From: marco@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (Marco Petroni)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Re: US Soccer News
Date: 29 Dec 92 14:38:12 GMT
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines, Montreal, Canada

In article <9212290446.AA16742@deepthought.cs.utexas.edu> CSALLEN@uga.cc.uga.edu (Christopher S. Allen) writes:
>
> [stuff deleted for brevity].
>
> Also, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it
>a FIFA edict that club teams have to releasinternationals so that
>they can play in *meaningful* international competition?

Well, I'm not sure that this is the case. I remember hearing a while
back that if a player signed by a foreign club team was thought to
be very important to a country's national side, then that player would
request that certain clauses in his club contract be included to allow
release from the club for "important" international matches or for
a pre-specified number of international games. I remember hearing about
these clauses being included in the contracts of the first few players
from the ex-Soviet Union to play in Western Europe a few years ago.

Recently, in CONCACAF's preliminary qualifying matches for USA '94,
Canada had to play without some key players who either were not
released for any of the games by their clubs, or who were released for
only a handful of games. Two examples are goalkeeper Craig Forrest, who
plays for Ipswich Town, and Randy Samuels, who plays for Fortuna Sittard
in the Netherlands. The former was not released for any matches, and the
latter played only in a couple of games. As the number of good Canadian
players signed by foreign teams, like Paul Peschisolido and Alex
Bumbray (sp?), increases, the release of players for qualifying games
may prove to be a bigger problem for the future rounds.

In a related item, I read in the local paper last week that FIFA rejected
Mexico's suggestion that the next round of qualifying matches be played
in the summer as opposed to early in the new year. Mexico had originally
made the request saying that more of their players would be free for
the summer games than for games which are to be played early in the new
year. The rebuttal on the other side was that playing the games in the
summer heat would not be ideal, that the subsequent schedueling for the
runner up of CONCACAF to play the other sides could possibly be tight,
and, perhaps more importantly, summer games would drain the fledgling
APSL of many star players, thus potentially reducing fan interest in the
league. BTW, I would suspect that the APSL would have to suspend league
play a month prior to and for the duration of the WC in 94. But I digress....

> Why would Bora
>*not* be very happy to have the European-based players back on a moment's
>notice? After all, Ramos, Dooley, Harkes & Wegerle just stepped off the
>plane before the US Cup last June and they did OK?

If it's only a few players, this might not be very crucial, but if the
players are to "gel" they need some time to play together and to get
used to the coach tactics, which may be different from what they're used
to seeing. Besides, the stakes, and consequently, the level of intensity
for a friendly is quite different from that of a qualifying game.
For weaker sides, this may not be the case, as they probably put as
much effort in friendlies as they do for more important games. Stronger
sides, however, usually see friendlies as a chance to try new plays,
play players in different positions, travel to new and exciting countries
;-), and so on. If a strong side were to lose in a friendly, they may take
some heat from the press and fans for a short time, but it usually ends
there, unlike the more important games.

>The more I think about it, the more the SI writer was uninformed about
>the need for the USSF to pay the players' clubs to release them for
>a full two months before USA '94. In what other country would such a
>suggestion be made?

In any case, I don't think that any amount of money would compensate
the loss of a good player's services for the club side, especially
if the side is in contention for the league title or struggling to
avoid relegation.

Regards,

Marco...
--
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                         McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer