What does a port city in the Northwest of Germany have to do with the future of A-League soccer and possible future foreign considerations throughout U.S. Soccer? A lot if you take a look at the current deal between Werder Bremen of the Bundesliga and the A-League's Seattle Sounders. The Sounders get to serve as a kind of nursery for the Bremen side's young prospects but the positive points go far beyond that in the long run. An exchange of players is considered the major incentive in the deal as Seattle can look to bolster their squad with some young German talent and also get the opportunity to have some of their players get some valuable training with the Bundesliga side. Apart from the players, the coaches also get something out of the deal: a chance to learn some of the tactics and methods of the German coaches and an opportunity to face off against their German brethren as a part of pre-season training. Some of the other benefits include youth camps and clinics as well as the "exchange of information and materials." Either way this looks like a good deal all around for both sides. Werder get to have a look at some American talent on the cheap and some of their would be reserve players get an opportunity at first team action with the Sounders but what does this deal mean to the bigger picture?
The deal that was worked out by Seattle's C.E.O., Neil Farnsworth, in June of 1999 blazed a trail for future possibilities for other A-League teams to get involved with European clubs. This possibility alone makes it ground-breaking for the rest of U.S. Soccer as it gives a bit of hope for a possible infusion of players and, many times more importantly, cash from the European leagues. This isn't the first deal of its kind but it certainly represents a step forward for soccer in America especially considering the big business nature of soccer in Europe. It is a huge risk for some of these clubs to make an investment in a foreign club that they know little about at the outset of their considerations. Obviously Werder Bremen liked what they saw when they got a closer view of the goings-on at Seattle. They even liked it enough to bring over Cameron Lawlor, Conrad Jones, Lyle Hews, T.J. Rensleigh, Bradley Boyer (all youth players), and senior player Jason Annicchero. So far the Sounders have received two senior level players in return in each of the last two seasons. At this point it looks like the deal has worked well for both sides. Hopefully this may lead to other clubs linking up with foreign clubs in the future, whether they be European, South American, Asian, African, or Australian clubs. This kind of involvement from afar could mean great things for all sides ranging from the players to the fans. The deal also shows how far the U.S. has come as a developer of quality talent because without this consideration the deal would likely have never happened.
Why have German scouts landed on our shores when the rest of the major European leagues have, so far, largely ignored American professional soccer? It's a difficult question to answer and it definitely depends on who you ask. The English Premier League tends to look for forwards when they look toward CONCACAF which some would argue readily eliminates the U.S. as a "hunting ground" as it were. Spain's Primera Liga scouts have often, yet never overtly, cited an inability or lack of willingness on the part of English-speaking players to learn Spanish in an effort to communicate with their players. This is a complaint heard in Italy's Serie A but more often than not the popular belief is that American players (Alexi Lalas withstanding) just aren't good enough for their league. In Germany it seems that the focus on endurance and sheer athletic ability in much of the training coincides with natural abilities of the young American athletes who wind up in the Bundesliga and Regionalligas. Tony Sanneh (formerly of the Minnesota Thunder), Frankie Hejduk, and the rising star Landon Donovan all share this common trait though each of them have varying skills and skill levels. Now with the success of Joe-Max Moore at Everton and Claudio Reyna with Rangers it appears that the British Isles are warming a bit to U.S. talent with the recent moves of Brian McBride on loan to Preston and Eddie Lewis to Fulham both of the English First Division. So now should we expect English or Scottish clubs to be knocking down our doors in hopes of striking deals similar to that of the Seattle-Bremen deal?
Nothing quite to that extent has been fully realized yet but during the last off-season several A-League team officials met with prominent members of the English and Scottish Premier Leagues, respectively. Officials from Atlanta, Boston, Tennessee, Hershey, Richmond, Rochester, Seattle, Vancouver, expansion Portland, D-3 Carolina, and PDL Des Moines met with their British counterparts from clubs such as Chelsea, Celtic, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Southampton, Derby County, and Charlton Athletic to discuss possible future arrangements for deals along the lines of the current deal between Seattle and Bremen. Atlanta already has a working deal with Aberdeen of the Scottish league and El Paso has a similar deal with Atlas of Mexico. Neither of these arrangements is quite as thorough as the deal involving the Sounders and Werder, though. The USL feels encouraged by their talks with the Brits and cite the positive reviews given by touring English sides Newcastle, Bolton, and Nottingham Forest about the level of play and the facilities from their summer travels here. Doug Ellis of Aston Villa was encouraging about the possibilities between the clubs but considering it came from Mr. Ellis most of us here stateside should take his opinions with about a ton of salt. Anyone who's followed the Premiership knows that you can trust Doug about as far as Gianfranco Zola could throw him. Either way, things do indeed appear encouraging on both sides of the Atlantic but one major difficulty could be how the Brits deal with the current labor laws which make it extremely difficult for non-EU (European Union) players to get a work permit. Witness Brad Friedel currently out of work Olympian who can't find a new club partly due to this matter but, alas, that's a subject for another day.
So what does all of this evidence tell us about the future of soccer, especially where it concerns the A-League, USL, and U.S. Soccer? Well, for one thing it definitely tells us that the world is closing in on us. The soccer world is growing smaller every day and players are being found in the smallest hamlets of Southeast Asia to the shantytowns of the Caribbean. As a developing nation in soccer the U.S. must embrace this new growth and with deals like these the USL can take the lead in U.S. soccer relations with the rest of the world at the club level. We must regard the steps taken with Seattle and Werder Bremen as the groundbreaking for a new relationship between what will one day, with any luck, become a New World soccer power thanks to the help from the Old World of Europe. The surest assessment of all of this is that finally U.S. Soccer and the USL in particular are moving forward with large, confident strides and to think that a port city in the Great Northwest of the U.S. was able to make one of the largest steps by linking up with a club from a port city in the Northwest of Germany… coincidence or fate? You make the call. Let's just hope that all of this promise can be dealt with intelligently as we continue to develop as a league and country.
We Go Nuts for Allnut
This week The View, and I'm not talking about a bunch of crazy women on couches here, would like to salute Yari Allnut of the Rochester Rhinos. The fans have spoken so everyone say hello to Yari as he prepares to face Minnesota tomorrow in the Championship game. Now let's get to know Yari. This is what we know from the Rhinos' official site: he cuts an imposing figure at 5'11" and 170 and he wears the 10 shirt admirably. One of my previous stories said he'll be one to watch come MLS Draft time. In 1998 he played with the Carolina Dynamo of the D-3 and has spent the last two seasons becoming a fan favorite in Rochester. The native of Baltimore, MD was a West Coast Conference All-American at Portland. The man with a Communications degree has utilized those skills on the field making him one of the best midfielders in the A-League. Some of his personal highlights include goals in last year's Open Cup competition against the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids (in the Open Cup final) of MLS. He also led the team in regular season goals netting 10. When it comes to Rochester this is what Yari has to say: "What I love best about Rochester has to be the fans. The fans are number one here and I love playing in front of them!" A couple of those fans, A-League.com's very own J-P Altieri and Keith Kiedrowski, have nicknamed him "Son of Jarel" after the legendary Superman for playing several games with a punctured lung and bruised ribs suffered against Long Island. He's also an honorary member of the Italian-American Community Center in Rochester and spends a great deal of his down time working with charities. Thanks to Keith, J-P, rhinossoccer.com, all the Rochester fans, and of course Yari Allnut.
A Little Help (redux)
Hello again kiddies. Just wanted to remind everybody that I'm still scarf hunting especially ahead of the fall/winter season. I've got to have something to keep me warm on those long walks to and from the pub. Also, it was nice to get some responses on the player profile piece but darn it I want to hear from as many of you as possible. Before I forget, congratulations to Seattle and Coach Dave Megson who won the A-League Coach of the Year award. Thanks again to everyone that's been reading the columns and my other pieces in the past few weeks. Hopefully I've been able to stimulate some talk and thought about some of the things I've been writing about and judging from some of the feedback I have. Good, bad, sad, glad I'm just happy to be able to do this so big thanks to the man in charge Dan Barnes. As always that's the view from here and I'll see you all next week.
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