"THIS is the right moment to give it a go. Just now, the American public is a little disillusioned with the other sports and with the huge sums of money involved in them . . . Maybe American fans are ready to believe in a sport that is a little more real."
Detroit born Alexei Lalas is the speaker and he offered the above comment as he prepared to return home to the US from Italy this week to take up a new job with the Boston based "New England Revolution" club, one of 10 clubs destined to glitter in the galaxy of the brand new US Major Soccer League. After 20 months with relegation battlers Padova, 25 year old defender Lalas has come to the end of his Italian adventure, the first such adventure for a US international player.
With the former Arsenal and Ireland striker, Frank Stapleton, taking up his equally new job as coach to New England Revolution, he will probably find that among the many unfamiliar faces who make up his new squad, one is instantly recognisable. With his long red hair, goatee beard and moustache, Alexei Lalas has never looked like your average footballer.
It could be argued that Lalas has come to the end of his Italian road, ahead of time. He has been out of the Padova side for the last three months since playing in a 2-1 defeat by relegation rivals Cremonese on November 26th. Indeed, were it not for the CONCAF Gold Cup in California last month, when he featured in a US side that got as far as a semi final elimination by Brazil, Lalas wouldn't have kicked a ball in anger or earnest since that Cremonese game.
The American "pioneer" - a term he likes to use of himself fell foul of the Serie A three foreigners per side regulation. When striker Leonard Van Utrecht was bought from Dutch side Cambur last November, the writing was on the wall for Lalas.
Padova already had two other useful foreigners in Dutch midfielder Michel Kreek and Croat striker Goran Vlaovic. It only required Van Utrecht to prove himself a good buy and Lalas would clearly be struggling to hold onto a team place. Van Utrecht did just that and has been in the team or on the substitutes' bench ever since.
Lalas, however, is not returning to the US as a second best option, now that his time has run out in Italy. Regular readers may recall that early last November, he told this column that the future of US soccer was very important to him and that he would not, want to miss out on this attempted relaunch for anything - even if it meant accepting a reduction in salary. At that stage, his biggest worry was how he might persuade Padova to let him go before the end of the Italian season in order to be in America for the scheduled April 6th kick off.
Given that he is now out of the Padova team (currently joint third last and thus in the relegation zone), Lalas no longer has a problem about getting away. Padova not only agreed to waive the remainder of his contract but they also agreed to do the same, for former Juventus, AC Milan, Verona and Lazio striker 32 year old Giuseppe Galderisi, currently with Padova and travelling to Boston this week to play with Lalas at New England Revolution.
When Lalas arrives in America, he will find that it truly is, a brave new footballing world out there, comprising brand new teams and not so brand new players. The 10 teams are divided into two groups with the "East Conference featuring New England Revolution, Columbus Crew, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, Tampa Bay Mutiny and Washington DC United, while the Western Conference features Dallas Burn, Colorado Rapids, Kansas City Wiz, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash. (Some imaginative promotions person has clearly gone to work on naming the teams).
Among the not so brand new players engaged to play in America is Italian Roberto Donadoni (32), currently in impressive form with league leaders AC Milan and due to play for the NY/NJ MetroStars.
Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos (30) is being dispatched to the Los Angeles Galaxy because of the city's large Mexican population while similarly former Real Madrid striker Hugo Sanchez (37) is going to Dallas Burn, with a large Hispanic following expected there.
West Ham's John Harkes and Bolivian midfielder Marco Etcheverry (29 and 26 respectively) are both joining Washington United; US international Tab Ramos (29) will be with the NY/NJ MetroStars, and South African "Doctor" Khumalo (formerly of the SA based Kaizer Chiefs) is due to join the Columbus Crew.
Time will tell how the US experiment, part two, will go. Mindful of the fact that the likes of Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Pele and our own John Giles all failed to ensure the survival of professional soccer in the US all of 20 years, ago, one, is inevitably sceptical.
In the meantime, players such as Lalas, Donadoni, Galderisi et al can look forward to a relatively stress free job in America, at least by the standards of the most over talked championship in the world, namely the Italian one. Lalas admits the point but, with typical honesty, pointed out to reporters last week: "Stress isn't the big problem in Italian soccer even if players are so conformist, they're terrified of being seen differently from the way fans want to see them.
"No, stress is something else, stress is what a mother has when she has no food to feed her children. I'd say the biggest problem, in Italian soccer is egoism." - And maybe not just in Italian soccer, either.
