Denver, CO, June 8, 2004 (CSA) — After being honored with a call-up to play for the U.S. Men's National Team by head coach Bruce Arena, four Major League Soccer players have now been asked to stay home for the game against Grenada on June 13; the first official qualifying game for the U.S. on the road towards World Cup 2006 in Germany.

"The Rapids chose not to release [defender Pablo] Mastroeni until after their match against Kansas City on Wednesday," Arena said. "In the interest of fairness to both clubs, as well as the desire to have continuity in our training camp, I decided to remove all four players from the roster."

The Kansas City Wizards recently began a five-game road trip with a win against L.A. and travel to Denver for the Wednesday match at Invesco Field. They expected to play without three key players called for national team duty, veteran goalkeeper Tony Meola, forward Josh Wolff, and midfielder Kerry Zavagnin, but Arena has released them to be available to play against the Rapids.

Meola has 99 caps for the U.S., and this could have been his 100th. It is unclear whether this reversal will further affect his chance of reaching that milestone (his last cap come more than two years ago).

On whether he was pleased to find his players returned for the next two games, Wizards Head Coach Bob Gansler said that good and bad things happen in MLS.

"I don't go around doing handstands or sitting in the corner sucking my thumb because things go better than anticipated, or less well," Gansler said. "We're glad that we have more of our good players available, but we would have shown up in Colorado regardless, and we aim to win."

Conflict and Sacrifice
In pulling players away from their club to play for their country, there's an essential conflict of interest. Club games overlap with national team fixtures, and players cannot be in two places at once. This is something that must be balanced in any national soccer organization throughout the world.

It is fair to consider whether this decision may have upset that delicate balance in the U.S. professional soccer system.

In raising the issue of fairness in a press release, it appears Arena is referring to a possible advantage the Rapids would gain if they were allowed to play with Pablo Mastroeni on Wednesday even as the Wizards are forced to go without their three starters; hence the release of the Kansas City contingent to pair up against the Rapids.

However, Arena has made no mention thus far of releasing Bobby Convey or Earnie Stewart from the U.S. training camp. Their MLS team, D.C. United, also faces Colorado this week on Saturday and will likely be without these two starters even though the Rapids will most certainly play Mastroeni.

"One of the issues we felt justified our decision to make the request in the first placewas the fact that FIFA allows you to keep your player until four days before the game, and the KC game is five days before..."

Rapid Developments
Mastroeni was officially requested for national team service less than five days before being released.

The initial request by Arena for Mastroeni to appear at the U.S. camp on Monday, June 7, came early last week, probably Memorial Day, Monday May 31.

On Tuesday, June 1, the Rapids officially responded with a confirmation of the defender's appearance and a request that U.S. Soccer allow Mastroeni to play for his club Wednesday evening before flying to Columbus and reporting Thursday morning, within the four-day window allowed by FIFA regulations.

There was no coordination between the Rapids and Wizards to have the players called up from both teams to play Wednesday before flying to Columbus.

"One of the issues we felt justified our decision to make the request in the first place," said Rapids Head Coach Tim Hankinson, "was the fact that FIFA allows you to keep your player until four days before the game, and the KC game is five days before."

Hankinson confirmed that there was no other contact between the Rapids and U.S. Soccer until Friday, June 4.

"You hope that when you put in a request, that there's a discussion," Hankinson said.

But there was no other discussion from the time of the Rapids request to hearing of Arena's decision.

Friday morning, Hankinson, on behalf of Mastroeni, called Arena to discuss the Rapids' request. It was during this call that Hankinson was told of Arena's decision regarding the request, which was to drop Mastroeni from Sunday's lineup, and also to release all three Wizards players that had been called so they could be available to play the Rapids on Wednesday night.

Different perspectives
In the aftermath of Arena's decision to release the four players, due to the Rapids' tight reading of FIFA regulations regarding timeframes for player release, opinions have ranged as to the impact of this decision.

"I can see points from both sides," said Rapids striker John Spencer. "MLS pays Pablo's salary. It's important to everybody in this country that the U.S. have as many of the best players available for every qualifying match. Everybody in MLS understands. But also, the coaches have their families to feed and their jobs to worry about."

Gansler doesn't see this situation affecting relations between MLS and U.S. Soccer: "[This decision] "wasn't a League thing. It happened between one club and the national team coaching staff. It didn't happen between the League and the Federation."

While Gansler had nothing negative to say about the Rapids' decision, going so far as to comment that both "Hankinson and [Rapids General Manager Dan] Counce are both good soccer men and they're honorable folks," the Wizards head man clearly would have taken a different approach.

"We anticipated that this would happen," Gansler said. "I don't foresee [making a similar request] because, in the season, you plan ahead. We anticipated that we were going to be minus some players, and then you go from there. There was no decision to make for us. People were called in and we said OK. We will be without them and we will plan our travel accordingly."

Hankinson felt the request was not out of the ordinary.

"My first and foremost duty to this program and for my ownership and for these fans is to always put the best possible available team on the park," he said. "Requesting that Pablo stay, I felt, was a reasonable request because he's an important player for us. But the intent was not to hold him back from national team duties because we said that he was [to be] released following the game."

New? Or just news?
As striking as this sequence of events has been, it does not appear to be without precedent. Certainly, it is an issue for many countries, including the birthplace of soccer. At the same time, does it set new precedent for how MLS coaches will manage future U.S. National Team requests?

As the coach that took the U.S. to the World Cup in 1990 -- their first appearance in 40 years -- Gansler has some perspective.

"I'm a fossil. I've been in this game for a long time," he said. "Around the world, this is not something new. It's happened in this country before as well. So, does this surprise me? No. It might have happened already and people weren't aware of it. And, it'll happen again."

Spencer reflected on similar dilemmas in Europe.

"I know that [Arsenal's] Arsene Wenger and [Manchester United's] Alex Ferguson wouldn't release their club player before the FIFA rules says they have to," said Spencer.

"I can understand. I had the same problem myself when I was at [English club] Chelsea, getting called up for games, friendlies, and your manager doesn't want you to go."

But, Spencer added, "In this case the Rapids do want Pablo to go, and all the players enjoy Pablo being on the national team. He's representing his country, his family, as well as the Colorado Rapids."

Hankinson certainly did not feel the Rapids' request would have instigated this type of result. He agreed this was a bit of a surprise.

"If you look at the previous week against Honduras, players played a club game five days before that, and then they went in on the fourth day, and this would have been the same pattern," the Rapids coach said.

"This is normal in Europe. This is not an abnormal sequence...I think that maybe, it's a first here."

Hankinson was asked whether this changes the ground rules for consideration of future U.S. National Team call-ups.

"I think that if Bruce and I talk, and he feels that the extra added preparation time, the extra few practices at the beginning of the week, are vital to that player's involvement in the game and also vital to the success of the national team, then we would never stand in the way," he said.

Hankinson provided further insight by posing a hypothetical construct: "If Bruce called me today and said, 'We've had an injury, we want Pablo in...' I told Pablo and the team he's free to go. It was a request, that's all."

Candid conversations
Pablo Mastroeni and Josh Wolff granted American Soccer News exclusive first interviews since Arena's decision was released last Friday. To allow the fullest opportunity to be understood in context, American Soccer News has granted expanded article space so that views may be entirely expressed.

Pablo Mastroeni
[Opening statement]

PM: My situation is, I'm just a player. I'm just told where to go and what to do. I really don't have any overriding decision-making. And, between Tim and Bruce, they sorted things out.

It was, at first, a little hard to swallow. It is what it is. You can sit here and sulk about it for the next week and a half, or you can get on with it and try to improve. I'm out here today trying to make myself a better player, trying to make my team a better team, and just moving forward and taking it in stride.

ASN: It's tough, facing the club vs. country conflict...
PM: It is. There's a lot of conflict of interest within both club and country [on a given day]…I guess it's good that it happened early in qualifying rather than later. I think, with the situation at hand, I think we kind of resolved some issues between club and country, hopefully. And, hopefully, I'm a guinea pig...I mean, for the better of both club and country.

ASN: Does this set a precedent for interactivity during this upcoming season of World Cup qualifying between the two organizations?
PM: I think so. I think it's just a benchmark and [legalities] between club and country, the way FIFA regulates it. And hopefully it is. It would be awful to have a situation like this not stand up or not be representative, and other people having to go through some of the same things. It would be a detriment. So I think it's good that someone like me has to go through it. It makes you a stronger player and more motivated to get back to the national team.

ASN: Does this affect your interaction with the U.S. National Team?
PM: That's a good question. That's Bruce Arena's call. I'm just a player. I didn't make any comments. I haven't done anything to put myself in a situation where it would be this detriment to my career with the national team. However, the national team is game-by-game, and whoever is playing well and whoever is in better form I'm sure will get called up, so hopefully this has nothing to do with that.

ASN: What about the relation with other players after your name is put in the public Press Release?
PM: I'm pretty passive in this whole situation. I'm just kind of sitting by the phone and getting phone calls and dealing with those guys.

No. We're all good friends. But more importantly, we're professional athletes. I think all of us should realize how lucky we are to be doing what we're doing. To not be playing with the national team for one game, it's bad, but is it the end of the world? I wouldn't trade 365 days of professional soccer for one game of the U.S. Men's National Team.

It's unfortunate. The circumstances were quite strange. But like I said, it's over and it's good to get on with it and move forward.

ASN: Are you expecting to be called up for the 20th [away game against Grenada]?
PM: At this point I'm not expecting anything. I'm just going through it. If I get called in I'll go. If I don't, I won't.

ASN: Do you think you'll be able to come out and play strong against KC?
PM: Absolutely. My mindset is this hasn't even affected [me] at all. I actually took a couple days and went camping and get it off my mind. And just kind of move forward.

I'm just fortunate to be doing what I love. Every time I step on the field I'm going to give 100 percent, whether it's practice, whether it's Colorado, or whether it's the U.S. Men's National Team. I'm a competitive athlete and that's what I do for a living.

Josh Wolff

ASN: How do you feel as a player about this situation?
JW: The fact is…the decision isn't ours. Bruce did what he felt he needed to do [in order to field the right team with the right chemistry against Grenada].

I think Bruce still puts in his mind, "There's nothing in there that's going to break up the chemistry as far as outside stuff, whether it be MLS coaches or whatever."

ASN: How did you hear of the decision?
JW: [Wizards] General Manager Curt Johnson came down and told us Friday morning before going to L.A. It obviously was disappointing, because any time you get called to play for the national team, it's one of the highest marks of your career.

It was disappointing to hear, and then when you hear the reason, it's kind of unclear, and certainly makes you scratch your head.

You're playing a KC team that's missing three pretty good pieces of the puzzle and maybe you take your chances, but [Hankinson] obviously thought the other way. And again, Bruce obviously makes his decision based on that.

ASN: How do you manage this internally?
JW: You have just got to live with the decision. It's obviously an odd one...comes kind of out of left field, because I don't think anyone would expect it to be a reversal of the guys who were called in, and it all roots from what Tim Hankinson decided to do.

We're players, we'll deal with it, and there are other games ahead.

ASN: Does Pablo bear some responsibility here?
JW: I don't see Pablo being a problem at all. If he plays well, he should be rewarded with another call-up. That's, as I said, a great honor.

Hankinson didn't want to release him until after the KC game, and he can do that as a coach. That's a fact of life, and as players we have no control over that. Bruce makes his decision. Tim makes his decision.

ASN: Do you expect to be called up for the 20th?
JW: I'm not sure. It depends upon how the game goes June 13th. I don't expect anything. I go out and play the game I play, and if Bruce decides to bring me in, I will try to go in and make the most of my opportunity.

ASN: Are you able to switch gears and get back into the game against Colorado?
JW: Absolutely.

The Final Tally
The end result differs depending on one's perspective, but one thing is certain.

"The fact that we get to have a good competition with both teams [KC and Colorado] having full sides Wednesday night is a better game for the fans," said Hankinson.

Bilfish can be reached at bilfish@cybersoccernews.com.
© Fisher/Cyber Soccer Associates, LLC 2004