ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604090013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Eight years after the 1994 World Cup was awarded to the United States with the condition that a professional league be started, Major League Soccer is here at last.
More than 11 years since the North American Soccer League folded, first-division soccer will return to the country today in what some are calling the sport's ``last chance.''
Before a national television audience on ESPN and a standing-room only crowd of about 31,500, the San Jose Clash takes on the Washington D.C. United at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium in the first of 160 games among 10 teams.
``It couldn't get as big as a World Cup, but there is a lot at stake,'' San Jose defender Michael Emenalo said Thursday. ``You want the game to start so you can go and play the game. I feel a lot more confident on the pitch. I'll be more anxious until five minutes before we step on the field.
``Until then I'll have butterflies.''
Emenalo is one of two Nigerian national team members and one of six World Cup veterans who will take the field today.
``It's been a long time coming,'' said Washington and U.S. national team midfielder John Harkes, who arrived from England's West Ham only last week. ``There's a bit of anxiety. It will be very strange to step out on the field against my own [national team] teammates. I only hope John Doyle doesn't knock me into the air like he used [to] in national team training.''
With players like Emenalo, his countryman, Ben Iroha, and all-time U.S. national team scoring leader Eric Wynalda lining up for San Jose, and Harkes and strikers Marco Etcheverry and Juan Berthy Suarez of the Bolivian national team going for Washington, much is expected from today's game.
``We have two of the best teams, two of the most aggressive coaches, after that, it's what happens between the lines,'' MLS commissioner Doug Logan said. ``I don't think we'll produce a boring match.''
The match, sold out since last Friday, will be the best attended sports event in San Jose, according to Clash president and general manager Peter Bridgwater. The crowd will eclipse the 25,000 the San Jose Earthquakes of the NASL drew in 1976 when Pele and the New York Cosmos came to town.
Local newspapers recalled that game with fans sitting in trees and beside the scoreboard.
While the game has importance to the league, it has an even more immediate impact on the Clash.
``I am very sensitive to the fact that if we put on a good performance and get a win, we'll probably double our season-ticket base,'' San Jose coach Laurie Calloway said, noting the club had sold only 3,000 season tickets. ``I've tried to de-emphasize that with our players. A couple of these players have played bigger games, like the second round of the World Cup.
``It's like a Super Bowl. And that means there will be some tension. And even though you supposedly have the best teams, you don't always see the best game because of the tension.''
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