THANKS BUT NO THANKS Wingert, Matteo decline National Team invite
By Dylan Butler
BigAppleSoccer.com Assistant Editor
Chris Wingert got the call last Wednesday. Jeff Matteo’s cell phone rang Friday. On the other end of the line was U.S. Soccer, hoping the former St. John’s standouts would accept an invitation to the U.S. Men’s National Team training camp at the Home Depot Center.
After deliberation, their answer was the same as about 20 other MLS players called: Thanks, but no thanks.
“I realized the players were sitting out for certain reasons and although I feel that playing for your country is an opportunity of a lifetime, I’m hoping to get that opportunity under different circumstances,” Wingert said. “I respect the players’ decision to hold back and fight for what they feel they deserve. I don’t want to undermine the guys, a lot of whom are my friends.”
Stars like Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Kasey Keller, as well as MLS players like Kyle Martino, Eddie Johnson and Eddie Gaven are not in training camp because the U.S. National Soccer Players Association is embroiled in a nasty salary dispute with U.S. Soccer.
The players want a substantial raise. They have been paid for the past two years under the terms of an agreement that expired in December, 2002.
U.S. Soccer has proposed an incentive-based contract that would increase the amount for 2003-2006 to $14.4 million, a hike of about 38 percent, U.S. Soccer General Secretary Dan Flynn said Monday.
The players association has countered with a proposal demanding $21.8 million, he said.
Without regular starters and alternates, U.S. Soccer reached out to MLS players who hadn’t previously played for the senior national team, including Wingert, who was a starter on the U-23 team that failed to qualify for last summer’s Olympics.
Wingert’s call was from the coach of that team, Glenn “Mooch” Myernick. The Columbus Crew midfielder said he took a few hours to deliberate, in which time he called Martino, Kyle Beckerman, Ross Paule as well as his agent for advice.
“It was a difficult decision in a way and in a sense it’s not a very fair position to put some players in,” Wingert said. “It’s a lose-lose situation. Either you turn down a chance to play with the national team or you undermine the guys you play with or who are your friends.”
U.S. Soccer then began to contact players in the United Soccer League’s First Division (formerly known as the A-League), which is the league that is most strongly represented among the more than 20 players who started training camp Monday. Among then is former Los Angeles Galaxy keeper Dan Popik — another St. John’s product — who was ready to put professional soccer behind him when he received his call.
The Syosset, L.I. native sees playing for the national team a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one that wouldn’t have materialized otherwise, and believes he could work his way back into MLS after the Galaxy declined to pick up the option on his contact last month.
Some feel those players will be viewed as scabs by their MLS teammates who turned down the offer. Wingert, though, isn’t one of those players.
“I wouldn’t look down on anyone who decided to go in because it’s a business and that’s a business decision,” he said. “It’s a tough decision for anyone to make.”
One former MLS player who got a call on Friday — coincidentally the same day Popik accepted the invitation — was Matteo, who was with Wingert at the time.
Matteo, who played for both the MetroStars and Columbus Crew is coming off a successful season with the Minnesota Thunder and is hoping to get an invite into an MLS camp.
“It was probably the toughest thing I had to say no to ever, but I had to do the right thing,” Matteo said. “It just wasn’t a win-win situation. I didn’t want to do something that might hurt my future.”
Like Wingert, Matteo weighed his options and sought advice from players and coaches alike, including St. John’s coach Dave Masur.
After a day of deliberation, Matteo called back and politely declined.
“I could possibly hurt my standing, but that was just one of many reasons,” Matteo said. “But I can definitely see why (Popik and others) would go. It’s a different situation for every player.”
