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Friday, May 29, 1998

City's penchant for controversy extends itself to soccer world

COLUMN: Signing of another star to Galaxy threatens league balance

Los Angeles should change its name to the City of Controversy.

As trade talks heat up between the Dodgers and the Mariners, discussing trading Hideo Nomo for Randy Johnson, and rumors of Del Harris' impending dismissal cover the airwaves, one controversy remains hidden in the shadows a galaxy away.

Tuesday, Major League Soccer (MLS) signed Mexican superstar Carlos Hermosillo. Hermosillo is widely known outside of America and could be rightly nicknamed the Mexican version of Romario.

Notching 275 goals in 457 games, Hermosillo is Mexico's First Division all-time native goal scorer. Playing for Cruz Azul of Mexico City, he was making $1.2 million until MLS pulled a few strings.

Rivaling the MLS signing of Ronaldo Donnadini, Carlos Valderamma and Jorge Campos, Hermosillo joins MLS in its third season. Along with the signing of Hermosillo, MLS also allocated Francisco Uribe, a goal scoring phenom in Latin America, to the San Jose Clash.

So where does the controversy exist?

The L.A. Galaxy bagged the superstar.

The Galaxy has an 11-1 record with its only loss coming last week against the Chicago Fire. The Galaxy had four players in the top 10 in scoring: Welton, Cobi Jones, Martin Marchon and Marcielo Cienfueges.

The Galaxy is loaded with stars and the allocation of Hermosillo to the L.A. team just adds more gunpowder to a nuclear reactor.

It would seem likely that Hermosillo, would be allocated to a losing club rather than given to a World Cup-laden team.

But the Galaxy held all the straws.

Point one. Hermosillo said that he would only join the MLS if he played in Los Angeles because of his family.

Point two. Los Angeles has a huge Latin American fan base and with attendance dwindling from the inaugural year of 28,000 to under 20,000 this year. Hermosillo would bring more fans back to the Rose Bowl.

Point three. When Jorge Campos was traded to the Chicago Fire, the MLS said that the Galaxy would get a fifth foreign player in the future. Hermosillo was the man.

Point four. The Galaxy lost three key players: Eduardo Hurtado and Jorge Campos to the World Cup, and Dan Calichman to a broken leg.

Cobi Jones was second on the team in scoring with 8 goals and 7 assists before he took off to prepare for France. Calichman was a stalwart on defense and was a pivotal player in limiting the opposition's shots on goal. Hurtado was the field general. Hermosillo was needed to keep the team competitive.

The question remains whether the other clubs will have a problem with MLS action.

MLS purposely made the league have at most only five foreign players, low salary limits, and superstar allocation to keep all the teams equal and competitive, which means that the Colorado Rapids were supposed to be on the same level as D.C. United.

The MLS system worked beautifully for the sport, but the allocation of the two superstars Uribe and Hermosillo could possibly disrupt the system.

MLS has been able to avoid high salary contracts like basketball, teams that have superstars loaded on their payroll like the Yankees, and keep the players more connected to Americans by largely having players that are citizens.

The MLS system appears to be a great model for other sports to follow, even the WNBA allocated its three star players, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo, to three different teams to keep the drawing attraction dispersed.

If the NBA, NFL or MLB used parts of the MLS system, maybe there would not be skyrocketing salaries and constant threats of teams moving to other cities.

However, rumblings can be heard in the losing clubs, where the teams have not been able to remain competitive with powerhouses L.A. and D.C. United. But these teams must realize that last year the Galaxy barely made the playoffs and had almost the same squad as they do this year, minus All-Star goalie Jorge Campos.

What the Galaxy has shown is that the MLS system is working and that other teams should not complain; they should get their teams ready to play and find better local players.

Each team has a star player, and since Cobi Jones left for the World Cup, it is only fitting that the 33-year-old Hermosillo fill his shoes.

In the end, soccer fans should be happy with MLS decision to give Hermosillo to the Galaxy. And Angelenos should go watch the maestro work his magic at the Rose Bowl, because it is the closest Americans will get to World Cup talent until September approaches.

Salmon turns 21 tomorrow so if you want to wish him happy birthday, or are in the Seattle Mariners' organization and would like to trade Randy Johnson to the Padres for his present, then e-mail him at rsalmon@ucla.edu.