I can’t say I blamed them; for the first time all year, I was really sweating. The game kicked off promptly at 1:00pm. Kansas City came out in an attacking 442 with defensive mentality and counter attack. Our players must have still been angry about the doubleheader news because they were not sharp. KC was controlling the ball and tempo at will. We would go up the pitch only to set up a lackluster attempt to attack; then KC would steal the ball and counter attack with vigor. It was no surprise then that they finally scored. Wode Harris on 21 sprinted downfield and took a Klein cross from the right and slotted it home to give KC the 1-0 lead. The rest of the half was an exercise in frustration for me as I stormed the sidelines. Our forwards, Juskowaik and Beech were being marked out of the game and KC was winning three quarters of the headers. A supremely confident KC and an extremely despondent San Jose team went to the locker-room at the half.

At halftime I took off Akwari, who was having a horrible game, for Huff and made Juskowaik the captain. As the teams assembled on the pitch for the second half, I told the team not to bother with the off-side trap, which had been largely ineffective. I told them to attack and to pass directly to other teammates. For their part, Kansas City stuck with what had worked for them in the first half, with one exception. They began to play at a more normal pace, no doubt hoping to secure the second goal that would break our back. Nothing we did seemed to help us. In fact, things got worse. In the previous half we had at least managed to get into the KC area. Now we seemed unable to get the ball out of our area. Kansas City’s players merely watched us struggle, content to let us hang ourselves. Over on the sidelines I was, quite literally, spitting mad. I was spaying tobacco juice everywhere in an attempt to articulate my rage at the players. I suppose in retrospect, that we were due for a bad game, but that fact still didn’t make losing any easier. On 78, desperate to get something going, I subbed in EJ for Beech and Maluleke for Chung. I also told the team to start punting the ball up field, reasoning that if the players couldn’t get into the KC area, the ball might, at least, make a token appearance. Whether it was the subs, the switch in tactics, or the lateness of the game, something clicked. On 80 we roared down the pitch and got a corner. Walsh, who if nothing else, is good at corners, sent a ball in from the right flag that hung in the air waiting for someone to jump for it. Huff out jumped everyone and headed the ball in to make the score 1-1. With a sigh of relief, I began thinking about overtime as both teams began attacking in the hopes of winning the game. With 30 seconds left, Harris, showing the poise that befits a veteran international, took advantage of a poor Thornton rebound and buried it to give KC the 2-1 win. For his efforts, Harris was named the MOM. For my part, I retreated to my office to plan for the evening game.

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The second game of the day.

Immediately after the afternoon game, the coaches and I ordered takeout and set to work for the evening game against LA. We had heard that LA was going to start their usual lineup, and that put us in a quandary. Do we start the guys we started in the first game and risk injuring them or do we play fresh third stringers? In the end, I decided to start the third stringers, figuring that they would be more energetic than tired players. So, we decided on White, Guilano, Jolly, Huff, Akwari, Jeff Johnson, Keenan, Ozimek, Delao, Karbasslyoon and Cunningham to take the field. The bench was the same as the KC game subs had been. They might be able to provide a late game spark.

At 7:00pm, the lineup took the field for the pregame warm-ups. Indeed, LA had decided to start their best, no matter how tired they were from their flight from Denver. They did look tired, but were also fairly sharp in the warups. The hot afternoon had given way to a balmy evening, so heat was not going to be a factor. The teams kicked off at 8:00pm and Los Angles revealed that they were gong to play an attacking 442 at a normal pace. I had told my side to attack and not to worry about the offside trap. But all thoughts of tactics and nuances went out of my head in a hurry as Victorine scored twice, on crossed headers, in the first 20 minutes. Before I could even begin to swear, on 27 our left back Guillano headed in a corner to make it 2-1. But Victorine and Albright added goals on 32 and 40 respectively to make it 4-1 LA. White, our 19 yr. old phenom was having a truly atrocious game. I decided to leave him out there as a character-building exercise. From what I could tell of the tape on White, he had never really struggled at this level. Oh sure, he might have had a bad game or two playing high school basketball or something, but that wasn’t his sport and so don’t count. White had breezed through high school soccer and had signed as a 15 yr old while attending high school. He had never had a bad game coming up through our system and so, now was the moment he finally got his ass kicked. Every athlete goes through it and White would simply have to endure it. I sat on the bench, tucked a chaw into my cheek and stared out at the field. This was the point were I couldn’t do a thing for the team. They would have to dig themselves out of the deep hole.

The second half began with LA going into defensive mode and man behind the ball. Not that I blamed them. They wanted the game over as much as I did. I began the half sitting on the bench and staring at the field when suddenly, on 60 something happened. Karbasslyoon scored on a header. Then five minutes later, he scored again, driving the ball low to make the score 4-3. We were in a ballgame. I sprang to my feet and started moving up and down the sideline. LA quickly reverted to their first half strategy. I sent in Maluleke for Delao and Davis for Jeff Johnson, hoping to turn the shift of momentum permanently in our favor. However Victorine was in rare form and on 81 he sealed his MOM award by scoring his fourth goal of the day to make it 5-3 LA. In sheer frustration at losing twice in one day, Keenan shoved Albright on 88 and was duly ejected from the proceedings. The near capacity crowd of 19161 was left disappointed and voiced their displeasure as the final horn sounded.

The double loss meant that LA, who had swept their day, was only three points behind us in the division standings. To make things worse, we had a game in Miami to go to in three days. No rest for the wary it seems.

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On Aug 29, the rookie dinner for the midfield was held at a local high-class steakhouse. The concept of the rookie dinner is very simple. The youngest members of a position, in this case, midfield and forwards, buy dinner for the elder statesmen at that position. It’s a way to build camaraderie among old and young, and is an American sports. Tonight, it was the two youngest members of the midfield/forwards- 17 yr. old Jim Johnson and 18 yr old Jeremy Joseph buying dinner for Claudio Reyna 34, Andrezj Juskowaik 34, and Jeff Johnson 31. The evening was lively as the pitchers of beer were slowly drained. The party was in a backroom, so no restaurant personnel could see that Joseph and Jim Johnson were drinking just as much as their older counterparts. As usual, the conversation turned to the coaches and the manager Gus Coleman.

Jim-draining glass and reaching for the pitcher- I don’t get Coach Coleman. He never played soccer, so how can he understand what we young guys are going through? He works our asses off. I mean, he left Eric in all game two days ago. That’s bad for the dude’s confidence. He doesn’t get us.

Reyna- I’m a year younger than Coach, and I know he understands you better than you realize. Way back in ’89, when he graduated from high school, Coach was one of the top left-handed pitchers in high school baseball. All the scouts were raving about his mound presence, his stuff, and his nasty curveball- much like Barry Zito. Coach was drafted in the first round of the 89 draft and given a 2 million dollar signing bonus. He was a highly touted prospect.

Jeff- Yeah I remember that. I played baseball in the summers and I remember hearing about him and how damn good he was. What happened, it’s like he dropped off the sports planet.

Reyna- In a way he did Jeff. Gus played two years of minor league baseball before he blew out his elbow for good. He was also struggling at Double-A and decided that at 20, and independently wealthy, he needed to get on with his life. He retired from baseball.

Joseph- reaches for the pitcher to refill his glass, then handing the pitcher to Jeff – So how did he end up in soccer? Did he play in the summers or something?

Reyna- No he didn’t. He was too busy playing baseball and his high school didn’t have a soccer team. Gus’s first real exposure to soccer was in college. He went to a small liberal arts college in his native Missouri. I think he just watched a lot of soccer there between 90-91 and 94-95 when he graduated. He began absorbing the game and got his coaching license quickly.

Jeff- picking up story- He got a high school coaching job in Kentucky, where I’m from. His soccer teams won 3A state titles in 95 and 96. Then in 97 and 98 he coached Missouri University in division 1 college soccer.

Juskowaik- cutting in- And then he moved to San Jose in 99 as an asst. manager. That’s why he was hired as manager in 2002 and been the manger ever since.

Jim- Ok, but why won’t he play us? I mean, look at England; they play young guys like that Rooney guy. And it’s not fair that he plays White and lets me and Jeremy sit on the bench.

Jeff- before Reyna can respond- Look around you Jim. Where are most of the 16-22 yr olds playing? The A-league for peanuts. They are starting in a no-pressure situation. If you notice, most of those guys will develop their skills in that league till they’re 22 or 23 and then considered good enough to join MLS. You, Jim, were considered good enough to sign to the MLS while you’re high school. Gus wants to bring you along slowly. He knows you’re not ready for MLS ball just yet, but he figures if you get good coaching, you’ll be ready to contribute at 20 rather than 22 or 23.

Reyna- As I recall, White was signed during high school too. He’s spent two years backing up other goalkeepers and barely playing, just absorbing the knowledge of the coaches. This year he’s rotating with Thornton to gain more experience. Next year he’ll be named the starter at the age of 20. But he’ll be ready because of Gus’s incremental approach.

Juskowaik- Coach doesn’t want to rush you guys. He knows what hype and playing too early can do to a player. Be patient, your time will come.

Joseph- I suppose, but why leave Eric in the game, when he usually yanks the keeper in that situation?

Reyna- He wanted to test White. The kid hasn’t faced much adversity and Coach wanted to see how he’d react. He did hold up well in the second half.

Jim- I suppose, but let’s talk about other things. This conversation is getting depressing and boring. Tell me about playing soccer in Europe.

The five began to talk of other things. All in all it was a good evening for the players. A good time was had by all and the younger players finally understood why they weren’t playing more often- even in these schedule crunched days. After practice the next day, Reyna met me in my office to tell me how the dinner had gone. I chewed him out a bit. I did not want the players to find out about my brief baseball career. As far as I was convened, it was in a past I’d forgotten. Now all those old memories would come rushing back and I would become bitter again. You see, no one in professional baseball ever gave me the chance to coach or mange and they never said why. Perhaps it’s because left-handed pitchers have a tendency to be flaky. In soccer, at least in the US, everyone is flakey to a certain extent. I fit right in, and put in my coaching dues, now, the young kids would probably ask a lot of questions about it; questions I didn’t want to answer. Being a pro athlete is not a glamorous life. Most guys toil in anonymity. They show up for 8-10 hour practice sessions then go home and lead quiet lives. Guys like Beckham, Canseco, Iverson, and Moss, give the wrong impression of sports. I had the feeling that Jim Johnson, Jeremy Joseph, Carlos Jolly and Eric White, the teenagers at the club, were going to think minor-league baseball is thrilling, when it ain’t. Long hours spent traveling, practice, all to do something you love. It becomes a job like any other. Everything has its good and bad points. That was going to be my response if those players started to hero-worship. I didn’t say any of this to Reyna, but then, he understood. As he exited the office, I began to prepare for our August 31 match at Miami.

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My scheduled had been misprinted. Miami was coming to San Jose, not the other way around. On the 30th the staff and I had the usual lineup and tactics chat. Miami was a unique challenge. They were the worst team in the league and a glance at their roster showed why. Their two best players Dema Kovolenko and Ian Russell had been cast-off by their old teams. That meant ordinarily, they would be a reasonable bet to hand us a nasty surprise. But, we were coming off of two straight losses, so I doubted the guys would be complacent. With four days between tomorrow’s game and the doubleheader, we figured the entire regular starting lineup would be rested. Thornton would start in goal and Daniels would start at RMC. The bench would be comprised of Karbasslyoon, Jim Johnson, David Johnson, Huff and White. Akwari would captain the side.

The afternoon of the match was pleasantly in the 70’s. When the 1:00 pm kickoff commenced, Miami came out in a 442 with an attacking mentality. Two minutes into the game, we were awarded a left-side corner. Davis slung the ball in, Salinas got up in the air, beating his marker, and headed a laser beam into the top corner to give SJ the 1-0 lead. Having struck first, we settled down and concentrated on stopping Miami. Time and gain we pushed the ball into their zone, but made no real effort to finish. For their part, Miami was struggling on offense. They were having extreme difficulty getting the ball past midfield. It seemed that the staff and I had been right; after two straight defeats in our home pitch, we were concentrating on this game. Properly played, defense will always trump offense, and today was a masterful example. By the end of the half, Miami had zero shots for the day so far.

The second half began much like the first. Both teams exchanged possessions at midfield for the first 15 minutes. Then, on 60, Davis lofted a ball in that Maluleke headed in to seal the win for us as the score now stood 2-0 San Jose. Figuring the game won; on 68 I pulled Juskowaik and Maluleke and subbed in Karbasslyoon and Jim Johnson. After that, Miami started a comeback effort that culminated in a goal on 76 by Gretchka. He had hit a glancing header past Thornton off an impressive pass by Kovalenko. Kovalenko had run from midfield, faking out Paule, Salinas, Akwari and Salinas again to get space in which to deliver the pass. Inspired by this play, Miami began to confidently put pressure on our defense and Thornton. But, on 86, youth academy grad Jim Johnson put back his own rebound to make the score 3-1 San Jose. It was Johnson’s first career goal and the clear game winner. Davis won the MOM for his two nifty assists and general all-around performance. The 15,058 fans left the stadium feeling like their team had turned things around.

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Later that night we celebrated the winning of the division. LA, by drawing with Colorado, had given us the division crown with two games left in the regular season. The beer and Champaign flowed well into the night. Now it time to think about the playoffs and beyond. The coaching staff and I redoubled our efforts to preparing for the first round of the playoffs and the beginning of the international competitions that would begin in roughly two weeks. On September 1 we finalized a deal with Metrostars that would see Walsh joining them for $475,000. With Reyna signed through next year, Walsh was deemed expendable and now the Metrostars would have the headaches his erratic performances often caused. The deal would go through on January 5. 2006, the day the transfer window opened again for American clubs. The board held their monthly review on the evening of the first. They were “very pleased” with my August performance. It didn’t hurt that they appreciated making the playoffs and that the financial picture for the year was better than it had been. Thanks to the ongoing revenue from the Bocanegra sale, and a string of long-delayed home games, we were now in the black by nearly a half-million dollars. This news made Jamison particularly happy and he praised the austerity of the club. I didn’t have the heart to point out that I was paying on of my goalkeeper coaches $375,000 per year.

At any rate, my staff and I entered our pregame tactics and lineup discussion on the evening of the 2nd in good spirits. We would be playing DC United at home the next day. The coaches and I were in a bit of a sticky wicket, if I may mix my sports metaphors. On one hand, we were happy that the game had no pressure to it- it was more our less a glorified friendly to us. On the other hand, we didn’t want the players to get lazy or complacent with the playoffs and tough games still ahead. The question for the evening was which starters we would rest. No one really wanted to play our best players in the interest of keeping them healthy in the long term, but we were worried that if we held them out of both of the regular season games that were left, we would cause them to get stale. Inactivity is just as bad as over activity. Unfortunately, our schedule was still so crammed that there was no way we could rotate games and get everyone fit in time for the postseason. In the end we decided to rest the superstars for the regular season finals and hope they were still sharp when the games started to count again. An executive decision was reached to make Daniels the top starter at RMC until Reyna returned to action. Thus, in addition to some regulars, the lineup for the DC United game featured Guilano at left back in place of Pierce; David Johnson for Brad Davis at LMC and Karbasslyoon for EJ. White took his turn the goalkeeper rotation. The bench comprised: EJ, Jim Johnson, Ozimek, Huff and Thornton.

September 3 was a hot afternoon in the low 80’s. Thanks to a few weeks of drought, the lush green grass of our pitch had died and now was a rock-hard surface. Following the bouncing ball would be the order of the day. DC United came out in a curious formation. I believe that soccer simulation that’s all the rage over in Britain, DM or PM or some such, calls it a “defensive counter,” if those blithering idiots who have too much time on their hands to chat online can be believed. At any rate DC fielded a four man backline with three defensive midfielders, two AMCs and a lone forward up front. Defensive indeed. As I scrutinized the formation, it occurred to me that the formation looked like a variant of the old “W-M” tactic of days gone by. The magic square concept remained, though I’m not sure the Magyars of 54 would recognize this bastard of the family. Whatever the case, DC was playing at a normal pace with short passing and pressing. The odd tactic seemed to work as DC struck first when Quintanilla caught a throw-in from Stokes, took it up the field, blew by Akwari as if he were a statue, and nailed a top corner strike to put DC ahead 1-0. After that we took the ball and began to dominate the possession game, holding onto the ball roughly two-thirds of the time. However, the strange tactic, a crafty defense and the veteran Nick Rimando all conspired to keep us from exploiting our chances. Finally, in injury time near the end of the half, Daniels took the ball. He started a run past Quintanilla and Quaranta, got by them and laid off an extremely sloppy pass to his right. Ibsen, our right fullback, somehow caught up with it, saw he had a shot, and put it in to make the score 1-1. It was Ibsen’s first goal of the season and what a nice time and way to get it.

As the second half commenced, I told the boys not to press and to attack the heathen tactic DC was using. Amazingly, we started to make headway against the formation. On 55 I subbed in Ozimek for Paule who was having a pedestrian game. Five minutes later Salinas shoved one of the DC midfielders a bit too hard and drew a straight red. I subbed in Huff for Juskowaik so that the backline would stay intact. Predictably DC strove to take advantage of the extra man they had and began to attack. We absorbed the pressure and mounted a counter-attack on 70. Much as he had been in the first half, Daniels was the catalyst. He lofted a ball into the area on the left side, where Karbasslyoon caught it on his foot, dribbled once and buried it into goal to make the score 2-1 San Jose. The approximately 17,000 fans were on their feet cheering at the brilliant team move. Though DC tried to even the score in the last 20 minutes they were unable to do so and we went out winners. Daniels was awarded the first, and hopefully not his last, MOM award for his two assists.

BarryLFC

The email in my profile is current. Hope you're well. Story is going well!

retired_karamelkel

Cheers Iain

The last game of the regular season was coming up on the 5th. On the 4th USA Today’s soccer reporter wrote a long article on Chicago’s Brian West. He’s a great story. Played in the MLS for years, then got cut, signed with a minor league team. He had a great season with some Norwegian side. Chicago picked him up for a song prior to the season, and he’s clearly been one of the best players in the league. I haven’t said anything about him because we haven’t played Chicago this season, but there’s no doubt he’d win Comeback player of the year if the MLS had that kind of award. The gist of the article was that West should be called up to the US national team for the next round of games. I took issue with the reporter’s claim. West was having a great season, but that didn’t mean he was good enough to make the national squad. But, I thought wryly, such things were only possible if I became national team manager. That wasn’t all that likely. Arena was safe in his job. I doubted Arena would pay any attention to the article. He seems determined to stuff the national team with mid-30’s veterans, who are long on experience, but short on physical skills. If ever a team needed the elixir of life, it was that bunch.

My staff and I were discussing the West article as we sifted through the stack of scouting reports for the game against Columbus. Again, the debate was over whether to play the regulars. I pointed out that we would have about a week off before the post-season kicked in, so it wasn’t a question of fitness. In the end, it came down to what it usually does, who’s fit to play tomorrow. Thus the lineup chosen contained the regulars, except for Thornton in goal, jolly at right back, Huff and Merio in central defense, Ozimek at RMC and Jim Johnson at AMC. The bench comprised Cunningham, Chung, Walsh, Akwari and White. Juskowaik was named captain of the match squad.

When we stepped onto the pitch the evening of the 5th, we knew fall had come to Ohio in a hurry. The temp. was in the high 30’s and many of my players were wearing turtlenecks and thick knee socks. I wasn’t sure how my team would react to the cold. At least I could wear a team parka and stand in front of the heater. Columbus started in a 442 with an attacking mentality and direct passing. The half opened with neither team able to grab the advantage. The game stalled out at midfield as the ball kept switching sides. After twenty minutes of this, Columbus broke through the midfield, Houser curled in a cross that Buddle on the left, who leaped and banged in the header past Thornton to make the score 1-0 Columbus. The half returned to the midfield slog shortly thereafter as neither team really felt like expending much energy. It was a meaningless game for both teams, so none of the coaches were bothered too much by the shoddy play.

The second half was much like the first. I told my team to stop pressing and ordered them to go on the offensive. I was going to make sure they did try to make this a competitive ballgame. Seeing that we were going on the attack, Columbus dropped their pace so that they could focus on protecting their lead. On 55 I subbed in Chung for Jim Johnson who was having a bad game. On 66 with no change in sight, I used my last two subs, Cunningham and Walsh for Juskowaik and Ozimek respectively. It didn’t make a whit of difference. My team was determined to go through the motions of playing and nothing more. On 75 Ritch put the game away for Columbus when he put back a rebound to make the score 2-0 Columbus. The 22,000 fans cheered their team’s victory, but even the corporate types had to know it was an ugly game. The only good thing about it was that no one got injured for either side. Now we were free to focus on the postseason, where every game counts.