Major League Soccer

MLS: No love lost between D.C. United
and Miami in Eastern semifinals.

(Saturday, October 3, 1998) -- Once upon a time the biggest rivalry in Major League Soccer was the matchup between (Washington) D. C. United and the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. That spit-fight seems to have lost its luster since the expansion Miami Fusion appeared in the Eastern Conference.

United and Miami have kicked each others shins in brutal, physical games five times this season. In the first game of the series in March, United’s Jaime Moreno was ejected for decking the Fusion’s hard-man Cle Kooiman, with a nasty kick. In the second meeting in June, Miami’s Diego Serna was red-carded for a foul on Jeff Agoos, and on September 19, United midfielder Ben Olsen was sent to an early shower for a blatant tackle on the Fusion’s John Maessner.

The last three meetings, were all particularly bruising, with bodies flying all over the field. A United spokesman was not exaggerating when he said: "Clearly these two teams don’t like each other."

The two teams meet tomorrow night in Miami for Game 2 of the best-of-three. If the Fusion wins, a deciding game Wednesday in Washington will be necessary.

In last Wednesday’s opening playoff game at RFK Stadium, United committed a club record 25 fouls against the Fusion. And tomorrow’s game at Miami is expected to be more of the same, as the Fusion will attempt to keep its playoff hopes alive. After the 2-1 victory, United coach Bruce Arena all but accused Miami of cheating. He was angry with the way certain Fusion players were taking dives in order to win crucial calls around the goal. Arena said he was sending the game-tape to the league in hopes that those players would be reprimanded.

The biggest culprits, according to the United bench, are the Fusion’s two star forwards, Brazilian Paulinho McLaren and Serna, the Colombian striker. Both are dangerous strikers, with a tendency for the dramatic flair.

Most forwards at times try and draw fouls, but the Fusion’s two bad boys have made turf-diving an art form. Of particular concern to United was, as replays confirmed, a phony dive by McLaren, at least a couple yards from the nearest defender that led to an unwarranted Miami free kick 19 yards from the D.C. goal with United grasping to a 2-1 lead.

Poetic justice won out and the kick proved fruitless and United’s victory was safe. "I haven’t seen so many dives since Flipper," said United midfielder John Harkes. "If they played like that in Europe, players would be in your face calling you a cheat."

"I’m sure his [Serna’s] shirt has lots of grass stains on it," said Arena sarcastically, after the slugfest.

While there’s a lot of truth to Arena’s concerns over the Fusion, the fact of the matter is McLaren and Serna have scored four goals apiece against United in the last three meetings. The last thing Arena wants, is to go out of the playoffs -- and possibly end his MLS career -- against an expansion team.

Game notes: - United had no trouble dealing with Miami in two games in March, when the team was coached by Carlos Cordoba, but since the well-travelled Brazilian coach, Ivo Wortmann took over from the fired Cordoba, Miami has been playing some very good soccer. United lost 4-3 and 3-1 against Miami in a seven day span in mid -September and Wednesday’s 2-1 win was a close affair.

Wortmann’s philosophy against United is simple: he packs the defense and hopes to score on a counterattack, with the talented trio of McLaren, Serna and Carlos Valderrama.

D.C. United (24-8) was the only team in the Eastern Conference to end the regular season with a winning record. Only two other teams in the league, the Los Angeles Galaxy (24-8) and the expansion Chicago Fire (20 -12) were over .500.

In other news: MLS commissioner Doug Logan said nearly 24,000 tickets had been sold already for the MLS Cup at the Rose Bowl on October 25. "I think if the Galaxy doesn’t make it we could get 35,000," said Logan. "If the Galaxy goes through we could see a record crowd in excess of 50,000."

Notable:

*A record 3.56 goals per game were scored in the 1998 MLS regular season.
*The average MLS attendance per-game this year was 14,312, down from 14,616 last year. "We are still the fifth highest attended league in the world," said Logan.
* Logan said the next wave of expansion teams will come in the year 2,000 and the likely candidates are Philadelphia and Houston. Other candidates in the running are Rochester; an additional team in the New York City area, and a team possibly in San Diego. Portland, Milwaukee and St. Louis are also possibilities.

Seattle will have a shot in 2003. However, Rochester could vault to the "top of the list" said Logan if a soccer-stadium becomes available.

Awards time:The Galaxy’s Cobi Jones and United’s Marco Etcheverry are the hot favorites to win the MLS Most Valuable Player award this year, decided by the league’s coaching staff and general managers. It could be a close call. Etcheverry has had his best season ever, earning 10 goals and 19 assists, for 30 points. Jones, who managed just 14 goals combined in his first two MLS seasons, came second in the scoring charts this year behind the Columbus Crew’s Stern John, with 19 goals and 13 assists, for 51 points.

United’s Eddie Pope should run away with the Defender of the Year award for the second season running.

Zach Thornton, who dumped Mexican goalie Jorge Campos out of Chicago Fire’s starting lineup has a good shot at winning the Goalie of the Year award. Thornton gave up just 27 goals in 25 games. The MetroStars Tony Meola, who seems to be getting good reviews in the media, allowed 62 goals in 31 games, but faced exactly twice as many shots (236) as Thornton. Thornton deserves it.

John Haydon is soccer columnist for the Washington Times and can be emailed at haydon@twtmail.com.