Whew...that was a close one (US Soccer)

[Sharpieman]

The national federation and players union agreed to a no strike clause:http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/3348772
And for the lazy:
United States soccer fans breathed a collective sigh of relief on Friday when the player lockout ahead of the first World Cup qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago was averted.


Representatives from both sides, the United States Soccer Federation and the U.S. Players Union, agreed to a no-strike clause that would allow first team U.S. internationals to participate in qualifying througout the CONCACAF hexagonal, the top three finishers booking a ticket to the 2006 Germany World Cup.

United States national team coach Bruce Arena, now unburdened by the potential lockout, called in 27 Major League Soccer players to camp, and one remaining player from the camp of alternates that had been training before the crisis was resolved — Clyde Simms of the USL's Richmond Kickers.

"It's very exciting," said Simms. "I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity. I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm just going to go out there and do my best. Obviously the fact that I was selected gives me a bit of confidence. I'm not going to worry too much about the outcome because I have nothing to lose."

Simms stood out at the alternate training camp and Arena has use of him in training due to an absence of central midfielders, such as Landon Donovan (now playing with Leverkusen in Germany) and oft-injured U.S. stars Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien.

Simms will join three other newcomers to the United States national team; Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad, Columbus defender and MLS Rookie of the Year finalist Chad Marshall, and the Chicago Fire's Justin Mapp.

Veteran midfielder/striker Clint Mathis, returning from a year-long stint in the Bundesliga, returns to the national team fold as a domestic player after re-signing with Major League Soccer's expansion Real Salt Lake.

"I'm always excited to be part of the U.S. Men's National Team," said Mathis from Southern California. "I look forward to doing everything Bruce asks me to do for this squad, doing whatever is needed to help us kick off the road to Germany with a win against Trinidad. After that, I can't wait to join John, Jason, Andy and all my RSL boys down in Florida."

The United States takes on Trinidad & Tobago on February 9 in the first match of the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, followed by a difficult road trip to the Azteca stadium in Mexico City on March 27. The United States is attempting to qualify for its fifth straight World Cup.

United States roster by position:

Goalkeepers (4) – Jon Busch (Columbus Crew), Joe Cannon (Colorado Rapids), Kevin Hartman (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nick Rimando (D.C. United)

Defenders (8) – Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Nick Garcia (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Ritchie Kotschau (Colorado Rapids), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Eddie Pope (MetroStars), Tony Sanneh (Columbus Crew)

Midfielders (9) – Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution), Diego Gutierrez (Kansas City Wizards), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Clint Mathis (Real Salt Lake), Brian Mullan (San Jose Earthquakes), Ben Olsen (D.C. United), Steve Ralston (New England Revolution), Clyde Simms (Richmond Kickers)

Forwards (7) – Brian Ching (San Jose Earthquakes), Alecko Eskandarian (D.C. United), Ed Johnson (FC Dallas), Mike Magee (MetroStars), Pat Noonan (New England Revolution), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution), Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards)

[MrBug708]

There was this posted somewhere before, but Im too lazy to find it ;)

[bhlloy]

Hang on a minute... no overseas players? Why is this? Cardiff's Jamaican players are released for all their internationals. Is this a new thing or has it always been this way?

[Mr. Wednesday]

The overseas players will be in for the game. There are several things going on here:
* In general, Arena tries to work with the club coaches to avoid problems for his players, so unless a player is already out of favor at the club, he won't call them in early.
* Clubs are not obligated to release players until a certain period before matches, based on a fixed calendar issued by FIFA. I think the lead time is five or seven days for a qualifier slot.
* But he doesn't even get that much time for this one, because our bush league confederation scheduled the first round of qualifiers in a friendly slot in the FIFA calendar, so (according to what I've seen on BigSoccer) clubs only have to release the players two days before the game.

[Blade6119]

Other Thread this was made about (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=34974)

Yah, we mentioned it a few days back...its a great deal for the fans, though the players still seem to be getting shafted

[RPI-Fan]

Other Thread this was made about (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=34974)

Yah, we mentioned it a few days back...its a great deal for the fans, though the players still seem to be getting shafted

The players are getting more for one game than a heck of a lot of people make in one year, to play the sport they love and thousands of people would play for free.

Cry me a river.:rolleyes:

[bhlloy]

Cool... that's what I thought. Sucks for the guys who go to the training camps then get cut for the game, or are they seriously going to take 40+ guys with the European players? Either way I guess it's a catch-22, to get better your players have to play a higher standard, but then the national team gets less important and the build up gets harder.

Makes me very glad the entire Welsh squad plays in the UK

[Klinglerware]

The players are getting more for one game than a heck of a lot of people make in one year, to play the sport they love and thousands of people would play for free.

Cry me a river.:rolleyes:

Not all professional athletes do it because they love the sport. They do it because it's a job they happen to be good at. I don't see why they shouldn't be able to see what their fair market value is--just like the rest of us.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The players are getting more for one game than a heck of a lot of people make in one year, to play the sport they love and thousands of people would play for free.

Yeah, now if only those "volunteers" actually had an in-demand skill ...

[Desnudo]

Yeah, now if only those "volunteers" actually had an in-demand skill ...

I do, unfortunately it's not playing soccer at an extremely high level.

[RPI-Fan]

Yeah, now if only those "volunteers" actually had an in-demand skill ...

Maybe it's not a fair reaction... but damn, soccer is the one sport where I am even close to good enough to play on a collegiate level, but even that I can't really do, so I can't express how frustratint it is for me that these guys go out and play football every day AND GET PAID WELL and are still whining about the money.

So ignore my posts... just my own personal frustration.

[Leonidas]

Wouldn't US soccer players going on strike be about as much of a burden on the US sporting public as the NHL on strike or the WNBA going on strike? I'm glad they came to this agreement, but I'm just wondering if anyone really thought going on strike would have really been an effecive means to an end when the sport is really struggling to make its way into the US sports consciousnous. I think it would have been suicide for the program.

[Blade6119]

Wouldn't US soccer players going on strike be about as much of a burden on the US sporting public as the NHL on strike or the WNBA going on strike? I'm glad they came to this agreement, but I'm just wondering if anyone really thought going on strike would have really been an effecive means to an end when the sport is really struggling to make its way into the US sports consciousnous. I think it would have been suicide for the program.

Id venture to say that that is due to your age then anything else...the youth today, id guess around 85%, play soccer when their young...that is a major change from 20-40 years ago when nobody played it. Thats why some of our best players like donovan and beasley are soo young...this trend will continue as all of the kids who played it grow up..kids play soccer before football, hockey, basketball...and many of the best stick with it...when all those kids grow up, the US public could be a major soccer fan...as it stands though the adults dont care due to a lack of soccer influence during their raising. And missing the world cup would be a huge blow to the soccer federation, and the players know that it was the best time to make their demands. The USSF could not afford the losses it would incur from missing the WC, so they had to make an agreement to some extent. I figure the players will get much more soon. And i think they deserve it, as their contracts are jokes even compared to hockey, so telling me they make soo much doesnt pass on me, as many guys who arent super stars in the MLS are getting crap for pay...

[RPI-Fan]

Wouldn't US soccer players going on strike be about as much of a burden on the US sporting public as the NHL on strike or the WNBA going on strike? I'm glad they came to this agreement, but I'm just wondering if anyone really thought going on strike would have really been an effecive means to an end when the sport is really struggling to make its way into the US sports consciousnous. I think it would have been suicide for the program.

Correctomundo... that's why USSF basically had to make very few consolations.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Wouldn't US soccer players going on strike be about as much of a burden on the US sporting public as the NHL on strike or the WNBA going on strike?The issue isn't how the sporting public in general would see things. The issue is how the subset of the sporting public that watches national team games and that buys the sponsors' stuff would see things. Once the fed locked the players out, they could either not play at all, in which case the sponsors are getting nothing for their money (regardless of whether the public cares or not), which would be a fast ticket to bankruptcy for the fed when the sponsors pull their deals, or they could play with replacement players. If they use replacements, maybe the public doesn't care about who they are, but they would likely care when the replacements can't win and don't make it to the World Cup. Again, that's a big problem for the fed, because the sponsors aren't going to like it and they'll make less money (or run a deficit) on matches.

Plus, this doesn't change anything for league operations. The only negative for the current players there is that the guys in England might have a tough time renewing their work permits.

So in that sense, the players held all the cards, provided that the fed was acting rationally. The only thing the fed had in their favor was that the MAD option would mean not qualifying for the World Cup, and the players didn't (and don't) want that to happen.

As things stand, I don't think it's an accurate characterization to say that the fed had to make very few concessions.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Dola, the key thing here is that the money dynamics and organizational dynamics are a lot different for the fed than for the NHL.

The NHL owners aren't funding an organization that extends beyond their professional franchise; some of them may stand to lose some money on stadium upkeep or that sort of thing, but that's it. Also, the NHL is basically the sole governor of their hockey operations. They ceased all operations at once and they'll be able to resume all operations when they so choose.

In contrast, the fed is not a single actor, and their money picture is more complicated.

Money-wise, the fed runs a lot of things outside of the national team organization, and most of that is subsidized by revenue directly or indirectly related to the national team (a figure I've seen for dues revenue is 10% of the total); while they were proposing using replacements, so the games wouldn't totally cease, they were risking significant revenue problems with both sponsors and match revenue as noted in my previous post.

Unlike the NHL, the fed is not the sole actor in international soccer. A direct comparison with the NHL situation would have FIFA shutting down all international soccer; or going the other way, rather than a labor dispute between the NHL and its players, a dispute between just one team, like the Boston Bruins, and that team's players. The implications of this are mainly that international soccer does not just stop and wait for the USSF to get things in order. Qualifications are ongoing, and the penalty for forfeiting a match is getting kicked out of the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. If the NHL were to use replacement players, everyone would be on the same level, but the same would not have been true for the USSF because other federations were not in labor disputes and would still be using their first choice players. The NHL would only have to worry about disinterest due to poor quality of play, the USSF's problems would be compounded by difficulty obtaining results against other teams and the resulting turn-off to casual fans who wouldn't like to tune in to these matches and see the U.S. get pounded.