Ussf’S Actions Brutal

It seems as if the good ol’ boys at the United States Soccer Federation had little faith in Y2K.

Rather than wait for the millennium bug to possibly destroy the best thing to happen to American soccer in a generation, the dolts running the USSF have done everything possible to ruin it themselves.

Remember the U.S. women’s soccer team? You know, Mia, Brandi and Briana, Girl Power and Babe City? Nike sports bras? It seems the team that made us all feel so great this summer by winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the one that played to sellout crowds and made one of the most important statements for women’s sports since Title IX, has fallen out of favor with the federation.

Instead of embracing the tidal wave of momentum the women created during their summer of love, the morons who run American soccer apparently are doing everything in their power to back stab the women who captured the country’s heart.

Since that glorious July day in the Rose Bowl when more than 90,000 fans watched Team USA defeat China for the championship, the USSF has:

Strong-armed coach Tony DiCicco, who went 103-8-8 and won Olympic and World Cup titles, into a face-saving resignation.

Tried to stop the players, whose contracts had expired, from going on a lucrative (roughly $100,000 per player) and popular cross-country indoor tour. Instead, it wanted the players to go on a USSF-brokered international outdoor tour that would have paid a fraction of that.

Refused, at least thus far, to name longtime assistant coach Lauren Gregg, the most qualified and logical candidate, as DiCicco’s successor. Indications are the new hire will be either University of Portland men’s and women’s coach and U.S. Olympic men’s team coach Clive Charles, or University of Virginia women’s coach April Heinrichs, captain of the 1991 Women’s World Cup-winning side.

Delayed negotiations on a long-term contract for the players and asked them to keep representing the U.S. under the terms of an expired contract that was signed in 1996.

Took a hard-line stance that resulted in the players boycotting next month’s Australia Cup - a pre-Olympic tournament. A team of inexperienced collegians will represent the United States.

In less than six months, the USSF has done what no team in the world has done in the past four years - take down the United States women.

Naturally, the primary factor in this dispute is money.

Never be naive enough to think that 99.999 percent of all disputes between players and management are not about money. The only color more important than red, white and blue is green.

But let’s also understand what the women are asking for is in no way out of line - not after what they’ve accomplished, not after the exposure they’ve given to soccer.

Remember, these women are pro athletes, just like NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball players.

When they are preparing for events such as the World Cup and the 2000 Olympics, the USSF puts them on training schedules that effectively keep them from holding other jobs.

They play soccer, but they also have to live.

During the World Cup run, each player was paid $3,150 a month. Each also received a $7,500 bonus for winning the Cup.

Their contract expired six months ago, and the players proposed $5,000 a month for January and February plus $2,000 per game for the three January games in Australia and one against Norway in Florida in February.

The USSF countered with an offer for them to play under the expired contract with no per-game bonuses.

“They have essentially ignored our successes over the last three years … and are asking us to do the same,” U.S. captain Carla Overbeck said.

John Collins, the general counsel for the USSF, told the Scripps Howard News Service the federation eventually would get around to making a long-term offer to the players, but “made a fair offer that is risk-free” in the meantime.

Sending a bunch of college players who would forfeit their remaining eligibility if they accepted money is extremely risk-free. It appears the USSF might be engaging in a little payback because its plan to cash in on the post-World Cup popularity was scuttled by the decision to go on the indoor tour. But it was the federation that allowed the contracts to expire after the players tried to negotiate a new one that would carry through the 2003 Women’s World Cup.

Earlier this week, Collins said “negotiations are ongoing, we won’t be negotiating in the press.” That’s kind of funny, considering this is one of the few times the press cares about what the USSF has to say.

Which leads to another, possibly more sinister, reason for what the USSF seems to be doing.

Hmm, the women win their World Cup and become the talk of the nation.

The men finish last at the World Cup in France in 1998 and nobody cares, except to laugh.

The USSF can’t figure out how to make Major League Soccer as popular as Arena Football, yet many people think there could be support for a women’s league.

The women will be favored to bring home more Olympic gold and glory in Sydney, Australia. The men will be lucky to win a game or two.

Mia Hamm had a commercial with Michael Jordan. Sports Illustrated named the women’s team its “Sportswomen of the Year.” Anyone notice Alexi Lalas retired from the men’s team? Perhaps not everyone was as overjoyed by the success of the women’s soccer team as we thought.