US call up ‘indoor’ players

NEW YORK: A group of 22 players from the second- and third-division United Soccer Leagues and the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) began training in Carson, California, yesterday to prepare  for their possible use by the United States in a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago on February 9, US Soccer Federation officials said. The unusual step is due to a pay dispute between the federation and the US national team’s players association, which forced the federation to cancel a training camp for the regular players earlier this month.

The USL comprises the second- and third-tier pro and semi-pro ranks below Major League Soccer (MLS), which provides about half of the national team regulars. The other half of the national team players come from European clubs. The MISL is a winter league that plays a six-a-side game on artificial turf-covered ice hockey rinks. US coach Bruce Arena, who led the United States to a quarter-final appearance at the 2002 World Cup, said he was not willing to identify any of the players in camp. “I want to let players relax in this setting,” he said. Federation spokesman Jim Moorhouse said more than 20 MLS players were invited to camp, but none accepted. Arena said he had previously seen many of the players who are in camp, either in person or on television or video, and had others recommended to him.

“These are all outdoor players,” Arena said. “Some may be playing indoors right now, but they’re all outdoor players. They’re a good bunch. We’ll move forward and try to field a competitive team for February 9. “This is day one. We have 24 days to prepare. I’m optimistic we’ll get better each week.” The federation have said they will use the team of second- and third-division players at Trinidad if an agreement with the regulars is not reached by February 1. The players’ association claim their members are any player who has either played for the US national team or been called into training camp. The dispute at issue is over the players’ association’s demands for more money. The players have been paid for the past two years under the terms of an agreement that expired at the end of 2002. The players earned a total of US $10.4 million between 1999-2002, according to US federation general secretary Dan Flynn.  Flynn said the federation have proposed an incentive-based contract that would increase the amount for 2003-2006 to US $14.4 million, a hike of about 38 percent.

He claimed that the players association, headed by Washington attorney Mark Levinstein, has countered with a proposal demanding US $21.8 million. “We’re mission based,” Flynn said. “We’re not going to put the federation in a position where we have to cut core programmes that we’ve worked on for four and a half years, such as player  development, facility development, and referee programmes which are critical. We’re not only concerned about today, but tomorrow and the federation 10-15 years down the road.